Email Marketing – Instructions (GD&M)
Overview
Companies use email marketing blasts to reach customers directly with product announcements, sales, specials, educational information, how to use a product, and recipes.
For this project, you’ll design one email marketing blast on MailChimp.com for the same client you did your packaging for.
These email marketing blasts will communicate a message similar to your packaging.
Grading Checklist
- Design one email marketing blast on MailChimp.com for the same client as your packaging. Create an email message you want to share regarding your packaged product with your customer.
- Size: Use any free standard template in MailChimp
- Photos from unsplash.com, pexels.com, or pixabay.com
- Write your own headlines as needed
- Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use the same type, photos, colors, design elements, etc., from your packaging.
Example of a student’s packaging email
This email communicates the same message as the packaging. It also uses the same brand identity (colors, type, layout, photos, design elements, etc.)
Thank you to Lynn P. for allowing me to use her design work.
Email marketing best practices
- Use a managed service like MailChimp or Constant Contact
- Focus on one main message per email blast
- Use buttons for call-to-actions
- Send one email per week
- Use a responsive template
- Schedule to send when your recipient will most need it (food = dinner time)
- Why do people sign up for email newsletters?
- Want more info on the subject or topic
- Want a focused message delivered to them
- Sales, coupons, deals
Make all images 1200 pixels, and MailChimp will automatically resize them for you.
This is helpful because you may use an image for a smaller block one time and a larger one the next time. You only have to store one image in MailChimp.
Use photos in their original high resolution. A 4000×3000 pixel photo is okay. If you shoot in RAW format, that might be too much—but you can always reduce the size in the MailChimp image editor (built into Mailchimp’s web-based interface).
Here’s a link to MailChimp’s Image Recommendations: https://mailchimp.com/help/image-requirements-for-templates/.
Tutorial: Create your email in MailChimp
1. Create your own MailChimp.com account and log in
First, go to mailchimp.com, create your own account, and then log in. If you already have an account, use that one. Be sure to save your login credentials. You may want to use your email in your portfolio.
2. Review the Mail Chimp web-based interface
I’ll show you how to create your first email during class. We’ll do it together so you have a starting point when you create your own.
Below is the email we’ll create together. It also shows what you should include in your email design
3. Design your email in Mail Chimp
Download the work along file:
I will walk you through the MailChimp web-based email designer in class. We’ll create one email together, and then you’ll create one yourself. The user interface is user-friendly, so you’ll create your own emails in no time.
Here’s a tutorial video introducing you to MailChimp’s online email designer
(11:11)
4. Choose your email’s topic
For this project, your email should be for the same client as your packaging.
5. Write your email first
Headline
This should be about 3–5 words, and tell your audience what you are trying to tell them in your email.
Body copy
Then, write a few sentences that elaborate on your headline’s message.
Call-to-action
Lastly, write your call to action. This should come at the end of your email message. What do you want them to do once they read your message? Give them a coupon with 25% off. Send them to your website to find a retailer near them. Ask them to donate to your cause. Send them to a specific page on your website and have them start shopping.
Type these directly into your MailChimp email.
6. Choose photographs
Once you have defined your message, you’ll need to find photos. These photos will help communicate your email’s message to your audience.
Get these photos from unsplash.com, pixabay.com, or pexels.com. You may also use your own photos if they have enough resolution and help communicate your message.
7. Make your photos web-friendly
This is an optional step because MailChimp recently updated its interface to downsize photos for you. But you can do this however you want. I’d make your photos 1200 pixels wide. The video shows 600 pixels, which is the old MailChimp. This is the fastest and simplest way to optimize your photos for your email (or on any website).
(2:19)
A slightly different approach to optimizing photos using Bridge and Photoshop. Watch this tutorial video that shows you how to make all of your photos web-friendly, 600×500 pixel images. Again, make your photos 1200 pixels wide. It will also show you how to place them into your MailChimp email.
(10:00)
8. Create your own header
Download the header .ai template
This is the Adobe Illustrator template to use for your header.
Watch this video showing how to make a header, save it, and upload it
This tutorial will show you how to create your 600 x 200 px email header in Illustrator (make yours 1200 pixels wide), save it as a web-friendly image, and upload it to your Mail Chimp email.
7:00 minutes
Watch this video to learn how to further adjust your header’s colors and logo
5:00 minutes
Once you finish and upload your header you should be done. That’s it! Your email blast should be done.
9. How to merge several screen captures together for your critiques
This video will show you how to take screen-captures of your final email blast in Mail Chimp, piece it together in Photoshop, save it for the web, and use it for your peer critique or post to social media.
9:00 minutes
Nice work!
Examples
These examples also benefit from:
- Logo to identify the company
- Brand colors throughout
- Consistent design style and layout
- Consistent typeface
- Lots of artwork
Emails with and without images
Many browsers initially block images from loading. You must click on a “View Images” button to get them to appear. To avoid this, simply add more HTML text to your email body.
Here is an example of an email that relies heavily on images to deliver its message. The first email does a poor job of delivering the message. I would suggest using more HTML text (like $5 Mugs – Offer Ends Soon!). This text displays immediately, it catches the viewer’s eye, and it engages them.
Student Examples
For this project, my students designed one email marketing blast for a company. Each blast focused on one specific message. Students researched, developed, designed, and created these blasts using Mail Chimp’s online web interface.
