10 TOP TIPSfor wr i t ing an emai l br ief

OBJECTIVESIt’s important to set clear objectives in your brief. Whether it’s to drive traffi c to other online channels, increase engagement or drive sales, it’s vital that the team writing and designing the email is able to do so with the purpose of the email in mind. This will ensure that the output is effective and gets the desired response.

AUDIENCEDon’t just tell your creative team an age range or gender, try and paint a picture of who the target audience is. What might they be interested in? How do they usually engage with emails? What distractions might they have? This will help copywriters and designers to create an email that grabs the attention of the intended audience, increasing the open rate and response rate.

LIVE DATEProviding the live date of the email means that the copywriter and designer can think about any events around the time the email will be sent out that could affect the content or design. It also means that the team know when the fi nal fi les will need to be ready to send to the interactive developers in order to meet the live date.

FINISHED OUTPUTIf a lot of the recipients of your email are likely to be opening it on a mobile phone or tablet, it’s important that your email is responsive. This should be outlined from the on set so that consideration can be given to the design and how the desktop version will change when opened on a mobile device or tablet.

TESTINGIt’s always good to perform a controlled test on your emails whenever you can. Changing one variant, from the style of the navigation to personalisation and animation, means that you can ensure that all the best-performing variations and styles are used in future emails to enhance engagement.

MAIN PROPOSITIONEmails are a cost-effective way of delivering lots of information to your audience but the main proposition is just as important in email marketing as it is in traditional print marketing. This should be clear and concise so that the rest of the copy can be constructed around this.

BUDGETThere are lots of impressive elements that can be included in emails now, from live countdowns to weather updates specifi c to where you open your email. Being clear about your budget upfront will give designers an idea of the limitations of what can be included, or, if you have more budget than usual, interactive developers will be able to recommend added features relevant to the email.

CONSIDER THE ONWARD JOURNEYIt’s important that when an email recipient clicks on one of the call to action buttons in your email, the journey that they go on from the email through to your website is linear and not confusing, particularly if they are purchasing a product or service. This journey should be optimised before briefi ng the email.

CONTENTLetting your creative team know what will be going in the email is particularly important if the email will be responsive as most responsive emails work to a template in terms of structure. This means that designers will be able to create an email to a template that works best with the amount and nature of the content.

IS THIS PART OF A WIDER CAMPAIGN?If the email is part of a wider campaign, this should give the copywriter and designer an idea of what other pieces of communication are being created and how/when they will be received, along with the overarching campaign proposition.

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AUDIENCEDon’t just tell your creative team an age range or gender, try and paint a picture of who the target audience is. What might they be interested in? How do they usually engage with emails? What distractions might they have? This will help copywriters and designers to create an email that grabs the attention of the intended audience, increasing the open rate and response rate.

1 it’s vital that the team writing and designing the email is able to do so with the purpose of the email in mind. This will ensure that the output is

your audience but the main proposition is just as important in email marketing as it is in traditional print marketing. This should be clear and concise so that the rest of the copy can be constructed around this.

5Providing the live date of the email means that the copywriter and

This means that designers will be able to create an email to a template that works best with the amount and nature of the content.

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If the email is part of a wider campaign, this should give the

BUDGETThere are lots of impressive elements that can be included in emails

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optimised before briefi ng the email.