If you've done any research on email best practices, you've read about a lot of rules and guidelines. For any beginning email marketer this is a must. After getting to know your recipients, learning the basics, and knowing which rules can and which rules cannot be bent, it may be time to start experimenting. Track your data closely along the way and make notes on what works for you and what doesn't. Good designers experiment in breaking the rules; great designers have the experience to know which rules to break.
An example: a client of ours sends out a weekly e-newsletter. Due to a very design-heavy format, we created it using only images above-the-fold excluding the 'view as webpage' link. We knew this was breaking a general best practice, but decided it was worth testing out in that format as the design (with images on) was so strong. Interestingly enough, this newsletter scored one of the highest CTRs I've seen in my years at Delivra. Combined with their responsive recipient base (who were already used to image/HTML emails) and highly timely and relevant content, this format proved a success for this client and continues to today.
Am I saying you should redesign your mailings to be all images? No. But I am saying it's always worth testing. Your recipient base may respond to your content in ways that could surprise you.
It's interesting to think how email design may change in the next 5 years because of marketers/designers that decide to bend the rules.
Celeste Odell | Design Services
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