Quick Case Study: Email Appearance

For those of you sending emails...which I would imagine is most of you...make sure you take the time to test the appearance of your email messages in a variety of browsers and ISPs prior to sending the message.

For instance, take a look at the example I received today from South Carolina.

Here is what the email looked like when I viewed it in Outlook (via the Reading Pane option):


Not that appealing.

As you can see, Microsoft Outlook (which we all know is just trying to protect me from people like that guy in Africa with the $5 million dollars) has decided to block all of the images within the email. Which, in this case (due to the HTML coding) makes the email nearly impossible to decipher.

At this point, I think you can safely assume that most users reach for the delete key.

Here is how the email is suppose to look:


Ah, that is better. And a pretty good looking email, too.

Now, I should not pick on South Carolina too much for this mistake, because I know (like many of you as well) I am guilty of the same error.

However, with the amount of advertising clutter the average traveler wades through each day, you need to ensure that they can quickly recognize your message.