October 2019 - Design Bytes

October 24, 2019

How do I design an email marketing campaign for old leads?

So “How do I design an email marketing campaign for old leads?”… overview.

This post offers some potent tried and tested methods you can implement into your email marketing campaign to get those old leads to sit up and pay attention! They may be asleep now, but hopefully, by the end of this list, they will feel as refreshed as your with your marketing ideas.

Reading on – nuggets of juicy information on how to design an email marketing campaign for your old leads. Rock on!

Get responses from old email marketing leads - picture of old people — Get a response from old email marketing leads!

Who are your ‘old leads’?

A good starting point, who are your old leads? Why do you regard them as old? What have they done to warrant being targeted and regarded as ‘old’. Another way to look at your old contacts and subscribers is to view them are as loyal customers and clients. The list below covers tried and tested ideas, but perhaps a good place to start is how you perceive them, and how in turn they may come to perceive you.

1 ) Most important, offer something ‘they’ want

I wanted to start with this point as I felt it was actually the most obvious but possibly most overlooked. If you are failing to get the enquiries or interest are you failing to engage the reader? Are you selling a product that they no longer want or need? Are you talking about a topic they no longer care about? If so, how can you change it?

How to do it

Make your marketing about ‘them’ and their business – not yours. Tell and show them how you can help them to grow.

Fulfil their needs first!

2 ) Offer a loyalty scheme

So they have been on board for a long time but there has been no activity from them? You could potentially offer a discount to try and coax them back to life and become an active subscriber. Give a bumper service to the loyal ones and offer a reward.

3 ) Treat your ‘old email marketing leads’ as special customers.

In the body of your email consider using wording that makes your trusty old subscribers feel special and acknowledges that they have been loyal for a long time. Perhaps, writing a message along the lines of :

“Dear (name), as a loyal customer we have decided to offer you (x service) for a limited time. The company wouldn’t be where it is today without its loyal customers such as yourself and that is why we have decided to offer you this excellent reward!”

4 ) Talk about something new

It’s a very strong possibility that your old leads are bored with what you have to say, your brand your message anything and everything – people get bored very easily, and especially the internet user. In the past, I have noticed a strong correlation in campaigns with the wording “New” generally pushing more interest. So, create something new, or talk about something new.

5 ) If you have a tidy list, address them directly

If you have a contact list with all the personal *contact names as and where they should be you could write an email campaign addressed directly to them. But this only works as well as the cleanliness of the list. For example :-

Clean List

Dear Dave Higgins

Vs Untidy List

Dear 123 at qwqwq

Why is the second example like that? Because the name field was left with a trash name or a number in the field because somebody forgot to change it or the subscriber didn’t give you their actual name.

In other words, the form – personal name – form field will pull in whatever data is in the “name” column. be it good or bad.

6 ) Change up your email design to catch the attention

Visuals do work. Have some catchy images, logos and importantly a Call to action! Click me!

How do I design an email marketing campaign for old leads - example — Example of a responsive mailshot

My Old leads – They are still playing backgammon?

Made it this far down the list eh and your old email marketing leads still haven’t turned their heads away from their game of backgammon? Don’t worry just yet, we still have some thoughts and ideas yet that will hopefully help you in getting responses! Continue reading – How do I design an email marketing campaign for old leads!

7 ) Use stats and numbers

Analytics’ data or sales figures can be a good way or proving how good your service is – with numbers! It makes you look authentic. I also believe (my opinion) people love data and numbers as it makes information easy to digest.

Hey! don’t lie about your numbers or stats. There will come a day when people won’t believe what they read – if that day hasn’t arrived already.

8 ) Use a timed offer to encourage an urgent response from your old leads

I have mentioned this in a previous post (link) but placing a timed response or a limited offer can encourage urgent action. This approach can be a little pushy in my opinion but I can’t deny that I have seen it used effectively including by myself.

9 ) Consider who your old leads are – your message, your tone.

This is important, who are you talking to? Your messaging needs to resonate with them. It needs to talk to them and it needs to be useful to them – create good content for your quality readership. Connect.

10 ) Solve their problems, help with their pains

Companies/businesses/people have pains – not ones for a real doctor, business ones I mean. These pains can vary from: How to get more leads, how do I get people to stay on my website, how do I get people to sign up, how do I make this easier, I have no time, I’m tired, etc, etc.

