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A special report from the editors of Internet Retailer
A SPONSORED SPECIAL REPORT ON WHAT E-RETAILERS
CAN DO TO INCREASE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF
EMAIL MESSAGES READ ON MOBILE DEVICES.
SPONSORED SPECIAL REPORT
E-retailers should take extra steps
to ensure the email messages they send
to customers are mobile-friendly
A
T SOME POINT IN THE SECOND HALF
OF 2014, email marketing passed an important
milestone: For the first time, more consumers
viewed emails on their mobile devices than on their
personal computers.
Consumers’ growing preference for reading email
on smartphones and tablets poses new issues for
marketers—some of which are seeing up to two-thirds
of their emails opened on mobile devices.
One of the biggest challenges, experts say, is how to
capture and hold mobile users’ attention.
Since many mobile users open their messages while on
the go they either don’t have the time to thoroughly read
an email or close it due to a distraction. Subsequently,
email open rates are no longer a reliable barometer of an
email campaign’s effectiveness, experts say. Instead, they
suggest marketers should track whether a mobile user
clicks on a link in the email or reopens the message at a
later date to take an action, such as redeeming a coupon.
“Click-through rates are a much better metric of email
success because of the high percentage of emails opened
on mobile devices,” says Andrew Pearson, vice president
of marketing for Windsor Circle, a provider of customer
retention software. “A consumer clicking through the
message or redeeming a coupon online or in-store is
undoubtedly interacting with the email.”
Emails need to be relevant, timely and intriguing
enough to entice a consumer to open the message,
regardless of the device used to access the message. The
real work, however, comes with developing content that
attracts the mobile user’s attention so that she’ll read it
right away or, at least, keep it and read it later.
“The key to targeting mobile users with email is that
the message has to provide value to the consumer beyond
the first open,” says Jim Davidson, head of research for
marketing platform provider Bronto Software. “Many
shoppers expect an email containing coupons or promotions can be redeemed in a store and will reopen an email
at the point of sale to redeem the offer.”
Other ways to engage mobile users is through lifecycle
email campaigns that address consumers’ needs as
they evolve. For instance, a shopper that has just completed a purchase is highly likely to open an email from
a retailer thanking her for her purchase or welcoming
her as a customer.
“There is a honeymoon period with customers immediately after the first purchase so that’s a good time to
engage them with a thank
you for their business,”
Pearson says. “A thank
you helps lay the groundwork for customer loyalty
and keeps the retailer’s
brand top of mind. The
key is not to make the
message promotional, it’s
to keep it short so that
mobile users don’t have
ANDREW PEARSON
to scroll to read it.”
Vice president of marketing
for Windsor Circle, a customer
Other types of liferetention software provider
cycle emails likely to
engage mobile users
include replenishment reminders for such products
as printer cartridges, cosmetics, coffee or other items
a consumer buys on a regular basis. “Replenishment
emails offer a clear and relevant call to action timed
to when the consumer is most likely thinking about
reordering,” Pearson says.
Prioritizing mobile email content
Like web content, email templates need to be mobilefriendly. While retailers can deploy responsive design,
which automatically adjusts content, image sizes and
resolution to the mobile device’s screen size, they have to
make sure the content intended to appeal most to mobile
users gets priority in the design. Putting the content in
the optimal order for mobile users can boost engagement, Davidson says.
A call to action, such as a coupon or discount code,
should be prominently featured and easily recognized
when the consumer opens the message. “Offers in an
email that can be redeemed in-store should be quickly
bronto.com
SPONSORED SPECIAL REPORT
and easily understood by the opener. Instructions on how
to redeem them should accompany the coupon to help
increase adoption of this multi-device, cross-channel
experience,” Davidson says.
When using responsive design to prioritize email
content, retailers may find that certain navigation
elements or secondary products can be dropped down
in the email or eliminated altogether to provide a more
succinct and mobile-friendly experience. “By considering
how responsive design can be used to prioritize content,
retailers can maximize the email experience and increase
usability for mobile users,” Davidson says.
Repeating a primary call to action or link throughout
an email is also recommended for messages that stack
content in a single column and require the recipient to
scroll to read the message in its entirety,
Pearson says. “Inserting
calls to action throughout
the message reduces
the chance consumers
will miss them,” Pearson
says. “But the best rule
for crafting messages
for mobile users is to
pare content down.
JIM DAVIDSON
Less is more.”
Head of research for
Bronto Software, a
When inserting links
marketing platform provider
into an email, links need
to be large enough so a
consumer can easily tap them with his finger on a mobile
device. “Clicking on a link using a mouse is a different
experience than tapping it with a finger on a touchscreen,” Davidson says. “Make it easy for mobile users to
tap through to the website.”
While responsive design can make an email template look better on a mobile device, many retailers
fail to include links that connect the consumer to a
mobile-optimized site.
“Every link in the email—not only the featured
promotion—but navigation elements and service-related
links such as profile centers and customer support
information, should connect to a mobile-optimized site,”
Davidson says. “There are a lot of retailers that have
mastered responsive design but still direct mobile users
to desktop versions of their websites.”
Since many consumers opening emails on smartphones aren’t ready to complete a transaction right on
the device, inserting a link that allows a consumer to
save the item she sees in the message to her wish list
increases the odds she will return later to purchase it,
Pearson says.
“Retailers can use wish list information to send a
follow-up email reminding the shopper the item is
waiting in her wish list or an email promoting accessories,” Pearson says. “What’s important to remember with
this strategy is to make it easy to save an item to the wish
list. Once an item is saved retailers have several options
for follow-up emails.”
Message frequency
E-retailers should be mindful of how often they send
messages to consumers who normally open their messages on mobile devices. If consumers receive too many
emails, they’ll stop opening their messages, causing
retailers’ open rates to plummet, Pearson says. Tracking
the time of day, month and season mobile users open
their emails, and the frequency of opens during those
periods, enables retailers to establish a baseline for
frequency, and to understand when it is OK to increase
that frequency and when to scale it back.
“If a mobile user opens her email a lot more than normal during the holidays, frequency can be upped during
that period,” Pearson says. “Testing frequency levels lets
retailers determine the best email cadence.”
Pearson also recommends not resending the same
message to consumers that did not open the first message because they may have scanned it in the preview
pane of the mobile device. “Even if the message promotes
an upcoming sale, it’s better to tweak the subject line and
content to ensure that the ‘re-mail’ is truly value-add.”
With the percentage of email opened on mobile
devices expected to continue rising across all customer
segments, an e-retailer that understands the demographics of its mobile customers can help fine-tune
messaging. Active mobile users younger than 40 years of
age, for example, have different messaging preferences
and frequency tolerances than consumers older than 40,
Davidson says, citing results from a recent study of online
shoppers by Bronto Software.
“The type of consumers opening their emails on mobile
devices cuts across all demographics,” Davidson says.
“Retailers must monitor engagement rates among their
different customer segments and understand how mobile
devices are being integrated into each group’s shopping
experience. Email is a powerful marketing tool and retailers can create a better customer experience and drive
sales by ensuring messages are relevant and engaging,
regardless of the device or combination of devices a
subscriber uses to view the message.” 