In today's fast-paced local marketing environment, speed and quality are paramount. Users expect seamless experiences on SaaS platforms, while the demand for high-quality assets in print remains unrelenting. To strike a balance between these two expectations, it's crucial to keep asset sizes reasonable in the online environment. In this article, we'll explore why it's essential and how to achieve it effectively.
1. Understanding the Impact of Asset Size on Performance
Have you ever wondered why graphics sometimes load agonizingly slowly in templates, the shopping cart and approval areas? The answer often lies in the size of the assets being used. Large image and PDF files can be resource hogs, leading to sluggish performance and frustrated users.
There is no hard and fast rule about what makes an asset "too big"; a designer's best judgement must be used to determine how low a file can be made in size while maintaining quality resolution/color.
2. Consider User Needs
Before uploading assets, consider what user workflow is after the document is created. Do users need to download and email documents, or upload to other systems? If your assets are excessively large, it can hinder these essential functions, causing inconvenience and frustration amongst your End User community.
3. The Limits of System Compression When Assets Are Really Big
CampaignDrive allows for documents and assets to be compressed in the platform based on industry compression standards. When creating new templates or adding new assets, make sure to test how these files behave with the in-platform compression features. If the documents/assets compress to an acceptable amount, great! If not, make the assets that build up the template or the individual asset itself smaller in size so that in-platform compression feature downsizes assets that are acceptable for your End User community's needs.
4. Leveraging Media Library Features
An alternative to compressing assets, CampaignDrive offers a useful feature called Pin to Board. Users can pin a document to a board and share it with contacts outside of CampaignDrive and removes the need for emailing large files.
5. Know Your File Types
Some file types tend to be larger than others. For example, TIFFs are typically larger than PNGs. If you're using a file type that is known to have a bigger file weight than others, check the file's file size to make sure it's appropriate for the execution.