Hitting the Mobile Mark

Hitting the Mobile Mark: Getting Your Mobile Email RightSkip Fidura, Client Service Director

Hitting the Mobile Mark: Getting Your Mobile Email RightSkip Fidura, Client Service DirectordotMailer

Wednesday 27th June 2012



Why Should You Care

Mobile presents a number of challenges for email marketers

• Usability for readers completing the journey on the phone

• Clarity for readers triaging their inbox

• You never know when a reader will use mobile

40%of the UK population

owned a smartphone in December 2011

(YouGov)

67%of these used their

smartphone to access their email in June 2011

(comScore)


Methodology

We started with some consumer research to quantify the attitudes of consumers We reviewed the emails of 19 leading high street brands

Across 3 different devices:iPhoneAndroidBlackberry

Amazon.co.uk M&S

Apple New Look

ASOS Next

B&Q Play.com

Debenhams River Island

EasyJet Tesco

Expedia Tesco Direct

Figleaves Thomson

Homebase TopShop

John Lewis


What Did We Review?

Design and Usability Criteria

• Does the email render properly on the test devices?

• Is the email easy to read?

• Is the most relevant content available without scrolling?

• Are the CTAs visible without scrolling?

• Are the CTAs big enough to tap without zooming?

• Are the landing pages mobile friendly?

Technical Criteria

• link? Is the correct code used to design the email?

• Is there a mobile-only CSS style sheet?

• Are ALT tags used on images?

• Are landing pages easy to read and quick to load?

• Is there a ‘view in browser’ link?

• Is there a ‘view on mobile’


Consumer Research

3:1Ratio consumers prefer offers and vouchers to

news and tips

66%of all consumers

check their email on their phone.

64% Personal only2% Business only

25% Both

The Time of Day myth busted:• 41% check their email first

thing in the morning while 27% check before going to sleep and on average they check a further 4 times in between

• For B2B marketers, 21% said they check work emails out of hours


Benchmarking Report Overall Findings

53%The average score

across the 19 email programs

reviewed

9of these programs reviewed scored

below 50%

iPhoneis getting the greatest focus scoring above

64% across all review criteria

Brands have cracked rendering, readability, and clickability on Android but are struggling across the

board on BlackBerries


Did Your Email Render?High Flyer The only email to render effectively on the BlackBerry came from AppleOnly M&S included a link to a mobile version

Issues IncludedImages not displaying properlyIncorrect alignment of elementsText and images overlapping

Best Practice AdvicePreview the emailMake sure you know which devices your readers are using

Results by DeviceiPhone = 94%Android = 89%BlackBerry = 31%


Is Your Email Easy to Read?High Flyer Thomson scored top marks for readability on all platforms, especially Android

Issues IncludedMessages too largeThe text too small

Best Practice AdviceDon’t make your readers work hard to get your messageSend multi-part emails in case your HTML does not render AND purposely copywrite the plain text version



Do Your Readers Need to Zoom and Scroll?

High Flyer Apple was the only email where BlackBerry readers did not need to scroll… much

Issues IncludedOnly sender details and Headline were typically visible on BlackBerryTemplates designed for PCs did not ‘degrade gracefully’

Best Practice AdviceIdentify the mobile penetration of your list – Blackberry = Kids and Business UsersTake the time to write short copyPreview your email before sending

Results by DeviceiPhone = 78% - Half got full marksAndroid = 17%BlackBerry = 5%


Have You Designed for the Finger?

High Flyer Expedia had a clear call to action that enticed mobile readers to click

Issues IncludedCTAs falling below the foldCTAs that were not finger friendlyCTAs only in images which did not work on BlackBerries

Best Practice AdviceDesign for the fingerUse buttons, images and text linksKeep above the foldConsider the whole mobile journey


Photo courtesy of Time.com


Is Your code Correct?High Flyer There was no clear standout in this are but Play.com did the best across all of the criteria

Issues IncludedLack of a mobile style sheetNot fixing the font size so it becomes to small to read on the mobile screen

Best Practice AdviceSimple straightforward code to maximise cross mobile compatibilityClean codeUse media queries to set the screen resolutionFix the font sizeUse Alt-tagsAvoid large image files



Your Landing Page is the Other Half of the Battle?

High Flyer ASOS regularly have clear and easy to read mobile landing pages

Issues IncludedIssues IncludedPages not mobile specificToo often the need to zoom and scrollComplex pages that took too long to load

Best Practice AdviceIf possible design a mobile version of your landing pageAt the very least preview the landing page and all other pages that make up the user journey


Conclusion

Your readers are increasingly reading your emails on their

smart phones.

Some will be triaging their emails others will complete the whole journey on

their phone depending on the situation of

the moment.

In either case you need to keep

your emails:SIMPLECLEAR

ACCESSIBLE