Email that renders everywhere, at campaign pace
I'm the design consultant and developer on email for a national financial services brand. The actual sends are under NDA, so instead I'll walk you through how I build them.
At peak
2–5 campaigns a week, each with anywhere from 4 to 40 emails.
At that pace there's no room for a template that only works in one inbox, or a QA step that depends on somebody remembering to do it.
What I work on
Ad hoc campaigns
One-off launches and promotions, usually with a tight deadline and a clear goal.
Triggered email
Messages that fire off something a customer did, so the timing matters as much as the design.
EMOB onboarding
Early-months-on-book email that helps new cardholders get up and running.
Sweepstakes
Promotions where the rules and the fine print have to be exactly right (no pressure).
Account management
The everyday service email people rely on to manage their account.
How I build them
- Modular templates
- A library of tested blocks (headers, heroes, cards, footers) that snap together, so every new send starts from parts I already know work everywhere.
- Cross-client testing
- Every build gets checked in Email on Acid and Litmus across the clients that matter (yes, Outlook too) before anyone hits send.
- Dark mode
- I plan logos, colors and images for dark mode up front, so nothing turns into an invisible black-on-black block.
- Accessibility
- Clients really love their brand fonts, so some text still ends up in images. When it does, the alt text has to say everything the image says. Beyond that, I push for responsive layouts and live text whenever possible, plus a logical reading order, readable sizes and contrast, and links that make sense on their own.
- A QA checklist
- Links, tracking, preheader, subject line, fallbacks and personalization all get checked off by the same list, every single time.