Your Email Template Headers

What should you include at the top of every email campaign?

The very top of your email is a very important slot. It can remind people how they got on your list. It can provide a link to click, just in case the HTML email didn't render properly. It can give people an option to unsubscribe. You don't want to jam too much up there though. The first few lines of your email are sometimes the only "preview" that mobile users get when they're checking emails. There's a delicate balance that you can only get after you do some testing of your own.

That being said, here are some ideas for stuff to place at the top of your HTML email template: Screenshot

By default, we automatically insert a link in MailChimp's built-in templates to an archived version of your email campaign. It's helpful for people whose email programs mangled your design, or for people who don't understand that images are normally blocked in HTML email. It's also handy to add to the top of your plain-text email, because some recipients might like to click it to view the "pretty" version of your campaign.
Some people like to place some text like, "To ensure our emails never get accidentally spam filtered, please add [EMAIL ADDRESS] to your address book." ("white listing" instructions like this should be placed throughout your double opt-in thank you screens and confirmation emails, too!). As stated earlier, be careful not to get too verbose.
Some people think it's a good idea to place an unsub link up there, to decrease the chances of someone clicking the "this is spam" button (and getting you reported for abuse). This is particularly a good idea if the list you're sending to is relatively old, and if you think the chances are high that more than 1 out of 1,000 recipients might forget you and report you for spam.

Real Life Examples

We went to Newsletter Archive (a great resource that you should bookmark) and we took screenshots of what "the big guys" are doing.

Other Useful Resources:

Free Email Marketing Guide
Inbox Inspector: Generate screenshots of your email designs in all the major email programs, test all the major spam filters and email firewalls, and scan for spammy keywords in one click.


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