HTML email

mel123

Hi
Hopefully I have posted in the correct place.

I am going to try and attempt to do up an HTML email to send out to customers.
Im thinking something 'simple' like the groupon emails that go out.
Would anyone have any tips or know websites offering free tutorials on how to create these? Not entirely sure where I should start and what I need, for example, do I need specialist software?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Kenny Logins

http://www.toddle.com/ looks pretty good. Or Mailchimp if you want list management, advanced reporting on who read your email, who clicked the links etc. etc.

KonFusion

Using MailChimp might save you some hassle.

mel123

Is there any point in even trying a DIY job, is it too much hassle?

KonFusion

mel123 wrote: »

Is there any point in even trying a DIY job, is it too much hassle?

Personally I would say no. Not if you're learning from scratch.

Depends on your needs. Try mailchip and see for yourself sure.

tricky D

Far too much hassle for a few reasons.

You have to use all sorts of bad practices and know exactly how to execute them due to the poor quality of html email rendering.
Display is inconsistent and unreliable.
Delivery also has issues with inconsistency and unreliability.
Metrics and management can have large overheads.

Just go for a managed solution.

AnCatDubh

Perhaps explore the possibility of using some relevant templates - which isn't quite manual, but you are perhaps a little more in control.

Check out zurb responsive email templates. Though don't know the integrated stuff that services like mailchimp provide - these services can be very useful when launching specific campaigns in terms of monitoring and management of same.

Trojan

What tricky D said, it's not usually worth the hassle of rolling your own solution.

Aside from that, I'm a big fan of plain text emails, I think they work well and look great (i.e. familiar to viewer) in all clients

tricky D

Trojan wrote: »

Aside from that, I'm a big fan of plain text emails, I think they work well and look great (i.e. familiar to viewer) in all clients

Text, every time.

I use a kind of ancient old skool client for my primary accounts and some mail shots and only html email from 1 single entity has ever displayed properly for a host of reasons. It's no good putting loads of effort, ie. cost, making it all purty at the point of origin, if it becomes butt ugly at the recipient end - and it almost always will considering all the butchering that can and does happen in between.