Contrary to what some so-called experts assert, email is still a solid marketing tool — provided you know how to use it correctly. While traditional email open rates have fallen over the last few years – and will likely continue to decline – consumers are opening email more than ever on mobile devices.
Yet, even though mobile email open rates are increasing quickly, it can be a virtual death sentence for your small business should you overlook optimizing your marketing emails for small screens. Here are some thoughts on how to make your emails more effective in the mobile age:
Mobile email opens are exploding!
According to a study by Knotice.com, mobile opens made up 36 percent of all email opens in early 2012. Also, it’s by far (by 74 percent!) the most preferred method of communication by online adults.
And it’s not just phones on one platform either. ReturnPath reports that iPhones account for 59 percent of the open rate share, iPads 26 percent, Androids 14 percent and Windows phones and devices under 1 percent. The takeaway here is that it’s not simply phones, and not necessarily out and about.
Some tips for optimizing your marketing emails
So just how do you go about optimizing your marketing emails? Not to fear, we won’t leave you in the lurch! Here are some must-do tips that help make sure your messaging shows up the way you’ve intended it to!
- Keep your messages short. People, especially on mobile devices, have a short attention span. Generate punchy, alluring subject lines and material that keeps your reader engaged.
- Keep image files small, as large files take considerably longer to load, you don’t want people leaving before they even get a chance to see what you’ve got!
- Keep your font sizes inside your main content a minimum of 14, and headlines around 30. Anything under 13 will get automatically changed by the iPhone, and may destroy your formatting.
- Make sure any calls to action are big enough for easy tapping. The normal adult fingertip measures around 45 pixels, so keep that in mind.
- Test your emails on different platforms before sending them out. Better safe than sorry!
Optimizing your emails for mobile isn’t a little something you should get to when you can – it’s a big deal you should do today.
You can be sure your competition is!