They’ve been slowly but surely expanding their presence in our personal and business lives. They’ve been changing the way that we conduct our business activity and connect with our customer base.
Now these Mobile Devices are officially set to overtake Desktop PCs in yet another crucial area.
By the end of 2013, a new report confidently predicts that more commercial emails will be opened and viewed on a mobile device – such as a Smartphone or a Tablet – than on a Desktop PC.
But what does this mean for your own email marketing campaigns and Small Business communications? And are you fully prepared for such a dramatic shift in the way that your clients view your email content?
The other day, down at the Sweet Pastry Shop, I was standing in the queue, waiting patiently for my turn to be served.
I suspected that it could be a while before my turn came around. The guy behind the counter seemed to be embroiled in an increasingly agitated discussion with a customer about the price of a Chocolate Walnut Strudel, and the debate showed no signs of reaching a swift, amicable conclusion.
To pass the time, I did what millions of other people would probably have done in this type of situation.
I pulled out my Smartphone, and checked for any half-interesting messages or notifications which might have popped up in the last ten minutes or so.
I was quite relieved to find four brand new emails which would hopefully hold my attention until this squabble had died down a little bit.
These emails weren’t directly related to my own print and design business. They were simply welcome slices of marketing content from fellow businesses which I would possibly find to be of some interest.
Actually, some of the subject lines sounded particularly compelling.
“THIS MIGHT BE THE MOST IMPORTANT EMAIL YOU’LL READ TODAY!”
“OPEN NOW FOR THE MOST INCREDIBLE DEAL IN 2,000 YEARS!”
“IF YOU DON’T READ THIS EMAIL, YOU ARE A COMPLETE IDIOT!”
Well, they’d certainly aroused my curiosity, which is always half the battle for these marketing emails.
But there was a problem.
After a couple of minutes of frenzied clicking, I was disappointed to discover that I couldn’t actually make use of a single one of these emails from my Smartphone screen.
I kept on encountering the same frustrating problems in all four four emails.
I either couldn’t read the words properly because of a poor layout that wasn’t optimised for the Smartphone screen, or I couldn’t tap the right links to take me to the Business website for more information.
In the end, I gave it up as a bad idea, and had a quick go on Angry Birds instead which was far more rewarding.
Unfortunately for those businesses concerned, I never actually opened these emails again, not even when I had a much better chance of viewing them properly from my Desktop PC.
That may seem particularly careless or forgetful of me, but the figures below reveal that a quite staggering majority of us would never have got round to it either…
A new report from Data and Digital Messaging Solution provider Knotice, has taken a look at the relatively rapid increase in commercial emails being opened and viewed on a mobile device.
Back in 2010, only 13% of commercial emails were opened on a Smartphone or a Tablet.
Fast-forward just a few years to the present day, and this figure has dramatically risen to 41%, with Knotice predicting that the end of the year will see mobile devices actually overtaking Desktop PCs as the most popular tool for opening such emails.
The report also reveals a fascinating statistic on the likelihood of your audience ever opening a marketing email for a second time.
By the end of last year, only 0.07% of commercial emails opened on a mobile device were opened again on another device such as a Desktop PC.
So, even if your recipients were unable to read the email properly from their Smartphone screen, the odds are very much against them having another go at reading it on a more suitable device.
It would seem that it’s more important than ever before to ensure that your audience are able to view your email content correctly the first time they open it…and we have to consider the fact that this is increasingly likely to be on the smaller screen of a Smartphone or Tablet.
So, is your Email Marketing content optimised for mobile devices?
Here are a few very quick points to bear in mind for your next Small Business email marketing campaign…
Try to design one main column, including full-width images.
This ideal format will automatically shrink down your content remarkably well for the smaller screen, and will reduce the risks of problems arising from the re-sizing of text.
Remember that your audience are likely to be on the move, in a hurry, or distracted by events in the pesky real world!
For complete clarity, try not to clutter up the introduction with too much preamble, and ensure that all key information and Calls to Action are included in the top left-hand corner of the email.
Make sure that your links are nicely spaced out and have room to breathe; otherwise your recipients may have to deal with the frustration of ‘mis-tapping’ the wrong link!
A minimum space of 22px between links is recommended to reduce the likelihood of mis-taps and bad tempers.
Test, test, and test again!
What looks perfect on the monitor of a desktop PC may look terrible when viewed on the screen of a mobile device.
So, have your Smartphone or Tablet handy when composing your next winning email, and check for potential errors or problems when viewed on such a device before despatching the email across the globe!
Finally, don’t forget that any links included within the email should point to an equally mobile-friendly website!
You might have the layout of your marketing email optimised to perfection, but if the call to action is directing users to a business website which doesn’t work very well on the smaller screen, then it’s all been a wasted effort!
So, is your Small Business prepared for the day when those mobile devices really take over?
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