Marketing in today’s digital world means reaching and engaging busy people wherever they happen to be. And they are almost certain to be on a mobile device.
Mobile engagement and optimization has moved from being a trend in email design five years ago to being the new standard, making the requirement to optimize the mobile email customer experience more important than ever before.
Consider the following factors for a great mobile email customer experience …
Design for great mobile UX
A mobile device has a small screen, which doesn’t lend itself to old school navigation. Whether you use responsive design, scalable design or a combination of both, you must make sure your email template can be viewed optimally on any device. Designing for touch navigation and ‘fat fingers’ requires a limited number of links that are well spaced.
Example of bad rendering
Example of good rendering
Content that works for smartphones
While email design has become more visual, designing for mobile, demands that images are used more strategically, yet sparingly. Download speed is related to the number and size of the images, so keep clutter to a minimum. Some devices are set to turn off the display of images by default so the use of ‘alt-text’ is vital. Avoid complicated diagrams, structures and forms, as these are not easily viewed on a smaller screen.
Example of cluttered email
Example of minimalist email
Have a message and call to action
A mobile user won’t spend more than a few seconds scanning an email. You need to help them find what they are interested in quickly and effortlessly. Having a simple message and an obvious call to action will result in improved mobile engagement.
Example of lots of info
Example of obvious call to action
Research has shown that when an email does not display correctly on mobile, a large majority of recipients will simply delete it.
Know the right tactics for mobile optimization and you will be more successful in your email marketing efforts.
Ross Sibbald
Commercial Director, South Africa
Ross is the Commercial Director at Striata for the African region. Ross is focused on leveraging the power of digital communication to achieve the desired results for his clients.
Ross is responsible for the customer experience, financial performance, operational efficiency and talent management.
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