Smart phones are addictive.
It takes a person of exceptional character and will power to refrain from checking their phone as it lights up with a new text, notification or email.
And therein lies the crux of the matter. (Or rather the cruxes.)
1) We send out email newsletters to stay in touch with our clients, and on the one hand the rise of mobile devices plays perfectly into our email marketing hands. Subscribers are receiving our emails instantly, and, I think, more likely to open them. However, unlike when you’re sitting in front of a PC, focused on the screen, you tend to be more distracted when checking emails on a mobile device – juggling the phone, a coffee and a conversation all at once.
2) Our email marketing emails aren’t being read on computer screens – have you checked what yours looks like on a mobile phone? When emails aren’t optimized to display well on mobile screens it’s too frustrating for me to bother reading them – and by the time I check my email on a PC or laptop, I’ve usually forgotten that I received your email.
What to do to avoid these less than ideal situations?
A mobile screen is small – at first glance no one’s going to see much of your email newsletter, especially if it’s designed to fit a PC screen rather than a mobile one. So make your email narrower. Typically, a mobile screen is about 350px by 380px, of course, this varies. iPhones are an email marketer’s dream as they usually fit the emails to the screen size automatically, however other phones generally don’t play this nifty trick. That means that, if your email is designed for a larger screen, your subscriber will have to scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll to get to the other side of the email, i.e. read your full sentence.
Keep the HTML design of your email simple – the simpler it is, the more likely it is to render well in mobile browsers. Remember that you can also use the Inbox Preview tool to preview your email on certain devices.
We all know the importance of a powerful subject line and nothing’s changed when it comes to mobile. Your subject line is your first attempt at hooking your reader and if it succeeds, they’ll open your email. One area that email marketers sometimes neglect though, is the preheader. Preheaders are especially important in mobile – it’s the snippet of text that will be displayed in your inbox on your mobile. Subject lines and preheaders go hand in hand; when they complement each other you have an even greater chance of achieving a high open rate.
It’s important to keep a balance between the two. Don’t just repeat your subject line as the preheader! In fact, avoid repetition. Just like a heading and subheading in a news article, the subject line should convey the point you want to get across to your readers – that which you think will hook them in. The preheader is like a continuation of the subject line, giving a bit more detail. (Of course, with subject lines and preheaders there’s more room for creativity than with news headlines!) The preheader is also the perfect place to put in a call to readers: “Click here for a mobile version” or “Like? Share this email with your friends”. Combine these calls with an exciting hook and you’re making the most of your preheader.
Also keep in mind that one of your challenges is a distracted subscriber. The subject line and preheader can be the perfect place to maximize your call to action. (The call to action tells your reader exactly what it is you expect them to do with your email.) A succinct, clear CTA will get better results. When your mobile email recipient is busy or distracted, they’ll value that you cut straight to the chase. For optimal results it’s always best to test your subject line and preheader, using an A/B split test, before sending.
A final note
Most traditional email marketing tips and best practices also apply to mobile email design. Prepare for blocked images by inserting alternative text into your emails (ALT text is the text that displays in place of the image if the image is blocked). Remember to design your layout so that your call to action is clearly visible – bear in mind that mobile screens are small, and that clicking on links may be difficult. And, as always, conduct a test send to check that all coding and links are rendering correctly before you send.
Mobile is the technology with the highest penetration rate globally, and with smart phones (which I think is probably the best thing since internet) mobile email marketing is going to become increasingly important. You want to be prepared.
Image courtesy of jscreations.
