15 Essential Tips to Optimise Email Marketing Campaigns for The Mobile Age

With an ever-increasing number of people accessing emails on their mobile handsets, it’s vital all businesses are switched on when it comes to making their email communications accessible on mobile and tablet devices. The following post looks at ways in which marketers can optimise their emails.

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As there are no accepted industry guidelines when it comes to designing emails to be displayed on a mobile handset, the temptation for some marketers is to play it safe and create a text-only version. This is the obvious way to ensure optimum deliverability. However, with consumers becoming hungrier for advanced content and smarter messaging, greater use of MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) should be made.

MIME is a standard method of formatting an email with both an HTML and text component so that the phone software automatically detects whether it can display the HTML version. If not, the text option is displayed instead.

Here are a number of tips to optimise your emails for mobile devices:

1. Use an 8-point font size – make the body text small but readable.

2. Space is very limited so make sure that your company name is immediately recognisable and that the subject line includes a compelling call to action within the first 15 to 25 characters.

3. Busy business people don’t read emails – they scan them. The subject line and first few sentences need to be attention-grabbing.

4. Be relevant! Subscribers are more likely to delete your message without reading it if you mail them too frequently or send irrelevant content.

5. Don’t link names of people or places if you want mobile readers to be able to see the words. If you want to include a link, use the full address, such as http://www.azam.net

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1. If a user opens an email on their wireless device, the same message will typically appear as read on their PC, so it’s very important to give them the option of ‘flagging’ it to read in full later.

2. Use a text-only header and a sentence or two that places the ‘hook’ of the offer at the very top.

3. Place logos and images below the text. Your PC audience then gets a more dynamic message, but smartphone users get the key message at a glance.

4. Keep subject lines short, using only relevant, keywords and phrases.

5. Put the ‘subject’ first in the subject line to keep it relevant.

6. Know the recipient’s preferences. Ask your subscribers if they are a mobile user during the initial sign up process. Then, segment them with a dedicated file or send your email using multipart MIME.

7. Create a landing page which is optimised for mobile phone and tablet readers.

8. Keep the header to 50 pixels high and 320 pixels wide.

9. Don’t use any scripts within the HTML page – JavaScript is not supported by mobile devices.

10. Limit the size of your HTML page to 250K or under. Some smartphones have tight restrictions in terms of their message cache.

Find these tips useful? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

Find out more about our design and email marketing services. Get in touch with us to discuss your requirements by emailing results [at] azam.net or calling +44 (0) 20 33 55 4334 seven days a week.