Editorial Articles

Email marketing is rising in popularity. Over the last few years, it has proven to be an effective and measurable way to communicate with individuals and generate better marketing returns. It has also traditionally been looked upon as a PC-centric activity.

But the way consumers access email has started to change. In an era where the mobile phone is now routinely used to check and respond to emails, it’s clear that email marketers can’t afford to ignore the mobile channel.

This autumn, we commissioned YouGov to look at how consumers are currently using their mobile phones and what types of marketing messages they are most amenable to. A UK representative sample of 2,255 adults was surveyed and the research revealed that three out of four 18-34 year olds currently access emails on their mobile phones or plan to do so in the near future.

The survey also looked at what would prevent consumers opening an email on their mobile phone. A third of all respondents said that poor formatting was a major barrier, while 30 per cent said they would not open an email from a brand they did not recognise. Eighteen per cent also said that subject lines were important and those that were not compelling would be ignored.

In many ways, success in the mobile channel relies on best practice tips that email marketers should be adopting regardless: use compelling subject lines, make the brand prominent, target individuals with relevant messages. Here are some additional areas to consider:

1 Make subject lines stand out
If the email is being received on the consumer’s mobile phone, only the subject line and From field is likely to be visible as there is no preview pane. These therefore become more critical than ever. Identifying which products and keywords target customers are looking for and using this information to form subject lines will help messages cut through. Making the brand prominent is also crucial as if it’s a brand consumers know and trust, the chances of the email being opened will be much higher.

2 Select your messages carefully
Content wise, as not every type of message works in the mobile channel, email communications should be divided into types that are timing-driven such as “sale ends at 9pm” notices and more programme-led ones such as monthly newsletters. Timing-driven emails with urgent messages should be kept short so that they are easily read on mobiles, whereas more programme-led communications can be optimised for computers, but still remain readable on mobile devices.

3 Improve the user experience
One of the major challenges is creating an email that looks good and can be read on the mobile device. The size of the screen is obviously considerably smaller on a mobile device than the traditional PC and mobile devices vary considerably in how they render content. Testing will reveal the differences and sending a multi-part (MIME-format) e-mail can help. This includes both an HTML and a text version within one envelope. Another option is to use a pre-header link to a mobile version, such as ‘Reading this on a mobile device?’ This will allow communications to be optimised for both the PC and mobile.

4 Make your website mobile friendly
Look at how landing pages and websites render on the mobile device. Creating a .mobi version ,gives website visitors using a mobile device a much better user experience and makes it easier for them to transact on a website. This means that any calls to action used on campaigns which require a visit to a site have a greater chance of being acted up when read on a mobile. 

5 Making the most of the mobile channel
With the number of people that read their emails on the move growing rapidly, organisations need to start thinking about the importance of this channel to their email campaigns - bearing in mind the audience and the types of messages that can and could be sent. Email marketers should not only embrace the unique opportunities the channel offers in terms of driving immediate actions (online or elsewhere), but also the impact of having access to audiences 24x7x365 – and the possibilities and dangers involved.

Author: Steve Lomax, Managing Director of Experian CheetahMail EMEA