Say you wanted to get creative...Token+Image

[Anonymous]

OK folks: My first instinct on this is: "Not possible." but, I'm also feeling that perhaps I've forgotten something that could easily allow for this. Thus, I open it up to you:

Say you wanted to insert a graphic into an email... and have a text box sit on top of it (text in this box would be a token... for instance: "First name.") Basically, making it look like you're personalizing a graphic.

#1 - Is that even possible in an email?

#2 - If it IS possible, I'm guessing that depending on how the person is viewing it (Outlook vs. Gmail vs. iPhone, etc. etc.etc.) the above would run the risk of displaying oddly. Plus, obviously without turning images on, the person wouldn't see the image, and the "personalized" token text would appear odd... doesn't seem like a great user experience.

#3 - If the above doesn't work... wait for it... could you somehow integrate another program into Marketo that would read token data (in this case, relying on a field token), insert that token data into a provided image file within that program, and then have that program apply that newly customized graphic into the email that's sent to that specific recipient? A graphic as token, automated to be personalized for each recipient.

[Anonymous]

This would be an amazing feature! Though, we are not able, and I'm not even sure it's able to be done at ALL, to put text on top of an image in an email. It's possible in a landing page, but not an email.

I also do not know of any integration into another tool that would allow for this functionality. Sorry!

[Anonymous]

Maybe... would need some serious testing - run it through deliverability tools as well...

<div style="position: absolute; font-size: 50px; z-index: 2;">{{lead.First Name:default=Name Goes Here}}</div>

<div style="position: absolute; top: -30; left: 5; color: red; font-size: 80px; z-index: 1;">LAYER 2</div>

I've got text for the second layer but that could be an image URL as well.

[Anonymous]

Yea, while I think Clinton's suggestion would work fine on any modern web browser. I think that when you actually started testing it across a variety of email clients you'd find wildly different results. My recommendation is to make a static graphic using photoshop, as non-personalized and non-fun as that is. 😞 Sorry there's not a better answer!

[Anonymous]

Thanks Rick, Clinton and Adam!

I was fairly certain it wasn't possible but, wasn't sure if there was something I was forgetting (or if there was an amazing third-party integration developed that I wasn't yet savvy to.).

If you happen to come across a new idea that would something like this work across clients, let me know! In the meantime, I'll continue down the path of my Plan A that will be less exciting, but ultimately more dependable.

Appreciate it! - Jen

[Anonymous]

Hi Jen,

I agree with everyone about layering text on top of an image in an email--you would need some serious testing to make sure it was compatible accross browsers and email clients.

The only simple fix I could recommend would be slicing your image into table cells. You would then need to delete the image in the cell where you wanted place text, and replace it with a solid background color. Then you could type your text or name token in and style it. You would still need to do some deliverability testing, but that technique is very common. (Of course it assumes the area where you want to place the text has a solid background.)

[Anonymous]

Thanks Kate! True... that approach could work, as long as we could back-fill the text box with exactly the right color to seamlessly blend it into the graphic (I suppose white would be the best bet). Will give that some thought and see if the design of the graphic could lend itself to this approach.

[Anonymous]

Hi All, 

This is an old threat but it reminded me of a little pet project I had some time ago. It can be done and you can see an example here:
http://tmautodesk.nettingwork.com/test/nametag.php?text=What_you_need_here

Now, this works regardless of the image color as you can see, what you can do for the specifics, assuming for instance you want to put the first name on the image, is to put this as the image URL on the Marketo email:
http://tmautodesk.nettingwork.com/test/nametag.php?text={{lead.First Name}}

This could work with any parameter you may have, I still have yet to test it with special characters, but that's something of easy fix. It's a rather simple thing to do, but I'm not sure how easy or hard can it be to integrate it within Marketo. In the meantime, if anyone is interested, feel free to reach me.