Spam emailing, Mrs. calling herself “Dear Sir”, the legendary featuring Christmas tree x snowflakes in visuals for the 5th year running… Looking for the ideal checklist for a successful digital greeting card? All you had to do was ask! Wilo offers you its own recipe, with 10 unbeatable tips for creating a successful digital greetings card.
Reading time: 4 min
1 – Clean up your work plan: have a verified, clear and complete database
Database cleansing is the
b.a.-ba
before embarking on the production of a digital greetings card (or any emailing). The reference company, the addressee’s function, civility and politeness (Dear, Dear…) must always be included. Don’t hesitate to use your faithful companion Ctrl + F to check for semicolons and quotation marks that may have crept into your database emails… Syntax errors are the most common!
2 – Choosing the right mold: routing tool or Outlook mailbox
There are two options for sending your greetings card digitally. The first is the use of a routing tool (such as mailchimp), which offers a number of advantages, including automatic database cleansing, statistics and an easy-to-use email creation tool.
The second option is to use Outlook e-mail. However, this alternative requires the use of an OFT* format (default Outlook format), which requires the intervention of a web developer. Please note: no statistics are available for this messaging service.
3 – Respect the indicated doses:
monitor the weight of your emailing
Respect the recommended mailing standards to ensure proper reception! An email that’s too heavy is likely to end up as spam. It is advisable not to exceed 500 kb, including text, images and html links.
Pssst: a good-quality photo is already 300 kb.
4 – Apply the tricks of the trade: get around spam traps
A successful greetings card means avoiding spam traps. Fortunately, it’s not all down to chance. The pros’ golden rule for minimizing losses is to ensure that the text/image ratio is always in favor of the text. In other words, if you rely exclusively on a visual greeting card, the e-mail service may consider it as advertising and send it directly to spam. So always give priority to text over image. And no, if you’re wondering, text on an image is still an image!
5 – Offer a lighter version: the more choices, the less hassle
There are a few complications when your recipients use Outlook. The design of emailings may change depending on the settings for each account and each version of Outlook. The basic settings do not allow images to be viewed, and most Outlook users do not change the initial settings.
To avoid any uncertainty, the solution lies in adding an “open e-mail in browser” option at the top of the e-mail. The additional presence of this link allows the recipient to be redirected, if they so wish, to the online version of the emailing, and ensures that the greetings card is displayed as designed.
6 – Survey your guests : adapt the mailing format and content
The content and format of a greeting card depend on the nature of the message to be conveyed. If you want to share a concise message, it’s a good idea to use a mailing only, with a good base and dynamic creative. On the other hand, if you’ve done a lot of storytelling, don’t try to shoehorn everything into your mailing: opt for a video format, accessible from the mailing, which gives you plenty of room to develop your message properly.
7 – Coming up with an attractive name: an insignificant but crucial step
The subject line is the key word. This is the first aspect that will encourage the reader to open the e-mail or, on the contrary, encourage him to look away. It needs to be well thought-out! Forget capital letters and exclamation marks, and write a subject line between 62 and 80 characters including spaces. The main message should always be positioned at the top of the object, so that the reader has the essential information at a glance.
8 – Dressing the table: design a creative concept in line with your brand
There are two creative choices when it comes to the visual design of a greetings card: stay in line with your graphic charter, or break the codes and go for disruption. This decision is based on the positioning and seniority of your company. A company that has been established in its market for ten years or so can afford a greetings card that hijacks its visual identity. On the other hand, a young company with a brand-new graphic charter has every interest in highlighting it and composing around its distinctive elements.
9 – Easy cutting: keep it simple and reduce the risk margin
Be careful when using GIFs! To echo our troublemaker again and again, it’s important to know that GIFs don’t work on some versions of Outlook. We therefore advise you to ban GIFs from your greeting cards. Instead, we recommend the video format, which requires direct viewing on the browser. Fewer doubts equals an optimized greeting card!
10 – Think of tomorrow: zero waste
A digital greeting card doesn’t just die after it’s been read… everything can be reused! Remember to use the creativity of your greeting card to communicate via your email signature or social networks throughout the holiday season. However, it’s advisable to wait 24 hours after sending the email before publishing the first posts, to maintain a certain exclusivity with your direct contacts. And don’t forget to stay consistent with the concepts/messages defined in the digital greeting card. There’s no need to start from scratch with your network communications.
