As a marketer, you would like nothing better than a successful HTML email marketing campaign. Of course, the definition of success may vary from person to person. Some may regard improved readership as success; while others may look at higher sales and website traffic as success. But the success of your email campaign depends on the kind of emails you send to your customers. The task of designing a professional looking email is a real challenge. You may come up with the best looking email in the world, but there is always scope for improvement. This article will tell you how to improve your HTML email.

Test your emails in different email services and clients

Most designers spend a lot of time to create the inch-perfect website for visitors to enjoy. The same should be done about emails. Once you've developed it, run it through some of the leading Internet based email services like Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail and AOL, and an email client like Microsoft Outlook. Such testing will help you correct any problems related to compatibility because no email service or client handles HTML in the same way. In other words, you should ensure that your email looks the same across all email services.

Pay attention to the design

Don't clutter your email with images; especially a big one. There's no point in doing so because images are inactive on a number of email services and clients. If users haven't activated them, then they will receive a blank email. You should also avoid the use of images for background. If you have an image as background, then your clients may have tough time reading the content. Finally, as an insurance policy, provide a link so that users will be able to read the email in their browser, should they have trouble opening it in the email service or client.

Use tables for the basic structure of your layout

Tables are more useful than anything else, when it comes to the basic layout of your email. Use every table attribute available, wherever you can. Correct indentation, through nested tables, will make it possible to have readable code. If you intend to incorporate images in your email, then employ services of the background function in tables. However, people who use email services like Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo, may not be able to see the image at all.

Don't desert the basics

Inline CSS is your best bet as it's compatible with all major web based email services and clients. People mostly use Microsoft Outlook for their emails. Therefore make changes in your email, which are most likely to fit the bill. The point is web based email services do not support HTML based emails the same way as an email client like Microsoft Outlook. At the end of their development, all your emails should look the same on all email clients and services.

Designing an HTML email campaign is not an easy task. Any seasoned marketer will tell you that the success of the campaign depends on two aspects namely the design of your email and information you provide. That's why you can't and shouldn't focus on one aspect and ignore the other.