In a typical week I get some beautifully designed email newsletters delivered to my inbox, but unfortunately I get some grotesque looking ones too.

The ones that aren’t visually appealing usually get deleted without me even reading the first line of text.

If companies can’t be bothered putting the effort into the design of their email newsletters, I’m not going to take them seriously.

Here are just a few reasons why you shouldn’t do it yourself when it comes to email newsletter design.

• It could destroy your credibility

A reputation takes a long time to build, but can very quickly and easily be destroyed. When people have given you their permission to send them emails, you should treat them with respect.

Sending out a plain old boring word doc or some horrible design you’ve done yourself isn’t going to do you any favours.

• It will cost you more money than it saves you

Paying an email marketing platform to distribute your newsletter will cost you money. Sending out an awful looking design will cost you in potential lost sales and damage to your reputation.

Too many small businesses and start-ups are overly-focused on cutting corners. I know from my own experience how tight things can be financially, but some things are worth investing in from the outset.

It can be hard to recover if your first impression with potential clients is a poor one.

• There are plenty of professional looking templates around

Email marketing providers such as MailChimp have professional email templates you can choose from. If there’s nothing that suits your needs exactly, you can ask a professional to tweak an existing one for you so you have something unique to send out every month.

The good thing about having a designer alter a template or come up with a completely bespoke one is that it’s a one-off cost – you can keep using the design again and again.

If you liked this article you may also want to read: Email marketing – don’t write to sell

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2012 at 8:00 am and is filed under Email Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.