iBroadway

We just had a great meeting with the fine folks from BroadwayBox.com,  leaders in the theatre-email-blast world.  Here’s a top ten list that I gleaned from their presentation:

1. Avoid pesky spam filters by avoiding trigger words like “click here,” “once in a lifetime opportunity,” and “free.” Spam filters assign points to “dangerous” words and suspicious punctuation and formatting.  The more points you accrue, the more likely it is that your email will get thrown into the recipient’s spam file.

2. Underline all links for easier identification by users, and DON’T  underline anything other text.

3. Dont send an eblast that is one big image, since many email clients, including Gmail and AOL, don’t automatically load images. Your message won’t even by seen by the user.

4. Avoid large fonts and the colors green and red.  (Sorry Christmas shows!)

5.  Do create a good subject line that makes the reader curious to open email (name the discount, use names of stars in the cast, etc) and, remember, urgency drives action: if a show is closing in two weeks, put that fact in your subject line. Don’t, under any circumstances, use three exclamation points in a row!!! Your message will be flagged and sent to spam.

6. Keep your offer clear and simple and don’t hide your black out dates and other restrictions in the mice type at the bottom of the blast. Users don’t want surprises once they click on the buy tickets link.

7. Keep the entire eblast under 150 kb. Larger messages take too long to load: If the user waits as little as 8 seconds for your email to appear, you will lose them.

8. Avoid using CSS, image maps, javascript, flash, animated gifs and background images or white-on-white text.

9. Have a clear and precise call to action. Spell it out and make it easy:  “Click here To order your discounted tickets.”

10. Do not use all caps. This is like YELLING. Don’t do it. Ever.

For more info on best email practices go to email-standards.org and clickz.com.