Email Marketing Tips – Getting A Professionally Designed HTML Newsletter

Things to Ask Your Designer

You’ve realized your current HTML newsletter isn’t really doing you any favors,  and have made the executive decision to find a professional designer to make you a newsletter that’s going to help your email marketing efforts, as opposed to hindering them. Great! ….but before you hire a designer there’s a few things you need to think about first.

Is this a one-off newsletter? Or do I want a template to use again and again?

This is probably the most important question.  If a designer is asked to create you an HTML email newsletter then that’s exactly what you will get. They will hand over the HTML code on completion and then you will send it out to your contact list and all that’s fine, but what happens when the following week you want to send out another newsletter? If you’re a coding whiz then no problem, you will just load up the HTML code and put in your new content! The problem comes when you’re not comfortable tinkering about in HTML code. Your designer isn’t gong to put in your new content free of charge so unless you’re happy paying them to edit your newsletter every time you want to send one out then you may need to rethink your approach.

What if I use an Email Marketing Service?

Using an Email Marketing Service such as  Constant Contact is always a great idea and if you are serious about email marketing you probably already have an account with one of them, however the same issue applies with externally created HTML emails. All these services offer two different ways to create email newsletters, the first is to start with one of their existing templates and using their online editor, adapt it to your needs, OR you can paste in the HTML code your designer gave you.

So now I can easily edit my HTML email right?

Wrong. The two methods of creating emails within your Email Marketing Service are not interchangeable, so if you paste in HTML code you will not be able to use the Email Marketing Service’s editor to change your email, so you’re right back at square 1!

So how do I get a professionally designed, AND resuable marketing email

Find an email designer who will build you an email template WITHIN your Email Marketing Service account and before you hire them make sure they have experience with your particular Email Marketing Service. They are all different, and designing an email within any of them is a very different process to coding an external HTML email. Make sure you view examples from their portfolio that prove they have a firm grasp of the editing environment of your Email Marketing Service. Once the Email is in your account you will be able to make a copy of it each time you want to send out a new edition and add your new content within the editing environment of your Email Marketing Service. This way you won’t have to touch a single line of HTML code.

So why don’t I just use my Email Marketing Service’s templates? Do I even need a designer?

The templates provided are very generic, and although you can certainly add your own content, links and images fairly easily you probably won’t be able to achieve a highly polished and professional email that will stand out among the gazillions of emails that your mailing list receive each day. A good email designer is worth their weight in gold when it comes to capturing the attention of your readers, increasing your click-through rate, and properly reflecting your branding into the design of your email.

Click here to view our extensive Constant Contact design portfolio, and request a quote for a reusable email design