Make your call to action call some action

Don’t put your call to action on an image when emailing your customers. Most people won’t see it. If an action is required, mention it in the subject – or at least in the first paragraph. (This applies to not only mass email but also to private messaging.) The case in point:

This important email does not look so important when images are not downloaded. The subject line or the first paragraph mention no action required.

Look at it again, this time with images displayed:

Now it is pretty clear I need to do something. Too bad by default most people will not see the button.

It is quite telling that I had already deleted this email but happened to see on Twitter someone mentioning something about agreeing to something related to Delicious. So I went back and noticed this.

Always test your email in most popular clients. Don’t focus on visual perfection – as it is impossible today – but usability.

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