Email is one of the most important and effective tools in your marketing arsenal. When it comes to getting important information to clients and candidates, there is arguably no better method of getting everything directly to them where they want and need it.
Not that long ago, “where” was at a desktop computer or laptop with the user getting that email through a client like Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Apple Mail, or a number of other, similar options. Over the last few years however, there has been a paradigm shift with the way that emails are open and read thanks to the speed with which modern smartphones have taken over the market that flip phones, sliders, and even older Blackberries used to hold the reins of. As a result, mobile email opens are now well over 50% compared to their desktop counterparts and that number is steadily climbing.
According to the Email Client Market Share report that Litmus updates based on nearly one billion email opens tracked through their proprietary analytics software, the Apple iPhone currently holds the top spot with a staggering 27% of all emails being opened on that device (up from 25% this time last year). In second place is Gmail on both mobile and desktop with 15% of opens, having shot up from 3% in September of 2013. Behind that is the iPad with another 12% of opens. Bringing up fourth place is Outlook with 11% (down from 17% last year) with opens spread across versions from 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2011, and 2013, all of which come with their own design problems. If you thought Outlook was king, think again.
Make your emails readable.
Tiny fonts are going to get you nowhere. While it may look OK on a big monitor, you must consider smaller screens. Put some space in your copy and make sure it’s easy to read across the board.
Make it clear where you want your users to go.
There is no point in hiding your call(s) to action. You’re trying to get your reader to go somewhere like a landing page or do something like read an article. Make those buttons big and make them obvious.
Make sure they’re engaged.
Odds are that your users don’t want to read a novel in their emails. Keep that copy short and keep it sweet to keep them there. Use bold imagery to drive the point home.
Make those file sizes smaller.
The thing about so many emails being opened on mobile devices is that people have to use a lot of mobile data. Gone are the days of unlimited plans and with many email clients now automatically downloading images, your customers won’t be very happy campers if it’s you that’s eating a lot of their 2 available gigabytes. Optimize those images and bring the file sizes down because there’s absolutely no reason to have a full-size image in an email when you’re designing for what is a relatively narrow display. There’s a lot of room to maneuver with images before any noticeable loss in quality.
Email marketing is important and, if done correctly, can be extremely effective. Need help with yours? Contact Haley Marketing today!