Search inside HTML email - no way!
Posted by Dominic Yeadon 31 Jul 2010
This week's Masterclass is all about including a search in your own e-newsletter. Seasoned professionals will know this is a no-no - (so how come Dom is covering it?) Well, I wouldn't have if I hadn't been so relentlessly hunted down by one of the most enthusiastic e-mail marketing campaigns I have come across in recent months.
All thanks to Allposters.com and their recent e-mail to me. Note in my screenshot below the search box and GO button in the top right, and remember this is the top right corner of their HTML e-mail, NOT a web page you are looking at:
(NB: I added the words 'and hope for the best'). Cheeky.
My search for vintage art
 A week earlier I had visited the www.allposters.com website looking for a reprint of a some vintage art. I registered, provided my email and put together an order, but bailed out before buying. Maybe the phone rang, but the moment had gone. No sale that day.
Several Allposters e-newsletters later they sent me the email that made me stop and stare. It had a real search field in it , plus a working 'GO' button.  It's been so long since I last saw someone try this.
I had to give it a try. Searching from inside an e-mail? The dream come true of just about every e-commerce client I have?
Nah! Thought not. It didn't work.
Or rather it did work (ish) but threw up so many scary warnings about what I was about to do, it poured cold water on the whole idea. Gmail tried hard to protect me from the dangers of the web form (as most email software will), it reminded me just why this really great idea still just doesn't work in practice.
Just to be clear: if you want to include a 'search' inside your own HTML e-newsletter, put a link to your web page where the search form is. The link can look like a search, but it can't carry any typed-in values forward to the web page. Web forms in HTML e-mails are considered a security risk.
 Hats off to AllPosters.com: yes, they relentlessly hunted me down with a volley of e-mails after my visit. With my permission. They tried just about every promotional tactic in the book to sell to me using e-mail, but they crossed a line when it came to bringing their powerful site search into their HTML e-mails. Overall however... impressively relentless follow-up e-mails and, of course, great posters!
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