So once you have identified their pains, and if you are familiar with your industry, you will be better equipped at answering their questions and helping to solve their problems. Using you, or your service will help solve their problems – or better still. Avoid them altogether!

11 ) Try to be helpful

As mentioned a couple of times in this post make contacting your email leads about them and how you can help with your experience. Answer questions create posts, try to see what types of questions your demographic ask by trawling forums and post online to give you indications or if you have a survey software use that to learn about them.

12 ) Speak their language

Try to speak their lingo. If they use industry-specific jargon use this in your email to make it sound like you know what you are talking about (oh, and check that you know what you are talking about). If your email marketing is more B2C then try to understand the demographics of your readership, how old are they, are they male, female, what are their hobbies and so on.

learn who they are.

13 ) Check you are emailing the right people

If you have a very specific few golden leads out there and they have stopped answering your emails or opening them, check to see if they are still working at the company or have moved to another department.

You can use LinkedIn to see who is correct contact and start building a new working relationship.

Summary | How do I design an email marketing campaign for old leads

I hope this post is useful. I have given you some tried and tested ideas which I have seen work first hand in the past with my email marketing experience. Many of these approaches should be useful for tomorrow and for the future as many of the tips approach geared toward what messaging is as well as how.

It is worth your while employing not just one of the tactics above for best results but many with a mix and match to see which are most useful for ‘your’ email marketing. There isn’t a golden bullet for things like this as some would like to sell to you, it requires learning and effort. I have sent out many, many campaigns over the years and have seen which works for gifting, retail, subscriptions, and general newsletters.

Setting aside the technical information, the tricks etc, it often tends to boil down to something you probably already know, and I knew but didn’t want to admit either – they weren’t interested...

So make them interested

Sell something your customer or client ‘wants’ or needs. Don’t push something onto them that they don’t want or need. It is a tired and boring struggle for both parties.

As time goes along, trial and error will show which tactics bare the most fruit – all the best in “designing email marketing for your old leads.”

About Me – A Designer

I have worked on numerous email campaigns over the years sending campaigns to 1000’s of contacts. Much of the data I have written here has been based on my first-hand experience of blood sweat and tears and also with keeping myself up to date with new email marketing ideas. You are more than welcome to read a bit more about me below.

You may find the article on the 32 tips useful for more visual design tips.

How to create a STEM game or application

To create a digital STEM or E-learning game ‘app’ you will need to make a plan, download software to construct the game and have access to or own software to create the artwork and ‘assets’ for the game. This post covers all of the details on how to create a STEM game or application in a step by step process from software suggestions, to hints and tips.

Blossom Tree E-learning - How to make STEM game — Caption from E-learning game

The steps I used to create an E-learning / STEM game.

This post covers the steps and stages I undertook to create a STEM game or what was then an E-Learning game that could be played on a computer, be it either an iMac or PC.

I would like to mention now that I am not a teacher or a STEM specialist. I took what was a principle and applied it to my game design for a major project. This article focuses more on the creation of the application itself, opposed the focus of STEM subject matter itself. If you wish to read more specifically on the subject of STEM you can find out more here : source

Why Create an E-learning (STEM) Game?

Before STEM was a term I had heard of, I wanted to create an application that was both entertaining and educational for young children. Games or gaming has a bad rap for being mindless and many are (I do like a mindless shooter as much as the next person). I was also a fan of the classic puzzlers growing up such as Monkey Island and Fate of Atlantis.

I wanted to create a fun purposeful experience through the medium of gaming that will help children.

And…

When the project was assigned to create a big experience I wanted to create a game that would utilise some of my existing skills as a young designer and illustrator (as a student) and create a product that I would be proud of. I wanted the E-learning game to have engaging puzzles and characters that would pull the children in and compel them to explore through the levels. They also had a mission, they needed to save a friend.

Illustration of a crooked castle for an E-learning game — Crooked Castle for E-learning

About this E-learning game – Blossom Tree

The game was aimed towards children aged 7 +. As the player progresses through the game, they would have to answer questions of varying difficulty until they arrive at the final stage and save their friend. There were 2 main paths that had 2 types of questions.

Path 1 = Sums
Path 2 = Spelling

It should be noted that you can pick any of the core STEM subjects for your own project.

Both paths converge at the end to logic and problem-solving questions which broke format from traditional ‘yes” and ‘no’ English and maths.

