Posted by: Edwin Huertas
June 9, 2009
Issue #691

Boring Is Better

Recently, we re-designed the Early to Rise (ETR) newsletter. It looks quite a bit different these days …

Some might even say it looks “boring.”

But we say “Boring is better!”

Some of the more “exciting” features of our e-mails were preventing them from reaching our subscribers. (Maybe even you!) So we’ve made a few changes to ETR - to make sure you get it in your inbox every morning.

And by making your own e-mails more “boring,” you could see more subscribers receiving and opening them. Which, in the end, should result in more sales.

You see, the most important thing about an e-mail newsletter is not how “pretty” it looks or how “flashy” the design is. The most important thing is the content. The innovative ideas and useful techniques that made readers subscribe in the first place.

And if a newsletter’s subscribers can’t access that content because the graphics are too “high-tech,” there’s no point in sending it out at all.

Every time you send an e-mail to your subscribers, their e-mail service checks to make sure it meets their deliverability standards. E-mail policies for Internet service providers (ISPs) change more often than you can keep up with. But if you follow a few basic guidelines, you should be able to get your e-mails to nearly all of your subscribers all of the time.

I’ll outline some of the more important guidelines below, but I’d like to discuss the design of your newsletter first.

I’ve managed well over 100 e-mail marketing campaigns for various companies around the world - and it seems to me that most businesses are more interested in designing a snappy-looking e-mail than in making sure the e-mail actually gets read.

Think of it this way: Your readers didn’t subscribe to your newsletter because it’s pretty. And once they have been duly impressed by the design of your first e-mail, do you really think they care about the design of your second e-mail? NO! They simply want the content they know the e-mail can provide. The design has nothing to do with the information they want and need.

In my experience, newsletters that focus on content rather than design experience higher sales conversion rates than newsletters with heavy HTML and graphics.

The more HTML and graphics you add, the more you take away from the message you’re trying to relay. As a result, I’ve found that newsletters willing to go lighter on HTML and graphics have higher open rates.

Now you might be thinking to yourself, “Why would this change my open rates?” I don’t have enough space to give you a complete answer to that question. But here - in brief - are a few of the main reasons (based on theories I’ve tested and know to be true):

1. Most SPAM protection software utilized by ISPs makes use of predetermined scoring mechanisms that look for e-mails that are bloated with HTML and graphics to determine if they are SPAM. SPAM Assassin, for instance, will penalize your e-mail if it has more than 30-40 percent HTML (vs. text).
2. Graphics do not always display correctly in e-mails. Plus, HTML standards are always changing. So the techniques you used to design your e-mails last year might not be as effective this year.
3. People do NOT prefer heavy HTML and graphics in their e-mails. E-mails that are graphics/HTML-heavy can take much longer to download.
4. Most e-mail software (and most e-mail services like Gmail and Yahoo) blocks images by default. This is a built-in security precaution. In order for the recipient to view the graphics, they have to click on a button or link to allow it. (And why would you want to make a customer click anything just so they can read your e-mail properly?)
5. Many of the companies I’ve helped in the past had the idea that, in order to make the most of their (virtual) real estate, they should leave no white space in their e-mails. But I’ve found that most people react much better to e-newsletters (and Web pages) that are “clean” looking, with plenty of white space.

Leaving the right amount of white space allows your viewer to read your e-mail more easily. (They can target the specific sections they’re interested in.) This gives them a better overall usability experience and makes it more likely that they’ll continue to open and read your e-mails.

ETR’s CEO and Publisher, MaryEllen Tribby, said, “I don’t care how “pretty” our readers think it is - I just want to make sure they get our valuable content every day.”

Keep her words - and my guidelines - in mind when you send out your own e-mails. Sure, graphics, colors, and HTML can make an e-newsletter look slick and professional, fancy and fun. But they can also trigger your subscribers’ spam filters and cause other problems with deliverability and readability that you just don’t need.

Keep it simple. You could increase your open rates - which could skyrocket your sales.

Contributed by Edwin Huertas
Guest Contributor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

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14 Comments »

1. Comment by Drayton Bird — June 9, 2009 @ 10:15 am

   Bang on the money, Edwin — and what’s hilarious is that lots of consultants charge silly money … to point people in the wrong direction.

2. Comment by Duane — June 9, 2009 @ 10:59 am

   What are the stats on subject lines? There seems to be a trend now by gurus to give vague subject lines that are supposed to spark curiosity - it does the opposite for me. If I don’t know what the email is about, I delete it. I have no time to follow all curious headlines.

