Just like web design, creating a great HTML email is equal parts technical proficiency and artful creativity. Added to this complex mix is the need for clearly stated design goals. Every project benefits from concise advertising goals. However, an email without a stated goal, translated as an obvious call to action, is likely to end up on a spam list. At that point, future email campaigns are put in jeopardy. I am often surprised by how frequently an audience will opt-out of a mailing list after one poorly conceived email.
Another surprising difficulty of email design is the technical aspect of HTML email. Usually, when one climbs out on a new branch of the advertising media tree, a fresh set of technical proficiencies is required. With email design, an old set of skills is required needed. The reason is the huge variety of email platforms an audience uses. Every one has a different set of – mostly antiquated – rules they use to read and display HTML. Microsoft Outlook is by far the worst culprit but far from the only problem platform. All of this bad code means creating HTML emails is the equivalent of writing code for a web page in 2002. The problem is that, just like fashion, an email has to look like it came from this season. In other words, the designer must use the tools from 2002 to create a look for 2020.