It’s already September, and while the rest of us are taking one last summer vacation, diligent online marketers are coordinating budgets, hammering out timelines, and enlisting production resources for the looming holiday season. It’s also time to start asking some serious production questions of your email creative. Questions like, “How easily can I update my template?” and “Can my production staff handle an increased holiday workload?” need to be answered immediately in order to stay competitive this holiday season.

If you’re unsure how to gauge your creative’s holiday health, here are some criteria to measure against:

Speed is key
If your template isn’t easy to update and turn around, you may be missing out on some opportunities. Here are some turbo-boosting tips to speed things up:

• Use existing product image sizes, HTML text, and HEX colors in your email design. This will allow production artists to revise the template quicker, or make easier, on-the-fly updates.
• Coding the template effectively will allow your designers to concentrate more on new creative, rather than fixing rendering problems on existing campaigns.
• Design the template to allow account management resources to make last minute updates to creative without needing a creative resource.

Form follows function
Once your email is able to be updated without requiring the efforts of multiple designers, an art director and half of the coding department , you can continue down the path of presenting the main content:

• Pay attention to how the content is presented above-the-fold (the top 420 pixels of the email).
• Widen your template to 750 pixels to provide more space for content, graphics and copy.
• Have a clear visual hierarchy with defined sections for the user. Vary the size of the feature section, product slots, and secondary content enough to allow the user to quickly understand the structure of the email.
• Use graphical calls-to-action to improve user interaction with the email.

Innovate where it makes sense
Don’t add bells and whistles just because they’re different. Make email design innovation play a supporting role to the content. Here are some popular trends this season:

• Since most emails today require the user to scroll vertically, test out one that scrolls horizontally. We’ve seen several of these come across our review table that redefine the way the user interacts with the email. Not sure if this is something that should be tested within the holiday season, but it’s definitely innovative and catchy.
• Countdown clocks that automatically display the time left within a given timeframe are perfect for the holidays. They can tell the user how many days they have left in a sale, or until free shipping is over.

While a good looking and highly interactive template is important for the brand, the user will focus more on the products being offered, sales and promotions and overall message. Having a template that can swap out these elements quickly, efficiently, and most importantly, repeatedly, is paramount to a successful holiday run.

Tags: countdown clock, creative, email design tips, email template, email width, holidays, horizontal scrolling email, template flexibility

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