---
title: Email's first impressions
description: The Chevy free car campaign had one chance to make their email count, and they flubbed it.
image: https://www.yell.is/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/6a699-screenshot2013-10-28at11-01-48am-1.png
---

![](https://www.yell.is/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/6a699-screenshot2013-10-28at11-01-48am-1.png)

I entered a contest to win a Chevy!

The price of entry was all my contact information. Sure, I'll agree to receive marketing communiques in exchange for a chance for a NEW CAR.

The contest also gives me a chance to see their email marketing in-the-wild.

Here's the first message:

[![](https://www.yell.is/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/6a699-screenshot2013-10-28at11-01-48am-1.png?width=476&height=640&name=6a699-screenshot2013-10-28at11-01-48am-1.png)](https://www.yell.is/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/6a699-screenshot2013-10-28at11-01-48am.png)

Things I noticed:

- Personalized, engaging subject
- Brief, engaging text
- The "Learn More" button helpfully rendered without images enabled
- Loads of white space (no image alt text) in the email

That last point carries the day. While I'm sure they're proud of how the new Malibu looks, I can't see it. All first (and most subsequent) emails won't show images.

Email marketers either ask recipients to enable images or make emails look great without them.

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Nathanael Yellis",
    "url" : "https://www.yell.is/blog/author/nathanael-yellis"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2019-04-02T00:06:46.203Z",
  "datePublished" : "2013-10-28T22:00:00.000Z",
  "headline" : "Email's first impressions",
  "image" : [ "https://www.yell.is/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/6a699-screenshot2013-10-28at11-01-48am-1.png" ],
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.yell.is/blog/2013/10/28/emails-first-impressions",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "url" : "https://www.yell.is/hubfs/android-chrome-512x512.png"
    },
    "name" : "Nathanael Yellis"
  }
}
```