Email Standards Project

It seems that the guys at Australia-based Campaigner Monitor are officially carrying the torch for email marketing design and implementation.  I for one couldn’t be happier, and think they are doing a fantastic job with their new initiative.

It’s called the Email Standards Project; its aim: to create a universal standard for email design, akin to the existing universal Web Standards that every web designer adheres religiously to, so that we can all code faster, easier and better HTML emails that will work across all email clients.

The email client environment is similar in many ways to the current web design environment:

“Hey, my __________ looks great when viewed in/on ___________, but looks like total garbage when viewed in/on ____________.  What gives? Argh. Damn you Billy Gates.”

If you design websites or email campaigns, you’ll fill in the blanks above with ‘website/email’, ‘Firefox/Outlook 2003’, and ‘IE6/Outlook 2007.  All web designers have been there and cursed in the general direction of IE6, and most email designers have been there and cursed in the general direction of Lotus Notes.  I have the privilege of cursing both, which is why the Email Standards Project is like a breath of fresh air.

The Project has already done 1 ‘acid test’ on the most common email clients out there, with results that won’t surprise any email marketer, but will definitely give a fantastic, comprehensive, and useful insight into what exactly doesn’t work in which client, and why.  Have a look by visiting the homepage at http://www.email-standards.org. Outlook 2007, which I wrote about back in January, is definitely no surprise with a rating of ‘poor’ due to its use of MSWord as its rendering engine, but the depth of analysis the ESProject goes into is amazing.

I’m so full of support for the Email Standards Project that I’m including their badge on my blog from now on.

Keep up the great work guys!

Been busy!

Since my last post I’ve:
•    Travelled to Qatar (Leisure only)
•    Got a new job in Brighton
•    Finished a website for a new client in Montreal
•    Worked like an obsessive mad doctor on a new website for CarbonGraffiti (5 versions in, still not happy).

My humble apologies to anyone who might have missed me.

My new job you ask?
I’m now the E-Marketing Manager at an international education company based in Brighton, UK.  So far, so good, and I’m already getting my hands dirty with Pay Per Click and SEO, with a full-scale email marketing program to come.

The client you ask?
Check out http://www.verifactionsolutions.com for the new version of their website.  VerifAction offers a pretty interesting solution – they offer full electronic reference checks for new, prospective employers.  Essentially, if you wanted to run any kind of background check on someone you want to employ, VerifAction have what you need.  Sound interesting?  Go check our their solutions page at http://www.verifactionsolutions.com/solutions/

Obsessive Mad Doctor?
I’m at the same place I was about 2 months ago – no progress, just annoyances.  I can say that I’m upgrading to PHP and using WordPress.org as the content engine rather than the wordpress.com hosted version you’re reading now.  Stay tuned for the new CG version 4.1!