Choosing effective design elements for your marketing emails is as important as the written content. You wouldn't watch an online video that's poor in picture quality, and your customers aren't interested in reading marketing emails that are poorly designed. With the many free and paid email templates and creation software available, there's no excuse for sending out such emails to your customer base.
Leave Out Images
Not having images in your email may seem boring. However, there's a good reason why successful online marketers send marketing emails without them. The email recipient's email service is more often than not going to block those images from appearing. You would have wasted your time, and it will make your emails look awkward. Some professionals try to solve this problem by including a tag in the image, so that the reader knows what's supposed to be in the box with the red 'x' that doesn't show anything. Not all of your readers will see those tags, because some email systems block tags out as well. Make your email shine without images, and include links back to your website or blog where they can see wonderful images in your posts or pages.
Explain What to Do First
As a work-at-home mom, you understand how hectic life gets. The few moments you have to spend reading emails consist of you previewing them to see what's worth reading and moving on if nothing grabs your attention. Your customers are the same way, and a good email design will capture their attention when they preview many emails at once. One way to pull them in to read more is to call them to action. Tell them what to do up front. For example, invite them to click on a link to receive an amazing discount, or to download an exclusive and free ebook. Reel them in first, give them an idea of what's going on, and entice them to click on a link that leads them back to your website.
Don't Hide the Option to 'Unsubscribe'
Every one of your marketing emails are an opportunity to establish your brand identity. You don't want to be remembered as "that company" or "that professional" who spams people. Hopefully you acquired each email recipient's permission to send them an email before they received it in their inbox. However, those same readers might want to unsubscribe from your list, and hiding the option to do that or making it difficult is more than annoying. It casts your company in a negative light, and any success you made with that person up to that point will be lost. Don't send any email without the option to unsubscribe, and make the links stand out. Choose a program that requires only one click from the recipient. Don't make them jump through hoops to get off your mailing list.
From Address
Use your company name if it's separate from your individual name. Otherwise, you may end up in the spam folder even though you received permission to send marketing emails. The recipient may not remember a different name and will delete your email on sight.
Hire a contractor to help with the technical aspects of creating well designed marketing emails. There are also website services, like www.constantcontact.com, that can guide you step by step through designing great emails.
