Winner of Best Email Design Contest 2012!

Your email template designs were judged by our panel of email experts and now it’s finally time to announce who this year’s contest winner is! However, before we announce the winner, let’s recap:

The Net Atlantic Best Email Design of 2012 Contest was open only to existing customers of Net Atlantic and Atlantic Web Host. Submissions were judged on criteria based on aesthetic appeal, content, as well as how well they follow industry standard best practices as set forth for email marketing. See full contest rules here.

Our winning template stood out and grabbed our judges’ attention because of its clean design and layout. This communication demonstrated a good balance of text and graphics as well as clear call-to-actions.

Now, without further delay, our chosen winning template design is…

Headline Politics…congratulations, you’ve just won a $250 American Express Gift Card!

Additional highlights of this design are:

• You can get the gist of the newsletter by just reading their sub-headlines
• A link to an online version has been provided
• Voters are able to drill down for more info after skimming content
• The “unsubscribe” link is set apart and easy-to-find
• A full address has been provided in the footer of the email, along with links to contact information, privacy policy, and terms of use
• A poll was added to increase engagement and gauge voter sentiment
• The color scheme is easy on the eye and has plenty of white space (also referred to as negative space)
• The reader isn’t overwhelmed with advertising (they called out the one Travel Zoo ad by placing a border around it and included the word “Sponsor” at the bottom of the ad in a small font)
• Headline politics took a refreshing non-traditional approach by using a color palette that doesn’t blend in with all the other political email voters receive.

A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who entered! We can’t wait to see what 2013 has in store. To get tips on how to design your next HTML email, read our previously published blog post: Email Newsletter Design Dos and Donts for Publishers.

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