Email design

These email campaigns were designed to appeal to parents and their families through the use of punchy purples in a variety of tones paired with friendly and approachable photography and illustrations. The purple colour is from the Recreation department’s branding and is carried through both layout variations for consistency.

City of Mississauga Recreation eNews layout

The eNews layout was structured in a way that the majority of the recipient’s attention is directed towards the main marketing campaign for the season. This was done through prominent placement at the top fold and was further emphasized by a large image, upsized heading font size, and a highly visible call-to-action button.

This was then followed by additional sections that displayed other promotions for that month. After that section are program suggestions which break up the layout before the news and events section. The news and events section showcases general recreation related information and/or content from other City departments.

City of Mississauga Recreation eNews Bulletin layout

The eNews bulletin layout design was more focused and typically only had one message. Intended use for this layout was to showcase key seasonal, evergreen marketing initiatives and important in-the-moment crisis communication such as program changes, facility availability, etc. Due to the intended content it uses a more compact layout free of non-related information.

CASL and Usability Considerations

To ensure usability and to comply with email marketing best practices both layouts feature:

• Proper alt text on images for accessibility and as a fallback for blocked external images.
• CSS styled, text based call-to-action buttons instead of images.
• Testing against multiple email clients to ensure the layout didn’t fall apart or stray too far from the intended design.
• A/B testing whenever possible.
• Content, functionality, and mailing list management processes that were CASL compliant.

Collaborating with the City’s legal department and subject matter experts from Upaknee (third-party email marketing provider) helped to ensure compliance.