   Another annoying trend - it seems that many marketers are now deliberately giving a wrong link in the first email, then a “sorry, wrong url” in a quick followup. Clever ploy to flood peoples emails with reminders, but annoying. It’s happening so often now by various marketers, that it’s obvious now to be deliberate. I feel tricked and lose respect to those marketers as well - deleting those emails.

   Another one is “sad news” or “bad news”. Someone said research proved that people open emails with that subject more than if it says “good news”. Now that’s sad we are more eager for bad news - or what?

   So back to the question - do these tricks really increase their opens & - the main thing, conversions?

3. Comment by Dan — June 9, 2009 @ 11:08 am

   What about good old fashioned plain text e-mails vs. HTML emails?

   Best,
   Dan

4. Comment by Edwin Huertas — June 9, 2009 @ 12:07 pm

   Drayton: Thanks! And YES I AGREE. There are WAY too many of these ’so-called’ Web marketers basically ‘robbing’ their clients by giving wrong them advice. One thing that I always like to stress to everyone is that “There is NO such thing as a perfect marketing campaign”. It’s ALL about testing… testing… and more testing. Once you’ve seen (for yourself) what works and what doesn’t then and only then should you invest more time into it.

   Duane: Yes, I have also seen a trend in this type of email strategy, but I don’t have any specifics on this information other than what ‘we’ at ETR have tested.

   We’ve had a mixture of results here and nothing ‘concrete’ that I can share yet, but of course we’re still (and ALWAYS) testing.

   My previous experience (with other clients) has been that shorter subjects are more effective, but only when they are directed to the reader as if it were a ‘personal’ message (i.e. RE:Did you get my call?).

   I do believe they are more effective, but only when used the right way.

   We ran one split with short Vs long and the short won on ‘open’ rates, but didn’t generate as many sales. It’s testing I plan to continue and maybe I can share my results here with Clayton’s readers

   Dan: Two things I know for sure are:

   1.Text emails will almost always get a better OPEN rates
   2.HTML emails will almost always get you better SALES

   Pick your battle….

5. Comment by Edwin Huertas — June 9, 2009 @ 12:09 pm

   OK I wrote that last comment without editing so please excuse my bad grammar

6. Comment by Stacy Karacostas — June 9, 2009 @ 12:41 pm

   Interesting article Edwin.

   And a topic I’ve seen debated quite a bit over the last few years. I’ve been publishing a text-only newsletter for almost 4 years with good results. But I’d had more than a few people ask if I was going to switch to html to improve readability.

   Since I’m not convinced of the value and don’t want to hurt my deliverability, the answer has always been no. However, I did make a change recently that seems to work well on all fronts…I know send my emails with no graphics but in mime format. So the text shows up in html for most folks and I can set it to be, say, 10pt Arial instead of the tiny Times font that’s the text default. Plus I can better track open rates and click thrus.

   Thanks for sharing!
   Stacy

   Stacy Karacostas
   Practical Marketing Expert
   http://www.success-stream.com

7. Comment by K Myers — June 9, 2009 @ 1:41 pm

   Having written autoresponder follow-up series, monthly broadcasts, e-zines and newsletters for a wide range of companies over the past 10 years, I witnessed the ISP changes firsthand… and wrestled with the many problems overcoming many of the new (and old) filters on a regular basis.

   Yes, the html+graphics-to-content ratio impacts the overall spam score, as do font colors, keyword phrases, html header content, mail-server id/stamps, and more.

   The very worst thing that can happen is landing on a RBL (Real-time Block List) or be flagged as a phishing site, which can send your emails into a black hole in Internet space never to be seen. This kind of damage to your domain and brand can be almost impossible to fix. Uh… I did say almost.

   Play within the email etiquette rules and you’ll be fine.

   Based on my experience, I recommend staying away from the curiousity headline approach, use active voice whenever possible and ALWAYS make sure your subject line (aka headline) matches your email content inside to deliver on the promise.

   Make it worth reading.

   Email readers/recipients have a whole lot less patience today than they had a decade ago. Deliverability rates and open rates mean nothing if all you are doing is cluttering up their inbox on a regular basis, IMHO.

   Bottom line, in many respects, I agree. Boring is better. But, I hate to think that is what has been driving my conversions. Can we agree to say, simple is better, instead? (Just kidding.) LOL!!

