Since the late 1990s there has been a huge increase in mobile usage.  2002 saw the Blackberry revolutionise the market for mobile with the introduction of the first broadly used smart phone, providing instant access to emails as well as features such as a camera, MP3 player and wireless connectivity to the internet. This was later challenged by the arrival of the iPhone in 2007 which rocketed the demand and popularity of smart phones across the world (Ozgur, 2011; Arthur, 2012).

So with this stark uptake of mobile use it’s only natural that more and more organisations are tailoring their marketing platforms to be mobile friendly (Bauer et al., 2005; Campaign Monitor, 2015a).  But just how popular is mobile activity and should it be the sole focus of marketing for organisations?

 

On the move

Whilst mobile is convenient in allowing us access to emails wherever we are that doesn’t mean that it’s the only place we look at them and engage with them.  Often people will glance an email briefly on their mobile but will wait to return to their desktop before engaging.  So what does that mean?  Well click-throughs will increase once the email is opened on the desktop instead of the mobile which means the conversion rate is likely to increase also when emails are engaged over a desktop (Campaign Monitor, 2015a).

However, a reported 87% of click-throughs will happen when the email is first opened.  So this is even more reason not to squash desktop email reading altogether.  But the focus on mobile marketing is still important as mobile users tend to sort which emails they would like to return to on a desktop from their mobile (Campaign Monitor, 2015a).  This is shown more clearly in the diagram below.

(Campaign Monitor, 2015a)

 

So what can we do to make it easier for readers to engage with emails and increase click-throughs from mobile devices?

1. Make sure the email is mobile friendly or that a mobile friendly version can be selected when readers open the email.
2. Keep emails to a low pixel (under 600pixels is suggested). Remember only iPhones automatically scale emails to the screen size, other devices will require the user to zoom manually, which can ruin the effect of the email design.
3. Content should be brief and font sizes should be large to make life easier for readers.
4. The call to action and links should be given prize position to increase chances of engaging with the reader and so that they do not need to scroll or zoom far to click-through.
5. Don’t place links too close to one another, this makes it difficult for readers to click on touchscreen devices.

(Waldo, 2013; Yung, 2015)

Responsive Email Design (RED)

If you’re really serious about optimization, the performance and appearance of your emails on Mobile why not consider using Responsive Email Design.  This puts the design and the mobile experience at the heart of development so that the reader is not impacted by viewing the email on their mobile device.  The content adapts and adjusts automatically to the screen size for optimum viewing pleasure. Although RED can be expensive, if your customers are engaging highly through mobile devices this is well worth considering, particularly if it will increase the click-through and conversion rate of your emails (Campaign Monitor, 2015b).

 

So it’s safe to say that mobiles are a very popular platform for email viewing, however we shouldn’t completely dismiss the desktop just yet as this seems to be where the majority of engagement happens through click-throughs.  However, to increase the chances of engagement with emails it’s worth considering making them mobile friendly be that through adapting your current content to investing in RED.

 

References

Arthur, C. (2012) The history of smartphones: timelines. [Online] <http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/jan/24/smartphones-timeline> [accessed 17^th April 2015].

Bauer, H., Barnes, S., Reichardt, T. and Neumann, M. (2005) ‘Driving Consumer Acceptance of Mobile Marketing: A Theoretical Framework and Empirical Study’. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research. Vol. 6, No. 3, P.181-192.

Campaign Monitor (2015a) Email interaction across mobile and desktop. [Online] <https://www.campaignmonitor.com/guides/email-marketing-trends/> [accessed 17^th April 2015].

Campaign Monitor (2015b) Email Responsive Design Guide. [Online] <https://www.campaignmonitor.com/guides/mobile/> [accessed 17^th April 2015].

Ozgur (2011) Mobility & Email Blog. [Online] <http://mail2web.com/blog/2011/05/smartphone-revolution-growth-smartphones-exchange-activesync/> [accessed 17^th April 2015].

Waldow, D. (2013) 7 Tips to Make Your Email Marketing More Mobile-Friendly. [Online] <http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229618> [accessed 17th April 2015].

Yung, W. (2015) 10 Tips for Mobile-Friendly Email Campaigns. [Online] <http://www.emarsys.com/en/resources/blog/10-tips-for-mobile-friendly-emails/> [accessed 17^th April 2015].