The truth about using images in your email campaigns

Ahhhhhhh......back from a long hiatus.........

When asked if it's suitable to place images in email campaigns, there's really no cut and dry answer, as I've been on both sides of this coin. If you look at heads, you have a really great image that has been developed by a superb art team that specializes in making images look they're best—and believe me they do. Then, flip the coin over, and you see text with maybe a small image and copy.

Which one would you choose?

Clearly, it depends on your objective. If you're looking to make “pretty,” then by all means, stick a big image in your email campaigns. Forget about those looking at it on their Blackberry because all they'll see is a jumbled mess. I hear your disagreements loud and clear already—you're saying “what if I use alt tags?” Sure, that's fine. You can use alt tags which will show if the image doesn't, and oftentimes, this is enough to get the point across. Not using alt tags is definitely a death warrant; if your subscribers have images turned off, they will only see a box with a red “x” in it. I know that's not what you want, is it?

Most popular email clients have images turned off by default these days. Gone are the days when you make the choice—they make it for you. This is sometimes true even if you've added this sender to your address book. Spam is alive and well these days, and your email clients are looking out for your best interest.

Still interested in using one big image in your campaign?

My suggestion is to use a small image in your HTML email to give it that ol' marketing flair. Then use a table to insert the copy with your call to action included. I recommend putting that copy “above the fold” and putting the image on the side, preferably on the right. That way, by the time the image downloads, you've read the copy anyway.