Can I send attachments with email broadcasts?

Yes, you certainly can. Consider other alternatives as well. Like incorporate the details into the email body itself or create links for your clients to click to for more information.

If you do decide to send attachment, keep it safe with a small attachment <2MB. If the attachment is too large, some mail servers may block the email or automatically remove the attachment.

Can I add a quicktime, swf or flash to my eDM?

There are softwares that can insert Flash or videos into your emails. However we strongly advise against it for a simple reason - most email client will display videos formats in an email. So your clients won't be able to see it. Might not be worth the effort. Alternatively, include a link to the movie file on your website.

How can I make sure my email are CAN-SPAM compliant?

Every country has its own Spam or Anti-Spam laws. Each country will have their own regulations. If you're planning to send out a fair number of broadcasts to a specific country, would be to spend some time looking up its legislation.

Regardless of where you are, some general concepts apply :

• An option to opt-out or unsubscribe
• Being a legitamate sender, valid email header
• Valid company and contact information
• In Singapore, you need to have in the subject header for unsolicited emails

My emails / edms are not displaying properly in Outlook

Designing for Outlook has some added requirements.

Recent versions of Outlook (2003 onwards) has been created using the Word rendering engine. Unfortunately, that means it does not have a very good CSS rendering capability.

The most common problem with outlook is it does not render background images. If your clients are primarily using Outlook, maybe worthwhile to review Microsoft's HTML and CSS Rendering Capabilities in Outlook.

An alternative to consider is to include web version of your email. As good practice, it is good to add at the top of your eDM " If you do not see this email, Click Here "

What would be the optimal size for eDM on Mobile?

It's a little easier these days. Some smart phones will automatically resize emails to fit the screen. Users can also resize their screens.

However, if you're trying to design for both desktop and mobile, try to get it below 500 pixel.

Mobile screens are much smaller. Most mobile email readers are around 300 - 350 pixels. iPhones are 300-pixel width when vertically and 480-pixel when in landscape

Why isn't my CSS code working properly?

Email clients such as Gmail and Hotmail will not render any code before the tag. So remember to always make use of inline CSS. Add your styles to the individual elements i.e. tables, text. This may take a lot longer to do but will ensure that your emails look good for everyone that views them.

What size should my Newsletter or eDM be?

There is no specific size that your edm should be.

However, most user would be OK to scroll up and down. Scrolling left to right however, is a pain.

So try to keep your eDMs or newsletters below 650 pixels. That is sufficient for most desktops. It will ensure your users won't have to scroll horizontally to view the content of your email.

Tried to make my eDM nicer with Java but it doesn't seem to be working.

Strictly no JavaScript to your email. Email clients will not understand this and it will turn out quite differently.

Added Forms to my edms but why aren't they working?

It will work on some email clients but not all. Submitting a form to an external page would generally be considered a security risk by most email clients. Different email clients will treat forms differently. Some email clients will simply disable the forms, they are :

• Mac
• AOL Webmail
• Outlook

See the 2 examples below:

Should I optimise my edm / Newsletter for mobile?

There are many reports on the email opens occurring on a mobile device. This statistics range from 15-50%. Reading on a computer screen can be quite different from reading on a mobile device. So would be good to apply responsive design on your eDMs and Newsletters

3 things most people forget ....

• When creating your email campaigns, make sure all your HTML is correct. Invalid HTML not only causes rendering problems, but increases your spam rating.
• Most people set to use the preview pane in their desktop email client. That's the first thing that your clients will see on receiving your eDM. The preview pane is usually around 300-400 pixels high. Be sure to focus your efforts on this prime real estate!
• Have a web version of your email. This way, if for one reason or another, your edm does not display properly in their email client, they can still see it online.

Can I just send an image as the edm (i.e. image-based email)?

Image-based emails are simple, easy method of delivering a pretty design without having to be concerned with programming or client platform. There are however some disadvantages to consider. Several popular spam filters apply algorithms with HTML-to-text ratio. Image blocking by a user would render the eDM totally unreadable. In the example below from TigerAir. In HTML even if the images are blocked, the reader can still see all the offers.