Just like your website, email is one of the main faces of your business and often the first contact potential customers will experience. So you can’t afford not to do it properly. But ever since I started out in the business, people seem to have been making the same old mistakes over and over again. That makes it a great subject for the latest in my series of blog posts which are looking increasingly like they should be called “rants from a grumpy old web guy”.
Logos in your email messages
Given that emails are an essential part of everyday business communication, it’s logical that they should reflect and promote your brand. So a discreet logo in an email footer is fine, in fact it should be encouraged. But if no thought is given to the way it is presented, you may be doing more harm than good.
Nearly every email I get with a logo at the bottom is interpreted by my computer as a message that contains an attachment. This means that if I want to glance through a list of emails I’ve received from a particular sender, in the hope of finding the one that had that vital document attached to it, I’m out of luck. Every single one will show as containing attachments, so I’ll have to open them all until I find the one I want. Annoying. They’ll take up more space on my hard drive too. Irritating and unnecessary. The correct way to display a logo is to use a snippet of HTML code that displays an image stored on an external server, just like a web page does. If you don’t know how to do this, get an expert to do it for you.
Make it small and discreet too, and leave some space around it, which is what graphic designers refer to as an ‘exclusion zone’. Big logos squashed in between text are unfashionable and unprofessional. They look as if they were plonked clumsily on there as an afterthought. You may as well add a line of text saying “This footer was designed by an amateur. We’re too lightweight to get it done properly”.
If you really want that amateur look, why not include all the additional logos for that award you won last year, the trade body you belong to and a big Twitter badge? That way, you can detract from your own logo, dilute your brand and clog up your recipients mailbox with even more attachments. Marvellous.
Those legal disclaimers at the bottom
Automatic email footers with so-called legal disclaimers aren’t just irritating, they’re absolutely useless from a legal perspective. A European Commission directive tells courts to disregard any unreasonable contractual obligation on a consumer if he has not freely negotiated it. A footer telling the recipient not to use the message contents to do something unlawful would offer no protection whatsoever to the sender of message that prompts an action which later turns out to be a bit illegal.
Even more absurd is the footer telling the receiver to delete the message if it wasn’t intended for them… well, duh! Why not remind them not to drink other peoples coffee too? How much paper is wasted every year by people having to print this dross when they choose to print an email out?
Lawyers and internet policy experts are unanimous in their opinion that these footers are useless. No court has ever based a verdict on the presence or otherwise of one, even in America, the most litigious country in history.
Why do companies use them? Simple, because they’ve seen other people do it, and they figure it can’t do any harm. The untrained believe it is essential, and among legal professionals it has become a habit, a bit like wearing ridiculous wigs in court.
The most damning indictment of all against these pointless footnotes is also the most simple fact; people stopped reading them long ago. They are just an office annoyance, something you have to scroll through when you’re searching for the content in a thread. All those wasted words go completely unread and unheeded.
Comic fonts and coloured text
Comic Sans MS was the name given to a typeface designed for Microsoft to inject a bit of innocent fun into Windows users lives. I’m sure the designer had no idea of the abomination he was unleashing on the world when he produced this seemingly innocuous font. Now it has become the most ubiquitous, innapropriately overused font in history. It is the mark of an amateur. Why any business professional thinks an email typed in this font will enhance their image is beyond comprehension.
Even those who don’t use Comic Sans will sometimes make a valiant attempt to flower their messages up using type in multiple colours, sizes and conflicting styles, including plenty of upper case, italics and underlining. Featuring, of course, lots of bright red and pink. The result is a shocking mess that’s difficult to read, painful to the eyes, and makes the sender look like they’re selling something not worth buying.
Hotmail
Long ago, when the web was young, Microsoft purchased a company called Hotmail. Theirs had been a simple but wonderful idea; offer everyone a free email account they can access from anywhere through a web browser. They were one of the first, and had managed to get ahead of the game. They weren’t making billions out of their free product, but they were riding high in the popularity stakes and Microsoft saw the potential.
Hotmail, or Windows Live as they call it these days, became the default choice because most ordinary consumers don’t know any alternatives exist. Microsoft uses their dominant presense on the desktop to market the hell out of it, and reaps the rewards by pushing their other products at users of the service.
But with size comes a lot of disadvantages. It is a huge target for spammers, hackers and criminals. All the good names are taken. Messages from Hotmail addresses frequently get trapped in spam filters, because it is assumed they may be junk.
Worst of all, messages tend to include a footer, which consists of an advert for Microsoft products. Whether it’s Hotmail itself, Windows 7 or whatever else they’re plugging this month, your message will be used to spread their message.
All of which leads me to ask one simple question: Why in God’s name would anyone trying to present a serious business image use Hotmail? Is a message from a rubbish email address with someone else’s advert plastered all over it the best way to make you look good? I’ve even seen some with smileys on them. Animated cartoon smileys on a serious business message. Words fail me.
Domain names cost £2.95 for a .co.uk, and you get email facilities with them. Three quid and you could be sending emails from you@yourcompany.co.uk. Surely that looks more professional than john_smith8749@hotmail.com?
If you really must use free webmail, consider this one fact about Hotmail: Like all Microsoft products, it really isn’t very good. Other alternatives are much better.
Unsubscribe
The line between legitimate marketing emails and spam is a fine one, and you shouldn’t cross it. Obey all the rules. Make sure yours is an opt-in list. Don’t send messages every day, unless you’ve stated very clearly in advance that this is a daily message. Above all, give people an easy way, at the bottom of each and every message, to unsubscribe from your list. If you don’t, you’re no better than spammers who sell dodgy watches and male enhancement pills, and your business will lose a lot of respect as a result.
Conclusion
The way you conduct yourself in email can go a long way towards shaping how potential customers perceive your business . Emailing the professional way is easy and cheap. If you need any help, I’ll be happy to oblige. Ask me.
Tags: Comic Sans, Email, Hotmail
