The Perceived Value of Email Design

As email marketing continues to grow in both breadth and depth, I’ve observed that there is still surprising void in the supplier marketplace, those organizations that both create and improve the performance of the email message, or creative, itself.

In direct mail there are countless copy writers and designers who are charged with beating controls. In the online space there are companies that focus solely on improving the performance of corresponding landing pages. Even in email marketing there are many fine organizations that provide high-level optimization intelligence solutions.

Why then are there are few firms that provide comprehensive solutions that are specific to email marketing creative; companies that provide the strategy and creative and testing, from beauty to brains. Companies that create messages that are on brand, highly deliverable, and optimized.

This void cannot be due to a lack of need — so is it the perceived value of the offering? Does the perceived value keep away many would-be solution providers? To scratch this itch, I posted a poll on LinkedIn which asked:

What are you willing to pay for a professionally developed email creative?

- Nothing. We do it in-house.
- Less than $500
- $500-$1,000
- $1,000-$2,000
- More than $2,000

Vote or View Poll Results Here

For me, I found the results and corresponding comments surprising to say the least. What say you?

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Davemail: The Email Newsletter Experts?

I recently received a newsletter from Davemail, a company that provides managed email marketing services, from design to copy writing to delivery.

The content was snappy, fresh and on point and brand. The subject line  reminded me of who the sender was and what the the content centered around. Good stuff. Dave even remind me to follow him on Twitter, a far better alternative than the traditional Forward to a Friend functionality.

All-in-all it was a  good email…expect for how the email rendered in Gmail. See for yourself:

Davemail newsletter: Pre-download.Davemail newsletter: Pre-download.
Davemail has major issues in Gmail.Davemail has major issues in Gmail.

If davemail were not the experts I would give them a grade of B- but considering their value proposition and service offerings I must give them a solid D.

In their defense, the message rendered pretty well in Outlook and AOL, but you can’t forget Gmail and it’s growing market share.

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Target Marketing + Macromark = One Bad Email

You’d think that a email list brokerage and management company like Macromark or the sender/list owner, Target Marketing Magazine, would know a thing or two about email rendering, alt tags, text-to-image ratios, constrained images proportions, snippets, or pre-header text. Apparently not.  Check out this little beauty:

Before the images were downloaded.Dear Macromark, Your self promotions are crap. Sincerly, Email Critic

Besides the fact that I recognized the sender name, Target Marketing, this email would be a textbook example of what NOT to do.

The subject line “New To The Market at Macromark!” is unmotivated and generally uncreative. I can only assume that Macromark must think I’ve been waiting around all year for their new to market list. Goody, it must be Christmas.

Don’t even get me started on the text-to-image ratio or the countless missed opportunities to engage me. Frankly, there are too many points to cover in a concise post. Put it this way, I would normally show you what the promo would look like once the images were downloaded and give a full critique but this email is simply too bad to give them the exposure. Sorry Mac.

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