Video Inbox Program
Additional requirements for sending a video email are minimal, see table for video specifics:
|
Video Length |
30 sec / 2 min Max |
|
Video Player Size |
400x300The video player can be arranged anywhere you like on the email. |
|
Aspect Ratio |
4:3 or 16:9 |
|
Video Formats |
Windows Media,MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-3, AVI, QuickTime, FLASH |
The video email is currently available to our AOL customers only; list size of 1.7MM.
All direct marketing email clients follow the HTML guidelines below to create the most email client friendly creative. Additionally, following the guidelines will limit the number of edits and therefore decrease the turnaround time for all of us. Exclusion of the items listed below may as well increase the deliverability of your mailings. As a rule of thumb, HTML email follows the HTML 3.2 standards.
Recommended total maximum width of 600 pixels or less for all creative. The recommended maximum height is 800 pixels.
- Minimal to no use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Many email clients do not allow/handle CSS, whether it is via an external style sheet <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="some.css">, internally using the <style> ... </style> tags or using inline styles, such as <a href="..." style="..."> ... </a>. We understand for certain things like borders or placing padding/margins, style sheets may be the easiest way to format; however this may produce issues (i.e. incorrectly formatted HTML) that are out of our control due to the particular email program the recipient uses. At minimum no styles should be used for formatting text.
- Please use tags such as:
- <font face="verdana, arial, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000"> ... </font> to set the font type/face, size and color for text.
- <b> ... </b> or <strong> ... </strong> to bold text.
- <i> ... </i> or <em> ... </em> to italicize text.
- There should not be any attributes in the <body> tag as everything outside and including the body tag is automatically stripped from all submitted creative by our system and the remaining content is placed inside our templates. Any link and text coloring should be done inside of the <a> and <font> tags. Any background coloring should be handled inside of the <table>, <tr>, <td> or <div> tags. Any lost formatting as a result of the use of attributes in a <body> tag will require additional changes and can result in delays.
- All Table cells <td> should have the width attribute defined. This will help insure proper layout among all email clients.
- The rowspan and colspan table cell <td> attribute should be used sparingly.
- Please do not use <u> ... </u> as normally only links are underlined and that is handled automatically by the <a ...> ... </a> tag.
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Image maps <map>…</map> should be avoided as some email clients ignore them.
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JavaScript is not allowed. Most email clients strip it out or do not execute it. This applies to other scripting languages as well.
- Macromedia Flash files are not allowed. Most email clients strip them out or do not execute/display them.
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Background Images should be avoided unless the design is such that the lack of the background image will not deter from the message of the email. Many email clients ignore background images.
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Imbedded Video files are not allowed. Most email clients strip them out or do not display them.
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Form fields should not be used.
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The number of different links (i.e. to unique URLs) used in any email creative should be limited to a maximum of 5, not including an unsubscribe link. Additional links will cost $50 per link.
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Advertisers are allowed 1 piece of email creative per mailing. There is a charge of $250 for each extra piece of creative.
- When sending creative, please include the following information:
- Subject line
- From line
- Client test list
- Suppression list
- Unsubscribe language and link (if not included directly in the creative)
It is necessary that all clients comply with the CAN-SPAM laws and regulations. A copy of the CAN-Spam Act can be obtained from the Federal Trade Commissions site at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/business.htm
As part of this compliance it is required that all suppression lists are updated at least once every 10 days.
The resale of unsubscribed names is not permitted and if resale of those names occurs we reserve the right to not deliver any campaign until proven steps are taken to assure us that it does not happen again.
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