Black game background for e-learning game. — Blank background for level

The steps used to create the E-learning game whilst adopting STEM

After studying design this was my first venture into developing websites, apps and 2D games in Adobe Flash. From the start, I planned the project from the look and feel to how it would play. I also made a level randomiser but the concept ran into technical difficulties late into the game development – get into your “white boxing people” please. It is such a valuable stage for the process. I have mentioned in detail below what “White boxing” is.

1 ) The idea for the E-learning Game

Sounds obvious, but the idea was an important step. I had a vision and idea for what I wanted the game o achieve and how it may look! After developing a viable idea I set about doing some research online into “pedagogy” and how it could be applied to the design of my e-learning game.

2 ) Game Objectives – “The Mission”

So you have an idea, now what do you want it to achieve? You will need to consider the age range for your game, whether it will be for all educational subjects or will it just 1. If this going to be for free? Etc. As a teacher or somebody looking to make a STEM game grab a piece of paper or open word and start jotting down what you would like your application to do for the world.

3 ) Planning your STEM / e-learning game

Great, so you have established what you want your game to achieve and what will happen in the game. I approached a more narrative approach to my game which lent itself well to word challenges and maths questions. If you are making a Science themed game maybe you could have a lab and you need to find the secret ingredient for a concoction? Of you have calculated sums and outwit an evil computer! The ideas are endless. Start to the application – you game, how many levels, how many characters, sound, animations, and try to do a rough cutting list of what will need to be created. This may change as time goes along.

* note: the more ideas you have the longer it will take finish

Basic Level map for gaming app — Level map for game

4 ) Your Game Project Timeline

If this is your first venture into creating a game project it’s tricky to gauge how long it will take to create a fully-fledged game. If you are building it all yourself – and learning all of yourself it could be a steep old slope = a lot of time. None the less, in order to get your STEM game live you need to set up milestones. I would advise breaking your milestone down into smaller steps if not for timekeeping, then for your own morale.

So, with your idea ready and your research finished and plan set to be into motion. Now is the time to roll up your sleeves and start building. The next set of steps covers the more technical steps for getting started.

Technical steps on “how to create your STEM game”

The game that you see displayed was created by me in Adobe Flash (See product here). To create this game, I had learned how to code in a language called “Action Script”. Action Script is what made the nuts and bolts of the game tick, from the scene transitions to the answers boxes checking to see if the question is right or wrong. I have attempted to break down the process of making your game.

1) What gaming program should I use? Select a program to start making your game

Example of game engines you could use for your STEM project

Stencyl (great for beginners with no programming knowledge)
Stencyl is great for complete coding novices. The coding system works similar in principle to Lego Bricks, where you can stack and click together the functions and activities in your game. I have attached an example of what you can do in Stencyl. Or if you would like to, you can navigate to the post here and get an idea of how it works – (Stencyl post, custom cursor) Although Stencyl is good and has merits it has many limitations in my opinion. It should also be noted, that this engine is 2D only.
Unity Software (great for someone with some coding skills, create powerful games)
Unity software is everywhere and with large developer communities constantly improving the assets and the software but, be warned – it can have a steeper learning curve if you are wanting to create e-learning or STEM games this is truly a powerful piece of kit. One great advantage is that Unity comes with LOTS of tutorials, assets and game templates to bump up your game into completion.
Adobe Animate (Used to be king of the game makers, still good but not the most powerful)

The E-learning / Stem game shown throughout this post was created in what was known as Flash. Flash, now Adobe Animate has somewhat fallen out of favour with powerful programs such as Unity bumping it out of top position and accessibility issues for Smartphones driving in the wedge.

It’s a misconception that you can’t use Animate anymore to create rich-media applications – it’s not true. You can still create phone apps, HTML 5, animations, video indents, and games!

2) ‘White Box’ your game first

White boxing is single-handedly one of the best modern techniques I have been taught in recent years as it can save so much time. When I say ‘white box’ its a case of roughing out functionality and lose the form of your game. Worry about the function and how the game plays first and use place holder graphics in the early stages of development.

One terrible mistake I have made in the past with utilising time is to create artwork for a component (part) of a game that will not work and you end up having to junk not only the component but the artwork/animation also.

Rough it, test it, play it and then make it beautiful!

