Hi,

 

I've been asked to build a html doc for an email campaign. I've done this before so am aware I've got to revert to tables because the page will be viewed in an email client rather than a browser etc . . . I've also been asked to organise the distribution.

 

But what I'm not sure of is the following.

 

1. What's the best method to distribute it? (We'll be given a large database of recipients).

2. What do I need to consider re spamming and filters to ensure the widest delivery?

3. What are considered the best practices

4. Basically, what are the do's and don'ts.

5. Does anyone know of any useful resources (software, tutorials and such like) that will help me complete this task.

 

Thanks for any advice,

 

Jo.

The best thing is to get an account (it will cost) with one of the main companies who do this for a living, such as dotMailer (my personal favourite) or Campaign Monitor.

 

Benefits:

1. You can test if it goes to spam in all the major email and webmail clients

2. They have good wysiwyg editors

3. They have articles with useful tips

 

If you don't have the budget for that, here are the completely unfiltered contents of my "html emails" bookmark folder...

 

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/code-html...il-newsletters/

http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/07/18/...for-html-email/

http://www.anandgraves.com/html-email-guide

http://www.zend.com/zend/trick/html-email....mp;open=1#notes

http://www.out-law.com/page-5657

http://www.email-standards.org/

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/principle...iful-html-email

http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/archiv..._in_emai_2.html

Benefits:

1. You can test if it goes to spam in all the major email and webmail clients

2. They have good wysiwyg editors

3. They have articles with useful tips

 

... and there is no risk to breaking any T&Cs of your current host. Some are a bit touchy about doing anything at all that might be misconstrued as spamming.

 

The bigger players in this market have got that all under control, so less chance of getting into any trouble by accident. Even if there are any unforeseen issues, the website account won't be suspended and will still be up and running.

 

It's probably in ZigPress' resources, but just in case - Outlook 2007 doesn't support table background images, Groupwise doesn't support internal links, and Lotus Notes just unleashes carnage on anything it feels like!

It's probably in ZigPress' resources, but just in case - Outlook 2007 doesn't support table background images, Groupwise doesn't support internal links, and Lotus Notes just unleashes carnage on anything it feels like!

Its is but there's a more up to date version at http://www.campaignmonitor.com/css/

Its is but there's a more up to date version at http://www.campaignmonitor.com/css/

 

Thanks for this info!

 

I'm looking in to it now.

 

Onwards and upwards!!!

Haha, i use campaign monitor, it's really good. I just make a nice tidy markup on it (: The support (rarely used anyway) is top notch in my experience too.