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EMailer Design

davisjw

davisjw

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 28, 2006
128
0
Richmond, Va
I've been tasked with creating an Emailer for a friend (the kind you get from say Barnes & Noble).

I've done some research but have yet to find out how you exactly design and implement one. It appears you use HTML so does that mean, it's general practice to create it in Photoshop and slice it up while converting it into objects?

I'm not really looking to add any sections where people need to add information (probably will down the road) just maybe a simple click to be directed toward the website. Well you of course do have to be able to insert the content to be e-mailed.

Any ideas where to begin? Or where to go after creating it in Photoshop.

Thanks for your time and help!
 
If you go to MailChimp.com, they have some templates available to work with. Also, if you do some Googling, you'll find lots of information available concerning how to format your emails (i.e. max suggested width, etc).

I think you aren't getting a lot of replies to your posting because it is a bit vague what, exactly you are asking. It seems to me you are asking how to build the emailer web application. If that is what you mean, then you are probably best not to pursue helping your friend because you will need to write it in some sort of server side language (e.g. Ruby, PHP, Drupal, CodeIgniter, .Net - to name but a few). If this is not what you meant then I offer my sincere apologies.

Good luck!
 
HomeBru Studios said:
If you go to MailChimp.com, they have some templates available to work with. Also, if you do some Googling, you'll find lots of information available concerning how to format your emails (i.e. max suggested width, etc).

I think you aren't getting a lot of replies to your posting because it is a bit vague what, exactly you are asking. It seems to me you are asking how to build the emailer web application. If that is what you mean, then you are probably best not to pursue helping your friend because you will need to write it in some sort of server side language (e.g. Ruby, PHP, Drupal, CodeIgniter, .Net - to name but a few). If this is not what you meant then I offer my sincere apologies.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Sorry for being vague but thanks for the reply and suggestions!

Let me see if I can reword this: My friend owns a company and every week he wants to send an e-mail to people with tips, suggestions, etc based around his contracting business. He needs from me a design that he can use to send out these mass e-mails. So he needs it with his logo, nice pictures, some artwork, etc.

My question is, if I design it in Photoshop how do I then get it so he can use it as an e-mail template where he can add his own text (which he changes every week).

Thanks!
 
youll have to design it in a program your buddy has access too so that he may edit it as he pleases, you may want to try something or similar to ms publisher -- very easy to output to an email client (but doesnt work on a mac)...
 
I have access to a PC as well as a Mac so I will see what MS Publisher has to offer. Do you have any ideas as to which other programs he would need to edit the materials?

Ya, I've found articles to show you how to do the CSS coding, I'm wondering how I get to a point where I need to program it. Do I slice the Photoshop file and somehow import it into Outlook for instance?

Sorry for all the questions!
 
Interesting suggestion arkitect, I've never done that but will explore it!

I was thinking of another way to present what I'm trying to do and I guess an e-newsletter is another way of saying it. So to refresh the statement, I'm trying to figure out how to design and implement an e-newsletter in a template format so new text can be added every week.
 
I agree with the guy above - you should check out MailChimp.com. It's free for small amounts and reasonable fees for more. It will take care of image hosting etc and make sure the content is deliverable on the widest scope of platforms. So maybe have a look, set up a template, and get your boss to have a loot through with you so he knows how to pick a template and use it?

Not saying the other ideas are bad, just that using a service like this will probably suite you best by the sounds of it...

/Doug
 
I would recommend Mail Chimp too, but if you don't go for that, here's some tips.

It's out of Date and ugly, but use tables to lay out your design. CSS just won't work - I'm not even sure if inline CSS fares any better to be honest.

99.99% (ok... the vast majority) of your Audience will be using Outlook or a derivative, so you'll need to keep the design 600px wide, using no CSS and standard Web Fonts. You'll need to put an alternative text-based mail out within the same message so those that don't download pictures or might open the mail on their BlackBerries can have a chance at reading the message to be portrayed.

By law, you need to keep track of those that wish to unsubscribe from communications, as well as have some way of monitoring bounce backs.

If you send regularly to a high volume of people, then you're likely to have the domain you send from blacklisted by Spam Cop et al.

In summary, your best bet is to use MailChimp or similar. If you decide not to, then I wish you all the luck in the world, and to please ask if you need any more info!
 
i did one for the company that i work 2 days ago
it was all CSS and tables
divs doesnt work for emails for somehow
in line styles, i dont like to use images
slice images and set it over the table,
most email servers/softs disable that kind of content,
so try to use the minimun of images, the only image that i did on mine was the header, the rest its pure CSS and html, and colors of course,
took like 2 days to set it all ok to crossbrowsing and diffrent email softwares

good luck
 
keep it simple... don't reinvent the wheel

I agree you should check out MailChimp, but you should also check out Vertical Response, Constant Contact, iContact or campaignmonitor.com. Most email marketing sites allow quite a bit of customization, so you would still be creating the framework of the look and feel. However, there is a lot of handy backend features that they bring (and automate) like list management for opting in and out.

Campaignmonitor allows you to mark-up the pricing, and will pay you the difference (passive income is the new buzzword for those of us on our own).

There is a good article here, but the link given above is even better: http://www.anandgraves.com/html-email-guide

While you can indeed accomplish your goal with just with Photoshop and your mail program, there are a lot of other tools out there that will make your (and your clients) life a lot easier.
cheers,
michael
 
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