Want more people to read your eblast? Make your eblast moble friendly.
More email is being read on mobile devices than on desktop email clients.
That's why it's important that your eblasts are mobile friendly. There's an obvious correlation between the readibility of an email and the likelihood of it being read. Make the email easy for users to read and more of them will read and engage with it. A user shouldn't have to zoom in or scroll. The more a user has to do to read your email, the less likely the user is to read it. Users should be able to read your email comfortably at arms length and click on any links with 1 thumb. Mobile friendly eblasts will also increase your click rate. Follow these simple guidelines to make your eblasts mobile friendly.
Implement the steps below to make your eblat mobile friendly. Then get my Email Persuasion by Ian Brodie to learn how ot write emails that are engaging and how to turn your subscribers into paying clients.
Simple guidelines to make your eblasts mobile friendly
- Template - use a template that is mobile friendly or responsive design.
- Layout - use a single column layout. Use a maximum width of 640 pixels (px). I recommend a width of 320px which is the portrait width of an iPhone. Some templates with a single column layout may have other design elements on the side that increase the wide of the layout - get rid of those design elements or use a different template.
- Font - use a font that works well across all platforms; Arial, Verdana, Georgia, Times New Roman.
- Font size - use a minimum font size of 16 pixel (px) or 14 point (pt) for body copy. Apple recommends 17-22px Google recommends 18-22px. Mail Chimp has found that 16px Georgia works wells. Headlines should be a minimum of 22pt.
- Calls to Action (CTA)
- To get more clicks, place your primary CTA near the top of your message. You'll get fewer clicks if you bury the CTA at the bottom.
- Have 1 clear, compelling CTA in your eblast.
- Use large, thumb-tappable buttons.
- Consider using a click-to-call button. Calling is easier than filling out a form.
- Images - Don't assume your images will be viewed on mobile devices. iPhone's native email app will display images by default, but many email clients will block images by default. Many won't load background images at all. When you use an image make sure it's bold and bright with a single focal point. Don't put any important messaging on the image as many users may not see the image.
- Content - your content should be clear and concise. It's important to engage users as quickly and efficiently as possible. Limit the amount of copy and use headings, short paragraphs, and bullet points, and short paragraphs. Do not insert any tables.
- The goal is to drive traffic to your website and engage users there. When posting to a blog, I recommend that the eblast only contain enough content to compel users to click on a Read More link to the full post on the website. When users are on your website they can; buy products, submit a form, subscribe, watch a video, leave a comment, etc. Remember the Big Idea is to bring traffic to your website.
- Provide a plain text version as an option. This is a CAN-SPAM best practice and it's helpful in trying to reach customers with email clients that don't support HTML email. You'll notice that many users will revert to useing the plain text version as well. That should tell you that people prefer a clean, easy to read email.
- Test - Send a test email. If possible, check how it displays on different devices; desktop, iphone, android, ipad.
- Analyze - track your recipients engagement and pay special attention to mobile users. Engaging mobile users is increasingly important.
If this post was helpful, please share it!
Need help with your email marketing?
Leave a comment or send me an email.
