7 techniques to make your email more engaging for mobile subscribers

Missing a moving target – The disparity between mobile device opens and clicks, and what you can do about it

Despite the increase in number of mobile devices, only half of marketers are designing email with mobile in mind, which shows that there is a massive disconnect between a bespoke mobile design and experience that people should be receiving versus the one which they are actually getting.

In our latest research we completed detailed analysis of over 35,000 emails sent by over 119 companies in 23 sectors. This post contains an overview of the insight we gained and how you can succeed in getting your campaigns opened on the desktop, smartphone and tablet. A key finding was that across different sectors smartphone and tablet are now significant, accounting for between a fifth and a third of all opens depending on sector:

Key findings from recent email campaigns

From our research we found that many recipients are opening emails on mobile devices, but there is a huge drop in the percentage who are clicking through. This suggests that emails are not being fully optimised for mobile devices, meaning that the click-through process is unappealing or in some cases too difficult.

Looking at the variation between open and click rates for different devices we found that desktops are well ahead of mobile devices with 72% open rates and 27% click-through rates. Smartphones come second with a 20% open rate however just as 7% click-through rate. Tablets are last, however are still a fairly new technology, therefore they only have 8% open rates and a 3% click through rate.

Interestingly we found that retail did not have the highest amount of opens for mobile devices, instead finance came first with 36%, followed by retail and healthcare with 32% opens, and publishing and recruitment with 30% opens.

The worst open rates for mobile devices were data, property and email with 24% and B2B emails with 23% opens.  

What can you do to improve email engagement - opens and clicks?

Our findings suggest that marketers have a lot of progress to make to generate successful opens and clicks on mobile devices. However there are a variety of things that you can do to improve your results and create a mobile friendly experience for your recipients.

• 1. The Basics

Start by getting the mobile-friendly basics in place to encourage the recipient to open your email.

• Firstly consider your ‘from address’; whatever the from address that you are using is, ensure that the 'descriptor' (the word or phrase used at the far left of the address) is clear and distinctive.
• Secondly, consider your subject line; strong and relevant subject lines can be key to gaining opens when sending to mobile devices.

• 2. It’s all in the design

Of course, the most important tip is that of the design itself. Remember to include all important content and calls to action towards the top of the email. This enables the recipient to view all information needed to convert immediately, with the opportunity to scroll down for more information if they wish.

• 3. Get responsive

Generally speaking, responsive email utilises the @media query to render two different versions of the email: the full version, with all the functionality included and the mobile friendly version. The mobile version can be customised as much as you want - images can be removed, buttons can be resized and colours can be changed.

• 4. Content is key

When sending to mobile devices it is important to acknowledge the frame of mind recipients will be in when using specific devices, and to tailor your content to fit this.

For instance when a recipient is on their mobile they are likely to be travelling or to be easily distracted, therefore content which is succinct, with one line of text and is easily scrollable is perfect for this device.

• 5. Monitor your success

Pay close attention to responses following the roll-out of your first few responsive campaigns. Ensuring that there is the correct amount of information in your mobile version can be a tricky balance to get right.

• 6. Mobile friendly website

Creating a mobile friendly email is a great start, however it is of little use if the recipient clicks onto a website which has not been optimised for mobile.

If you do not have the resources to optimise your entire website for mobile, consider creating dedicated mobile landing pages for recipients to click through to.

• 7. Timing can be everything

When sending email campaigns it is important to acknowledge the factors which can influence opens and clicks. This is particularly relevant when concentrating on devices as recipients will use different devices to check their emails, dependent on the time of day and week.

Conclusion

While we use mobile devices daily, the mobile revolution is still fairly new within marketing; there is still a lot of change ahead and we cannot be certain where mobile devices will be in years to come. This is evident from the results shown in this blog; recipients want to open and view emails, however for various reasons they are unwilling to click through.

Remember that marketing technology is changing and developing on a daily basis. It is important to stay ahead of the trend so that when new technology becomes necessary, you have already got a marketing plan in place. Be sure to research, test and explore new possibilities before your competitor does.

You can download the complete whitepaper on mobile device open and click through rates.

Thanks to Becky Hesilridge for sharing their advice and opinions in this post. Becky is the Social Media & Online PR manager at Pure360. You can follow her on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.