Designing your Email Marketing for Mobile Devices

The Rise and Rise of Mobile

Have you ever been out to dinner, or in a bar with somebody who never stops checking their phone? Yes, we’ve all been there. Maybe we just need new friends? Recent figures have suggested that people with smartphones will look at them up to 150 times in a given day. Mobile devices have developed and continue to evolve, to deliver us the internet on the go and the time has never been more urgent for businesses to take a look at their email marketing strategy to embrace this.

Impact on email marketing

A recent study from the email marketing analytics people at Litmus  showed that 47% of emails are opened on mobile devices, and a recent survey from RTE  showed that there are 1.6 million smartphones in use in Ireland and estimated to be up to 450,000 tablets. This means that if your email newsletters are not being sent out optimised for these devices, then potentially up to half your outbound emails are not even being seen. Not to mention that 80% of people will delete an email that doesn’t display properly on their mobile device. These statisticss potentially take such a sizeable portion from your outbound mails that there really is no option but to consider and adopt responsive design  to create a consistent email template that can be viewed across the board on smartphones, tablets & computers. Check out these 15 excellent responsive email templates for small businesses.

Some tips on designing for email newsletter for mobile

Keep it simple! Simplicity is key as the canvas you have to work with on a mobile device is much smaller.

Use Larger Text. Use less text and increase the size of what you do use.

No Waffle. Get to the point and state the main points of the email briefly and clearly.

Images. If you use images make sure they are used only for aesthetics and so that if a user views with the  “Images Off” setting in their inbox, the message of your email still conveys. Also ensure that if using a responsive mail template, that any images are also responsive.

Subject Line. Avoid ambiguity & state your value propositions. Try to keep the character count under 35.

Call to Action: MUST BE PROMINENT & above the fold.