3) Find a game Artist or Designer

A very important step for your STEM Learning game is creating artwork that will be visually appealing to children (and adults) when they interact with your awesome puzzles. I tried to make the artwork for my game appealing to a younger audience, to keep them engaged in the topic. You can either create the visuals yourself, hire an artist (link) or look for free and open-source artwork and make a Frankenstein monster of moving stock graphics! (yes, a pinch of sarcasm)

4) Test, test again and assess – then develop your game further

Test your game on players that have never heard of it or played it. Although, I have to confess that I had trouble finding young testers and the youngest I could go to was 9 years old. Watch how people play your game and take notes on what you can improve. This is a valuable step, more so if this is being created for commercial purposes.

5) Publish your STEM application / E-learning game

You’ve done it! Depending on the size of your game, you have spent a year, 6 months, 2 weeks and you have published the application ready to go out to your classroom. You have created a game with a purpose that will hopefully help with learning and STEM development. – Well, in theory, you have made it, now you need to put it into practice.

How “I” created my STEM / E-learning game

I have outlined how you can create a STEM or E-learning game based on my experience and playtesting. I have attached a few conceptual details and visuals of the original game – Called “Blossom Tree” which was my first major foray into interaction and game design at the University of Cumbria.

Field Background For e-learning game — Static visual for field

I wanted the game to feel warm, friendly and filled with the freshness or being the outside, you never know – the artwork my spur children to go play outside, maybe build a den. You may also notice in the background there is a twisted silhouette of a castle. That is the final destination for the player.

E-learning game spoiler alert!

Speed rounds and classroom chalkboard.

Speed Round from e-learning game. (Do you reckon children will know what a blackboard is 20 years? Probably not.

Castle level Background - getting near the end! — Castle level Background – getting near the end of the game.

Looking back

I feel I may have constructed this game slightly ahead of its time. This game was created as part of a final major project whilst studying at the Cumbria Institute of the Arts in my final year of study. This would have pre-dated the surge in the smartphone and the tablet technology and well before the surge in digital downloading platforms such as Steam, Google Play, Apple Store, PS4 network etc.

This e-learning game was created to be a web application or CD ROM .exe. The platforms for downloading such games weren’t as prevalent then, whether they existed at all. The commercial standpoint if I was to create this game again I do a lot of things differently.

things I would do differently, for my STEM / E-learning game

If I was to remake this game I would add so much more interaction into the game, maybe some quicklimes scenes, a bit more movement and generally make feel a little less static, but hey, this was my first ever go at making something like this. I look at many aspects of the project – especially on the design side of things and hiss through my teeth or feel my toes curl as some of the aesthetics but still proud to this day to hear this from around the corner.

“This is F*****g ace!”

in a Cumbrian accent. And that was directed at what I had learned, what I had created and I had hoped would be an of a benefit to a few.

The take way on how to create a STEM game application

I hope my project and how to post has motivated you and given some insight on how to create a STEM application or learning game. The process of creating a game such as this can be incredibly rewarding. It can also be a big undertaking and if you need any help or have any questions. Well, you know where I am.

If the found this post on “how to create a stem game application” useful please share. It could be helpful for those looking to create an educational game or something for friends and family.

Jimm – Designer & Developer

My Services :

External and reference services for topic

Cumbria Institue of the Arts (now known as Faculty of Arts)

About Pedagogy

STEM Information

October 7, 2019

Email campaign ideas & project share | My project examples from email marketing

Cool email marketing ideas: this post displays some of the visuals that were used to win business, convert leads and maybe give someone a little smile! These email designs all copyrighted and cannot be used for commercial purposes. By all means, feel free to use these designs for ideas and inspiration.

Summer Promotion Header

This is part of an older campaign in which the 3D character was posed and laid flat onto a beach towel – yes he has cheesiness that was created to get a small smile and an eye roll. The character is a symbol of the company personalty, a mascot that was both happy and fun.

Idea email marketing - header design — There he is cheesing his way off you screen!

This header was created to be an eye-catching piece to pull the viewer into the campaign. This header helped to set the scene of a summer promotion and products that went along with it. The character is 3D render overlaid into some texture created in Photoshop. The textures were created by me.

Science Cup – General product campaign

Email campaign template — branded Email campaign

This email template became the standard HTML format for many email campaigns with an opening title that could be read before the reader needed to press the “download images” button. The focus image is placed at the top of the email campaign in the hope of catching the attention of the reader quickly. Many of the email campaigns were heavily branded also moving on from static width campaigns to responsive email marketing.

