Gemological Institute of America

GIA - The world authority on diamond grading and gem identification - sends out regular emails designed to promote its lab classes and seminars to current and prospective students, and people in the jewellery profession. However, is the eshot really getting its key point across effectively? Improving how the information is organised and presented could help GIA better showcase the benefits they have to offer their readers.

Current design

1. It's not completely clear from the address 'gialondon@news.nixonmcinnes.co.uk' that the email has come from GIA. The 'from' email address plays an important part in building trust with your recipient and getting them to open and read your eshot so using a 'branded' email address is essential.
2. The subject line 'GIA London Lab Classes and Seminars' might present the core information but it isn't particularly attention grabbing or engaging.
3. Ensure the content sells the benefits readers are looking for - particularly when scanning quickly. When you cast your eye over this email it's not immediately obvious where to focus your attention first. The content should be more active, with the benefits of each course mentioned at the beginning of each paragraph. Additionally the font sizes increase as you read down the page and the main heading appears smaller and less significant than the course titles, which is confusing.
4. The image here has not been used particularly effectively. It's placed in a distracting position and doesn't relate to any specific piece of content. Images should illustrate the text in some way, or they simply serve to draw attention away from the main point, and in this case pushing important content - the 'JobSeekers List' - further down the page.
5. The key aim of the newsletter is to encourage people to sign up for courses. Yet the only calls to action to indicate this are hidden away in tiny font at the end of each list of courses.
6. The look, feel and use of colour in the newsletter is quite different from the main GIA website. It's important to build trust with your readership and maintain a clear professional identity so ensuring brand consistency should be an essential.
7. The black text in the purple box on the right is problematic. The combination of the dark colours and small font size makes it more difficult to read.
8. Headings like 'Under the microscope' or 'GIA student workroom' are rather cryptic and don't offer any obvious benefits to the reader. Additionally, at the moment the copy includes a call to action - email us for more information - but no link to help the user. This puts a barrier between the reader and the action you want them to perform - so they might not bother.