Tip of the week 58: Crafting email newsletters during the time of crisis

In the past month or so, I've understandably received several coronavirus-related emails from the brands I use. Offering moral support to your customers, especially at unprecedented times like this, tells them you don't always mean business. I'm sure most of you are reading this saying, "Yes, I've done it already and will continue to do so. What's the takeaway for me here?"

However, wait, I'm going to discuss how you could execute your email campaigns faster during this remote work period. Also, I'll tell you how to ensure your emails being delivered to your audience's inbox.

Faster execution of email campaigns

With everybody embracing remote work, knowing a few time-saving methods help you send out your newsletters real fast.

Here are some of them:

1. Ask your team to upload the imagery-related content to the Library so you can quickly convert them into newsletters using the Template Editor. Creating a folder (preferably with the campaign's name) in the Library and adding every content element there goes a long way

2. If you already have the HTML code, upload it to the Template Editor and convert it into a template in minutes

3. Did you know that any sort of announcements you make in your website can be automatically converted and sent as emails to your audience? It's called RSS-to-Email Campaign. If your website has a RSS feed/content block, you can configure certain tags to pull in different parts of your (website) content to your email. A RSS-to-Email Campaign can be created by: entering the URL of your RSS feed, choosing the time zone, and scheduling the date and time

Quick reference: Here's a remote work guide for email marketers prepared by a fellow marketer.

COVID-19 templates from Zoho Campaigns

Realizing that instant and empathetic communication is the need of the hour, Zoho Campaigns has added a set of COVID-19 templates to its ready-made collection.

Designed using the industry-advised standards, the highlights of these templates are:

1. Usage of web font that's recognized and supported by all email clients

2. Lightweight HTML code for smooth rendering

3. Emphatetic content crafted to meet different messaging needs

Other ready-made templates

Zoho Campaigns also has pre-made templates in multiple categories. Simply pick one that suits your need, fit the content, and you're ready. However, you should check off a few things design- and content-wise to boost your email deliverability.

Note: The following checklist is also for those who design their templates from scratch.

Your checklist

1. Maintain a 40:60 image-to-text ratio.

2. Use fonts that are considered web safe.

Note: The pre-loaded fonts found in today's email marketing software fall under the web safe category

3. While designing templates on your own, ensure the HTML code is lightweight. The lighter it is, the better your templates' rendering.

4. Embed your hyperlinks as CTA buttons.

5. Avoid using too many hyperlinks.

6. Shy away from using shortened URLs.

7. Always preview how your templates render across devices and platforms.

Note: Zoho Campaigns helps you do this effectively with Litmus integration.

Quick reference: Here's an extensive email design guide written by a fellow marketer.

Hope this helped! A huge shout out to everyone who's practising social distancing while keeping work intact.

Regards,

Aravindhan S