Is a silent battle brewing in your email creative?

If you don't write a clear, concise brief that states the email message's goal to be conveyed through the creative design, the individual elements – subject line, headline, images, copy and layout – can end up fighting each other for the reader's attention.

Result: Your message gets lost in a welter of confusion. The reader tunes out. And, a tuned-out refader rapidly becomes an ex-reader.

We spend so much time talking about the behind-the-scenes activity in email publishing – deliverability, authentication, subscription practices, segmentation, list hygiene – that the message itself gets neglected.

From your customers' vantage point, this is the most important element, and it can make or break their image of or relationship with you.

Assembling all the elements looks so easy, especially when you're working from a well-established template. The tricky part is this: They all have to work together, like gears that mesh smoothly, in order to drive the message forward.

The Battle for the Reader's Eye

All too often, I see promotional mailings in which the creative elements are competing with each other instead of working together:

• Offers compete for attention, like merchants in a bazaar. Where do you turn when everyone is shouting at you?
• The headline doesn't do its job, which is to drive the call to action.
• The subject misrepresents or says nothing about the message content.
• Images replace rather than support copy and become invisible if the reader blocks images.
• The email itself is a carnival of colors and multiple typefaces with no focal point.

See why you need to sit down and think through every possible element that goes into your message content? This is where the creative brief comes in.

What Often Gets Overlooked

These are the steps I frequently see marketers overlook as part of the planning process:

1. Align the goals.

• Define the marketer's/sender's message goals.
• Define the goals you expect the readers had when they signed up.

Do these match? If not, you aren't meeting your readers' expectations. What happens when readers' expectations get bypassed or violated? They delete without action, unsubscribe or report as spam.

Example: Your message goal is to boost a last-minute cruise sale by offering free airfare. Your subscriber signed up to receive New York and Las Vegas destination news. If you don't have a creative brief that states the list will be segmented so that only members who signed up for cruise news will get it, you could alienate that subscriber.

2. Define the audience.

You, as the marketer overseeing the creative process, need to understand who the message is aimed at, and whether it goes to your whole mailing list or a segment of it. However, your copywriters need this information, too, so that the words they choose speak directly to this group.

Share as much information as you can about this targeted group: its general likes, dislikes, needs and wants, key drivers of previous responses, any data you collected from earlier messages on which links collected the most clicks, any A/B split-testing that yielded dramatic differences in outcomes, and anything else that appears relevant.

3. Decide which features and benefits to promote

Your knowledge of your audience will guide which features and benefits the copy will promote. Having this information clearly spelled out in advance will prevent your copywriter from lavishing hours on one angle, only to discover the customers really don't care about it.

4. A clear call to action

The last thing you want is to have a reader who hits the trifecta – opens the email, views the whole message instead of a portion in the preview pane and downloads images – only to wonder what the heck he's supposed to do with it.

But, that's what I see so often: messages that blast information at the reader, yet fail to show him how to act.

Creating the Content Brief: Two-Part Process

Part One - Write the brief itself. This document explains, concisely but comprehensively, the message goal, timeline, strategies and creative elements that will support and convey it to the reader. Distribute to all who will touch the message before, during and after the send, and follow up to make sure everyone buys in.

Part Two - Fill out a checklist that examines the message from every angle to make sure you haven't skipped a vital element. Go back to your message and adjust.

This two-part process ensures that nothing critical gets overlooked, and also that your marketing team is all on the same page concerning all elements of the message, from the content to the audience to the goal.

Also, given the time pressure many marketers face in getting email out, especially when their bosses want a fast turnaround and deployment, they might be tempted to skip the necessary groundwork. Working from the creative brief helps reduce or eliminate hasty errors and omissions.

Remember: "Email in haste; repent at leisure."

Part One: The Content Brief

It should have these basic elements, plus others germane to your own projects:

■ Background data 

• Project name/client
• Creative team/team leader
• Delivery/drop deadline

■ Project timeline and deadlines

• Creative brief approval
• Concept delivery/approval
• Copy/image approval
• Review deadline 
• Production deadline
• Delivery/drop date

■ Assignment

• Email project details: design, audience, format, features, products, special design needs (new template, copy, client or third-party data)

■ Business objective

■ Consumer objective

■ Strategy

• Elements that copy or images must convey

■ Tactics

• Outline testing process

■ Rationale benefit ("What's in it for me?")

■ Emotional benefit

■ Content tone and manner

■ Primary call to action

■ Mandatory inclusions 

• Keywords or phrases 
• Specific links

■ Background information

• Campaign goal, related initiatives (Web, RSS, direct/broadcast/print components)
• Barriers/customer objections

■ Strategy to overcome barriers

■ Dependencies

■ Approval team

■ Budget

■ Attachments (examples, models, spreadsheets)

■ Items to be delivered

Part Two: The Checklist

See the list below, which outlines the seven key elements in the message and lists a few examples to include. Find more information on each element in our marketing-resources portal.

Once you complete the creative process, review it against these key elements:

■ Brand recognition

• brand or publication name in the from line and in text copy
• logo
• value statement or snippet text

■ Preview pane

Helps your message achieve its goal when only a portion displays

• value statement or table of contents
• view-online or mobile-friendly link
• brand, publication or company name in alt text
• call to action in the top half

■ Copy and calls to action

Can the reader discern the action in two to five seconds – the average reading time before acting or discarding? Provide:

• answers to "What's in it for me?"
• short copy blocks with bullet points highlighting key points
• clickable images, image maps, links and keywords
• call-to-action in headline and text, not in images
• clear price statement

■ Layout

Design for average screen resolution of 1024x768 pixels

• Message width is viewable in single screen without scrolling left or right
• Masthead height is less than 300 pixels
• Use color in fonts, links, borders or cells to move the reader's eye through the message
• Use tables for positioning instead of a cascading style sheet
• Use bullets for scannability

■ Administrative copy

Place items in message footer that help readers manage their subscriptions

• Email address used and how sign-up occurred
• Add-to-address-book request
• Links to preference, unsubscribe, privacy policy, company info and contact info pages

■ Engagement/interaction features

Increase reader interest and interaction

• Feedback link
• Survey, blog/RSS links
• Forward to friend/subscribe links
• Blank search box

■ Common spam signatures to avoid

Remove these common spam signatures that can trigger content filters

• Font size smaller than 8pt or larger than 14pt
• Gray, red and white-on-white font colors
• Flash or rich media
• Keyword overuse, misspellings and nonstandard characters
• Attachments and embedded images
• JavaScript and forms

Yes, these two parts of the creative process add some time to your production schedule. However, they will help you design a better message, which ultimately will drive even more success for your email program.

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