5 Strategies to Engage Users When Mail Clients Suppress Images

The Great Suppression
5 Strategies to Engage Audience Members
When Images are Suppressed by Mail ClientsThe Great Suppression: 5 Strategies to Engage Audience Members When Images are Suppressed by Mail Clients
t was finally ready. You sent test messages, every link worked, and you finally selected the perfect image to communicate your message. The email Ilooked so good you were tempted to click the Act Now! button yourself. So why are you now getting complaints about your message being distorted? Why is your response rate lower than expected, and-worse yet-your unsubscribe rate higher than expected? The ability to block
Many Subscribers Block Email Images images in emails gives
Disabling images improves security and privacy, and it can speed up download times control to recipients. while cutting down on the amount of advertising being displayed in user inboxes. In some email clients, image suppression (or "images off") is now the default setting. Corporate Don't let it control the IT policies and personal preferences are resulting in image suppression being a de facto standard. In a recent SubscriberMail survey of executives, approximately 60 percent stated effectiveness of your that images were turned off on their email clients. message.Many email marketers are beginning to address this important issue, but some have yet to implement appropriate tactics. In a 2007 study, the Email Experience Council found that 21 percent of the emails they reviewed appeared blank when images were turned off.
This real-world example shows an email message displayed above the fold with images off.Would you open it...or delete it?
2 Copyright ©2008 SubscriberMail.The Great Suppression: 5 Strategies to Engage Audience Members When Images are Suppressed by Mail Clients
Optimize to Improve Results
The benefits of addressing the image suppression issue are significant. A recent controlled study by SubscriberMail demonstrated the response improvements gained by optimizing an email message to have impact even when images are not displayed.
In this study, an email message that was not optimized for image suppression was sent to a test panel of approximately 50,000 subscribers. Simultaneously, a panel of similar makeup received a version of the same message optimized for non-graphical display. Compared to the non-optimized version, the optimized version saw an 87 percent increase in clicks.
Art and Science
The data gathered from the study reinforces the value of optimizing email messages. Optimization is an Optimization is an art and a science-it takes time to refine, but the results can be rewarding. Here are five keys to turn a message with images into one that has impact even art and a science- when images are off. it takes time to refine, 1) Start with text. If you embed the text of a key message in an image without proper optimization, you are decreasing the likelihood that the message will be conveyed to but the results can be recipients. With that in mind, design emails to have key messages displayed as text above the fold. Also consider placement of key messaging in text form near the upper left hand rewarding.corner where readers are mostly likely to look first. This may be a design challenge, but a smart use of text-based content can make a big difference.
Remember this email from the previous page? Through the use of optimization techniques, it's now easy for recipients who have images blocked to see the key messages.
3 Copyright ©2008 SubscriberMail.The Great Suppression: 5 Strategies to Engage Audience Members When Images are Suppressed by Mail Clients
2) Consider HTML colors. As with text, using HTML to code colors into your email will make it more attractive to recipients not displaying images. You can hide an HTML color field behind an image-for example, behind a graphical response button. If that graphical response button is blocked, the HTML color field will then display, allowing your response link to stand out.
With images on. ... [download for more]