Idesign 3 4 2

This was part of a much, much larger marketing campaign to promote a product in which you could create your own smartphone case. The colouring, and the theme were a continuation of the existing branding for the product range with the punk pink and black tech feel which emulated the packaging. In addition to the look of the campaign, additional visuals and elements were added, such as the creative typography and the CTA’s buttons. All visual aspects of the campaign tried to not only respect the branding and the marketing of the campaign but the actively endorse it.

As time went on, subsequent campaigns were created to promote or sell the product. Like the image below shows.

Additional email marketing design / campaign — Additional email marketing campaign

There are other campaigns in terms of look and feel but many have a similar brand look and feel. As time evolved I created campaigns that were not only visual but easier to template and change the characteristics and contents. This proved to be invaluable for tight deadlines.

Cool e-mail campaign ideas

Thank you for reading this post about my email campaign design. You can either contact me directly for more information or you slap me for drafting up the Satzuma man lying down on a beach towel. Either way, feel free to say hello.

Thank you for reading, if you like this you may want to know more about …

Tips for a successful email campaign

UI / Digital design

October 3, 2019

Free scrumptious Inline CSS Snippets for your email campaign

Free to usee CSS Snippet | Title image on purple background — CSS Snippets! Ripe for the taking!

Why use free inline CSS for your email campaign?

This post is a light-hearted free-for-all which shows, no… even allows you to take these CSS snippets for free for personal or professional use. Free inline CSS Snippets, here is why it is useful:

You don’t know what you are doing with certain CSS
Are in a mad hurry to get a project completed for a deadline
Can’t be bothered trying to work out your own code
Are so stuck you just don’t know what to do next, don’t worry, I feel your pain.

Also, in this post it covers a little bit about what is going on, if you have time to read it.

In-line CSS snippets

It is time to get some Free Inline CSS snippets into your work! This article has been written with responsive mailshots in mind, although there’s no reason why you couldn’t adapt the code for you CSS on your website it is mostly inline CSS. So casting my CSS magic wand I have created some snappy grabby inline CSS for you to copy and paste and do with as you please. Are you In a hurry? Just need to whack it together because the boss or client has given you a tight deadline? Well, this article is for you! As I have have already mentioned!

( Inline ) CSS Naughty Top Div Spacer

Need to add space at the top of the div to move text down or fake padding from the top? This crude but effective hack should do the trick! You barbarian!

    
//  Place this inside the parent div, or span you are trying to force down.  
 
 <div style="height:5px;"> </div>

Add this spacer div. change px height for your purpose, ideal for mailshots and serve!

Naughty inline spacer — Naught Div Spacer with Inline CSS

(another horrific way of doing it would be to a clear .png and change its height)
To use the div place the snippet inside the master div. <div> <spacer> </div>

CSS inline – Waist Size for Mailshots

For the purpose of responsive mailshots, this can set the bounding div width.
This will help make the width elasticated so when you come to viewing your email campaign on mobile it will constrain to the screen width… providing all the other elements are not forcing the mailshot outside the screen etc

<div style="max-width:640px;"></div>

Control the width of you CSS div with "max-width" — Max width CSS – Belt sizes!

Elastic Imagery | control image width with inline CSS

Like a magic trick, make your images adjust to the size of the mobile device or tablet. This can also be applied to desktop computers. Notice how the code needs to placed inside the image.

<img src="/yourimage.jpg"style="max-width:100%; max-height:100%; display:block;"/>

Example of Inline CSS elasticated image snippet picture — Elasticated image = width 100%

QUICK Inline CSS snippet for E-mail Titles!

Feel free to amend the font family, point size, colour, better still you can change it to the proper heading tags :

Your Title / big text

<h1 style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; color:#ff6600; font-weight:bold; font-size:60px; padding:3%; "> Title </h1>

Change you title with an Inline CSS Snippet — Inline CSS Title Snippet!

That’s all for now – 4 handy Inline CSS snippets for you to grab and run off with!

Thank you for reading this post. If you have a moment please feel free to share on social media, your blog or even your website. Free inline CSS Snippets

Or if you are feeling bit leisurely, you can browse other articles on this blog :
Such as :
– UI Design projects
– Tips on making a successful email campaign
– Php + HTML tut

Hey, if you are would like any assistance with your website design or graphic, feel free to get in touch or have a browse –