The bigger picture

There’s no doubt using bold pictures in your emails is a great way to grab the attention of your subscribers, but what happens if they have pictures turned off? What if they're receiving text only emails?

Let them know there's supposed to be a picture in that space. You can tell them what it’s about, reiterate your brand and get them on to your website.

There are a few key things to be aware of when you use images: Alt tags. hyperlinks, positioning and size.

Alt tags

With every picture you add into your email, you should add an alt tag. An alt tag is alternative text where your image should be if the subscriber has images turned off or are receiving your email as text only. For example, if you have a picture of a product, tell them the name of the product and where they can find it on your website.

Think ‘outside the box’. You don’t have to be purely descriptive. If you use this space wisely, it is another opportunity to reiterate your branding and encourage subscribers to click through to your website. We saw a great example of this recently on an acquisition email from one our customers. The image was of a sales representative on the phone and they were looking to encourage calls as well as email responses. The alt tag they used didn't just say "A Sales Representative", instead they put "Call us now on 01234 567891* and speak to one of our friendly team." This is a great example of how you can use your alt tags to their full advantage as another call to action within your email campaigns.

If you have a NewZapp account you have up to 100 characters with which to alt tag your pictures, so make the most of it.

Hyperlinks

You can add hyperlinks to your pictures as well as to your text. Research has indicated in some cases image based links can help boost click through rates. In our experience text links often out perform image links however it's a good idea to add links to both. This will give your subscribers more opportunities to click-through and will also ensure you don't miss out on any clicks from subscribers who prefer image based links. You can read our article for guidance on testing text vs. image links.

Always link to something relevant, if it's a picture of a product, link it to the relevant product information on your website. Within newzapp you can also link to documents, such as a Word Document, Excel Spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation, so if you don’t have a relevant page on your website you can use an internal link instead.
 

Positioning and size

Try not to have a very large picture at the top of your email. If your subscribers are receiving your email with images turned off all they will see is a big empty white space. See our to open or delete article for more information on what this looks like and the repercussions.

Outlook 2007 and Hotmail will recognise the original pixel size of your pictures, so if you're making a big change, re-size your images to make sure your email renders correctly in all the email clients.

Most subscribers will read top left to bottom right, so keep your key message and calls to action in the top left hand area of your email. This area is known as 'above the fold' and is the first area visible in the preview pane.

Always remember that it's best practice to balance your pictures and text as evenly as possible. Having a good mix of images and text will enable your subscribers to see what you're communicating however they're seeing your email.

*Telephone number changed from original alt tag.