Should my email design match my Web site?
Posted on July 29th, 2010 by admin | Filed under: Marketing News
It’s very important to use design elements—such as color, art, logos, etc.—to make visual connections between your Web site and your e-mail. When you sign up e-mail list members on your Web site, you want the e-mail to be an extension of the site that your customers recognize. If there is a disconnect because the e-mail doesn’t look like the Web site, your subscribers may think your e-mail is spam.
Conversely, when you send out e-mails with a call to action that takes recipients back to a landing page, you don’t want to confuse those readers by sending them to a Web site that doesn’t look like the company you portray in your e-mail.
This happened to me recently. I got an e-mail from a major airline that featured a color scheme that was predominately the company’s trademark yellow and orange. Clicking through to the airline’s Web site, I was shocked to land on a page that was mainly blue and purple. My initial thought was that I was on the wrong page. What I learned is that the company rebranded its Web site but has not carried the new branding elements through to its e-mail program.
While it’s not unusual for companies to rebrand or to freshen their brand, it’s important to keep some of the old elements—at least on a temporary basis—to bridge to the new brand. You also need to make sure that your e-mail program catches up at the same time. This can be a struggle if e-mail marketing and your Web site are managed by different groups, but the outcome is worth the effort.
When designing your e-mails, look to your Web site for design elements and incorporate some of those elements into your e-mail. If you have an html Web site, you can even use elements from the Web site to easily design your e-mail.
Remember: it’s all about integrating the same look and feel from Web site to e-mail, and even to printed marketing materials. Carrying a similar look throughout all these customer touch points makes customers comfortable with your brand, which in turn makes them comfortable pulling out their wallets.
Thanks to Carissa Newton
Leave a Reply