Email Marketing and Mobile Optimization

by Gergely Csaba Nagy

Although we know we are now in mobile email world, it seems that many subscribers in general still have negative feelings about marketing emails on their mobile.
The top three reasons:

  • Too many emails
  • They are not relevant
  • Too small to read and interact with.

Number one and two aren’t exclusive to mobile email. A marketer needs to overcome all three to become an inbox champion. Ideally, your subscribers have a profound appreciation for you and your messaging. If there is brand appreciation, there is a much bigger chance your subscribers will interact with them based on the relationship. Even if your emails are not perfectly targeted or sent at the optimum time

Content first: Emails must Help Subscribers

If your prime objective is to generate revenue through email marketing to your list, there is nothing wrong with that. Even more, the revenue is often one of the top reasons that email marketing is getting such high ROI, but subscribers aren’t ATMs and we shouldn’t approach it like that.

Look at your list as people who have reached out to you because they like the way you think. Look at your list as a community of people who need help, who need your expertise.

With every email you send, keep in mind that you can add value by helping subscribers with problems that they are facing. Yes, this can be through your own products and recommendation of other products that is perfect for their needs, nothing wrong with selling. But email marketing is not purely “Always Be Closing”, relationship building mails can be helpful without a secondary pitch.

Your subscribers will come to understand that you have (premium) products and services and might start to think about those over time as they come to trust you.

Emails MUST Be Easy to Read

A great relationship might give you inbox forgiveness, but your emails should be accessible. There are many aspects of readability that you can address. Like using mobile optimized and responsive design. Research on the importance of responsive email design shows that 82% of people open emails on their phones and that over half of that group delete emails that are not formatted for mobile displays. Responsive design allows scaling your full-sized newsletter and good email marketing provider’s tools will allow you to rearrange elements, to use larger buttons and reduce clutter very easily on mobile versions of your newsletter. But Responsive Design is not everything.

Image source: Getresponse.com

Readability

Emails need to be displayed in large fonts on mobile. This is just as important as being succinct. If someone is reading your email on their phone they are possibly talking or getting distracted at the same time. The attention you get is the attention you get, make use of it. You have to make the user’s life simple or they will just press the Delete button.

Make it easy to read.

Use a 16 px or 18 px sans serif font for phones. Use a 14 px font for tablets. Even on laptop screens emails need a** 12 px font** to allow viewers to read them easily.
Here are some mobile scanning tips:

  • Use short sentences. Short.
  • Use one or two sentence paragraphs.
  • Include a button to link CTA to the full post or product on your (responsive) website.

Email Frequency MUST Be Just Right

If you send emails less than once a month then subscribers are likely to forget that they signed up to your newsletters. If you send emails too frequently then your unsubscribe rate will sky-rocket. One of the most common complaints about email marketing is that emails are sent too often.

There is no magic number regarding email frequency; it depends on your relationship with your subscribers. Coming back to the point first made: Relationships first.

Conclusion

When someone signs up to your email list they are granting you a privilege. Respect that privilege or lose it. You are being invited into people’s homes and phones because they think you have something interesting to say.

You will read much advice about getting your subscribers to open your emails, but everything you read is less important than the emotional engagement between your subscribers and you.

Your Input

Do your email subscribers love you? How have you earned their love? Please share your thinking using the comments box below.

Guest post by @jvanrijn

Jordie van Rijn – is an independent email marketing consultant; Helps companies get the most out of their digital efforts and find email marketing software.