Does your email have great graphics, great content and great offers but nobody’s opening it? Maybe it’s because you’re making a lousy first impression.
Here’s some statistics (if I could have done the math, I’d have been a statistician):
49% of all respondents to a MarketingSherpa survey report using preview panes. The little window at the bottom or side of your email software that gives you a sliver of a view of an email’s content.
85% of Business to Business email users use preview (also known as reading) panes.
Why does this matter and how does it effect your email campaigns?
Here are a few graphics to illustrate (I would have been an artist except I can’t draw):
The Bad Preview Pane Example…
As you can see, the preview pane (2) shows no content because the email was constructed with all images and no text and, as with many email clients, images are turned off by default (1). At a minimum they should have used the alt image tag to describe the image content.
The only thing that potentially saves this email is that its subject line, “Do You Know What Great Managers Do” (3) is fairly strong. But if I’m visual and making decisions based on initial look I may decide that clicking the Show Images button is too much trouble particularly when my inbox is full as above. Knowing that this email described a Harvard sponsored seminar from management guru Marcus Buckingham might have positively influenced my open decision but this information is not available because it’s delivered graphically.
The Good Preview Pane Example…
The Mequoda Daily, on the other hand, does almost everything right…
Images are off (2) but the content of the email is clearly described in the preview pane friendly text box (1) that leads their message. Combined with a compelling subject line (3), I have all the information I need to make a positive open decision.
The final image shows what you see with the images on. The descriptive text remains constant and you have a glimpse of what appears to be an attractive title graphic heading the main body content. But the point is this:
- An attractive graphical layout to your email communications only works if it’s seen and
- To be seen it has to be opened and being opened is primarily a function of
- A strong subject line coupled with decisionable information in the 1.5 inches typically allowed for the preview pane. This is particularly important with Business to Business messages where the recipients curiosity is tempered by an often overwhelming volume of email and the desire to actually get productive work done. The preview pane – at 85% usage with this audience – appears to be a key filtering device for making open or delete decisions.
So do yourself a favor, check out how your emails look with images off in the preview pane and examine the strength of your subject lines while you’re at it.
