Helping front office teams grow better

Email's first impressions

October, 28 2013 by Nathanael Yellis

I entered a contest to win a Chevy!

The price of entry was all my contact information. Sure, I'll agree to receive marketing communiques in exchange for a chance for a NEW CAR.

The contest also gives me a chance to see their email marketing in-the-wild.

Here's the first message:

Things I noticed:

  • Personalized, engaging subject
  • Brief, engaging text
  • The "Learn More" button helpfully rendered without images enabled
  • Loads of white space (no image alt text) in the email

That last point carries the day. While I'm sure they're proud of how the new Malibu looks, I can't see it. All first (and most subsequent) emails won't show images.

Email marketers either ask recipients to enable images or make emails look great without them.
Nathanael Yellis
Nathanael Yellis

Nathanael Yellis is a solution architect at HubSpot. He started his HubSpot career as a consultant on the professional services team in 2017. Prior to that, he led a client services team for a marketing agency and worked as a non-profit marketer and technology leader in Washington, DC. He holds an MBA from the Acton School of Business, is from Maine, and lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts.