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Over on Signal vs. Noise, Jamie Dihiansan has written about his approach in evolving the email marketing and triggered messaging design for 37signals' products.

Often the job of designing emails is seen as a one off task- build it once and it is triggered off and sent for ever more. Taking this approach can mean you miss out on a great opportunity to improve the way your company and products are seen by your customers.

After the signup process, triggered emails like signup confirmations and welcome messages can be the 'last chance to make a first impression'. So it makes sense to revisit them regularly to look for ways to improve them.

In the case of the Basecamp Max welcome message, the 37signals team thought they could make the messages less confusing, and ultimately split the emails content into two separate messages for clarity.

Here at Freshview we've gone through a similar process with our request for feedback emails, and the changes we made improved our results dramatically.

Here's a few areas you might like to look at in your messaging and newsletters:

• Is the content still up to date? It is common to make changes to features in your application, but forget to update your welcome message to accurately reflect the change.
• Are the important parts obvious enough? You might want to mention all the cool stuff people can do with their accounts, but what do they really need to know to get started? Do those things stand out at a glance?
• Are you using the right format? Would using some HTML let the important content stand out better? Or, might you be scaring people off with a over designed email, and do you need to simplify?

Don't let your recurring emails stagnate while your website is continually refreshed. Although they might be out of your mind, for your customers, email is just the opposite. It's an ongoing reminder of what your company does and how it does it.

Personally, I loved receiving the Moo order confirmation email. Have you received a great 'triggered' email?