If you are designing a new template, or still have the design files from your existing templates, then please send us a mock-up of your email in a .psd file.

In addition to the .psd file you will need to send us a text file with the general dimensions, fonts and colors. It helps if you include an image of the email and clearly label which design elements refer to which specifications, as in this example:

If you want to base your template on an existing email, you can simply send us the HTML code. We will then rebuild the email to those standards, and ensure that it looks the same on all supported browsers and clients.

The HTML file should contain your entire stylesheet, so you do not need to supply any details regarding the dimensions, font or colors. However, you should provide the following:

• A screenshot of the email as you expect it to look, with details of the mail client and browser versions which are displaying it.
• Clearly mark any images or links that you do not want to be editable.

First, make sure that you are absolutely clear what the message of the email will be. This will have a knock-on effect for the rest of the decisions you make. 

Questions to consider include: 

• Your campaign is a direct channel from you to the inbox of your customers; does it reflect your corporate CI and represent your brand? 
• Does the overall layout fit your industry sector? 
• Is this a seasonal campaign (such as Christmas Sales), a one-off (such as a welcome email), or a recurring one which will need regular content changes?

How much personalization will you be using? And do you plan to use block targeting? 

Whenever you include dynamic content like this there is always a chance that some contacts will not qualify to see it and your design should be flexible enough to compensate for that. In other words, avoid a design that might show white space if dynamic content is not included.

The Emarsys email editor makes it very easy to create responsive emails that look great on mobile devices as well as desktops. However, with such a wide variety of screen sizes and shapes it is not always clear which version will be displayed on which device.

When preparing your template design, it is worth asking yourself if you are a mobile first business or not. 

If you are, you should base your design on standard mobile screens (i.e. with single-column layout and large CTAs). The content will be scaled up when opened on desktop, but will guarantee a great effect on any mobile device. 

You have a key area of 2-3 inches (5-8 cm) which is visible in most mail client preview panes. In this very limited space, the added value, your corporate branding and editorial/personalization should be visible, even without the images being displayed.

If nothing valuable is shown here, try to improve the design. Have a look at some best-practice examples if you need ideas. For very large emails, you should consider using a table of contents (TOC). Ask the Emarsys Consultants to explain how this can affect template’s behavior.

Do you want to be able to change global styles such as font or bgcolor easily? If so, specify them and we will add them as variables.

If you want the template created in more than one languages, you will also have to provide the following information:

• Specify clearly which texts need to be translated.
• In addition to the creative artwork files, also send us a table with all the translated strings.

Before you submit your final specifications, it is a good idea to provide us with a draft of the design as a image (.jpeg or .png file). Then we can give you early feedback that might save you time.

You will need to specify the following:

• The total width of the design; this should not exceed 650 px.
• Horizontal and vertical spacing between blocks and columns (this should follow a uniform logic).
• Maximum image heights and widths.
• Font type to use (no custom or non-web fonts - you can check if your font is compliant here).
• Desired font color as 6-digit hex code (e.g. #dd15as).
• Desired font size in pixels. Stick to font sizes between 10 px and 19 px (8 pt – 14 pt) and avoid half-pixels.
• Style for linked text within the body text (e.g. underlined, different color, etc.).
• Style for linked text in headings, if different.

If you have any additional requirements such as links or images that should not be editable, then please include them as well.

Background images should be avoided since some email clients, for example Outlook 2007 and 2010, do not display them (or at least not fully). 

• If you do want to create a content block with text laid over an image, make the text part of the image and we will make the whole thing a banner image.
• If you absolutely need the text to be editable, then you must provide a fallback color which will be displayed instead of the image by clients that do not support this.

If you want to include links to social networks, specify if Emarsys standard icons shall be used, or if you will provide your own icon set.

Avoid the use of list styles as many mail clients do not support them. Special symbols for bullet lists cannot be used: only black discs are supported.

Furthermore, there is usually a padding or margin around a list which will probably not match your general style and layout.

If you want to hard-code any links in the header or footer, make it clear how you want these to be tracked so that we can include the tracking parameters.

Likewise, specify which images or links should be editable during email creation and which not.

There are a number of styles to avoid because they that will negatively affect your deliverability, including:

• No Flash or Rich Media embedded
• Minimal use of red fonts (even if you CI is red)
• No JavaScript used
• No forms embedded in campaign