8. Comment by Shailendra — June 9, 2009 @ 2:47 pm

   Everybody does not like plain vanilla, so adding some spice like very minimal inline enhancement using CSS can increase chances of getting mailer scanned thoroughly and ultimately call to action or clicking on link as well.

   And these days most of email marketing applications allow to deliver HTML and text version (if HTML is not default setting) to recipient.

   Nice post and good theoretical points to consider while designing newsletter.

9. Comment by Eran Malloch - No BS Search Engine Marketing Blog — June 10, 2009 @ 1:03 am

   BTW, I agree with Duane.

   Subject lines are a BIGGIE!

   I hate the fake ones out there, and rarely open one that looks even slightly suspect.

   The new trend to say bad news or similar is totally annoying, and I’d like to beat the culprit over the head with a large frying pan for each time I get an email using this as a subject line.

   When you’re signed up to as many lists as I am, you get to see all the dodgy tricks people use on a regular basis (esp the wrong or broken link url one).

   It wears thin after seeing it 10 times, let alone the 1-200 times I have seen it used!

   These people must think they are the only ones using these tricks in the world!

   Eran

10. Comment by segundo i pascual — June 10, 2009 @ 3:11 am

    happy happy birthday boss clayton my name segundo i pascual

11. Comment by Nira Amba — June 10, 2009 @ 5:46 am

    I know it is going slightly off the topic of email content, but I completely agree with the commenters who have highlighted the prevalence of the nauseating ‘mind-control’ type of subject lines.

    If I see a subject line that says ‘Bad News’, ‘You’ve been paid’, ‘Thank you’, or similar, I do open the email, but only to unsubscribe if that is available. If not, I’ll delete the email and block the sender.

    Surely getting the email opened is not the main aim? I’d rather get half my emails opened and most acted on, than all my emails opened and 1% acted on (with the other 99% binned).

    The aim is surely to get the recipient to act in the way you want them to? So, it has to be a combination of good content with a relevant subject line.

    And, yes, I’m also fed up with these ’sorry, wrong link’ attempts. They must think we’re really simple . . . . .

12. Comment by Edwin Huertas — June 10, 2009 @ 8:34 pm

    I’d have to say that I also don’t like ‘deceptive’ subject lines. Unfortunately many spammers use this method and it’s not helping the marketing efforts of reputable companies, but keep in mind that if you plan on ‘marketing’ you will need to be creative with your subject lines.

    I’m not saying to deceive anyone into opening your email, but you’re not going to get good open rates by simply being an ‘honest’ person. You need to put effort into your subject lines.

    Getting people to open your email is the most important goal (aside from getting them to buy of course) of your email campaign. I understand that you personally hate being tricked into opening an email, but the simple fact is that if you can’t get someone to open your email, how will you get them to read it (and then buy)?

    As a marketer, I focus on creating subject lines that are well balanced with wording that excites the person into opening the email, but I don’t push it to the point where a person gets upset with my email.

    I have to admit that I’ve tried the deception method in the past (I’m talking years ago), but the truth is that this method doesn’t work very well. Once a person feels ‘deceived’ they are less likely to buy from you as you can imagine. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t get somewhat creative with your subject lines.

    I believe that you CAN create a sense of urgency in your subject line in order to get people to open up your email WITHOUT having to resort to deception and trickery.

    Another thing I’d like to mention is that if you’re in business YOU HAVE TO MARKET. Stop worrying about what ‘your’ personal feelings are and start TESTING. See for yourself what works and what doesn’t. I’m not saying to resort to bad tactics, but I AM saying to be creative and try your best to get them to open that email.

    P.S. I don’t like being deceived by subject lines either, but the truth is as a marketer, I understand what they’re trying to do and I don’t get as upset as some of you do. I simply delete and move on 

13. Pingback by Boring Is Better — June 11, 2009 @ 9:26 pm

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14. Comment by Zelimir Graf — June 15, 2009 @ 3:30 am

    Hi Edwin,

    thanks for this very insightful comment on the best e-mail marketing practices. I myself usually try to stay clear of the HTML as much as I can in autoresponders. I never know when an ISP might change its policy, and block my emails. So I always focus on the content, and much less on the design. I think that folks out there oughta remember that next time they build a newsletter and send it out to their subscribers. Thanks for the valuable content Edwin.

    Best
    Zelimir Graf