More than 70% of business-email users view most or all of their email messages in the preview pane.* Depending on screen size, resolution, and window sizing, the real estate available in the preview pane can be relatively small.
When designing messages, be sure to put the most important information in the upper-left corner to maximize visibility in the preview pane.
Here is a poorly designed email Chase sent to confirm posting of a credit card payment. It requires users to scroll right to view Chase's logo and log-in button. Here's how it looks on my 12-inch laptop screen running at 1024 x 768:
What not to do from Chase:
Better design from Bank of America graphics flush left:
(Note: BofA shows the last four digits of your account number; we changed them to xxxx in the screenshot above.)
Action Items
Even though it's just a routing email message, the poor layout makes it look like a phishing message. Chase could clean this up with just a few minutes of programming work. While they are at it, they should add a personal greeting and additional text disclosures to make it look less phishy.
*For more information, read our Online Banking Report #129/139, Email Marketing for Financial Services.