Over the last 10+ years of email marketing , there were several rules you could always count on:

-   Subject lines are the key

-   Make sure you blend text and images

-   Keep your key content above the fold

That last one might need a bit of revising though.  Readers no longer have a 17 inch monitor staring back at them.  They could have an iPhone, an iPad, a Tablet, a Nook Color, a Kindle, a netbook, two monitors, a 23-inch HD monitor, their 55-inch TV, etc.  Each one of those screens will have a completely different viewing experience for a person reading an email.

This fact forces long-time e-marketers, who have clung to their creative filter of “Is the key benefit and the call-to-action above the fold?”, to re-evaluate exactly where the fold is.

This doesn’t have to be the end though for good email practice and the fold.  Just because “the fold” is now an antiquated term, the logic is still sound.

Your emails do need to keep the key benefit up near the top of an email, along with the call-to-action.  In fact, the preheader text needs to have those two items every time.  And, everyone “sees” the preheader text, no matter the screen size, the device, or the platform.

Maybe the next generation of “above the fold” should be “check your PHT”.  Or, maybe some creative copywriter can coin a better phrase for that.

What do you think?  What are the new rules that need to replace the old ones in today’s email world?  Or, do you have a replacement for “above the fold” that can help emphasize the important of the preheader text?