5 Tips For Mobilizing Your E-mail Campaigns

By AdStation | July 17th, 2013 | Categories: Email Marketing
5 Tips For Mobilizing Your E-mail Campaigns

While social marketing appears to dominate the advertising landscape, e-mail marketing is still a proven method for reaching consumers. But like everything else, it has changed with the times. Sure, it still looks basically the same as it did when it was introduced, and the delivery method hasn’t changed. But the way people access their e-mail has morphed into mobile, and companies must adapt their e-mail campaigns to accommodate both traditional and on-the-go users simultaneously. Most of us have traditional e-mail marketing down to a science, but going mobile requires a bit of a game-changer.

Are You Talking to Me?  Define your target audience. I know, this should be a no-brainer but it’s always worth mentioning. Whether you use response-based targeting, demographics, psychographics or a combination of the three to identify your target audience, you should have a crystal clear idea about who you’re trying to reach. Reviewing your data at least once a week can alert you to changes in consumer behavior and readership because it pinpoints which consumers are opening your messages, when they open them, what device(s) they use and what actions they take. All of this data can help you create more effective e-mail marketing campaigns.

 Optimize For Mobile Screens. For some reason, this is a tough concept for companies to grasp. Many businesses have been slow to optimize their sites for mobile, and it’s chipping away at their bottom line. Consumers want to be able to read content easily on their mobile devices. If your content doesn’t fit on their screen, if the navigation is wonky or the font is too small to read, they will leave. Optimize, optimize, optimize. By the way, Adknowledge offers free mobile optimization.

The Long & Short of Subject Lines. Mobile device screens tend to be smaller than desktop screens, and you must keep this in mind when creating subject lines. Because you don’t know if your audience is using a mobile device or a desktop computer to access e-mail, it’s best to keep the subject line short, between 50-70 characters for most apps. Put keywords at the beginning of the subject line to ensure readers see them. If you save the important words for the tail end, you risk an automatic delete.

Design Away Fat Finger Syndrome. Small screens and fat fingers don’t jive. When you optimize your e-mail messages for mobile, you must consider Fat Finger Syndrome. Not only will customers get frustrated when they click on the wrong link or button, but your data analytics will be wildly inaccurate. The sizing and spacing of your touchable content should make it easy for users to get where they want to go without any accidental detours.

Get Real. Seasoned e-mail marketers know that even though an e-mail is still a viable way to get the message out, the e-mail open rate and CTR are on the low side. It’s reality. After all, e-mail is competing for the attention of overwhelmed consumers who get bombarded with e-mails, texts and social media requests on a daily basis. But, content is king. If you give your customers a reason to open your e-mail and a reason to read vs. scan the content, your efforts will eventually deliver a solid ROI.