I’d like to guide my email marketing conversation in another direction today and provide you with even more evidence of the power of email marketing. That direction is the impact of mobile. We all know by now that mobile’s no longer a movement. It’s the norm. To put that idea in context, a Pew Research Center study found that about 92 percent of us carry some sort of mobile device in our pockets. That means we’re sitting – for some of us, literally – on a lot of potential. Learn how mobile drives email marketing and how you can make it work for your business – no matter your industry.
Learn How Mobile Affects Email Opens
Mobile is quickly becoming the preferred method for checking email. This varies by age group, but younger generations are turning to mobile devices before desktop computers when checking their emails. As business grows increasingly more fast-paced, I believe it’s very likely that we’ll see many more professionals across multiple industries start to take advantage of mobile email. Once you have a grasp of how email marketing performs in your target audience, you can start discerning ways to increase your open rate. Email marketing doesn’t do any good if your consumers aren’t opening them, and the rate of mobile “opens” varies widely by more than just demographics.
Some industries lean on email much more than others, and the type of work done in those industries seems to dictate how much of a role mobile devices play. Faster-paced industries depend on quick communication, so professionals in the sports, entertainment, and food industries are likely to capitalize on mobile so they can stay in touch with important developments on the go.
By contrast, fields that focus on business-to-business commerce are less likely to depend on mobile. Business-to-customer organizations need to quickly react to serve their customers and keep them happy, while business-to-business relationships are typically more methodical and centered on making sure that contracts and agreements are completely in order before proceeding with any decisions.
Best Practices for Your Email Marketing Campaign
You can take the time to break down how email marketing appeals to every possible demographic and every industry, but it’s important to know how to apply what you discover. Statistics, while providing great context, don’t mean much unless you know how to apply them. All this information suggests some best practices for your email marketing campaign.
First of all, do your research. There are marked variations between groups and industries that will require taking a completely different approach. What works for one demographic or company may not work for others. It’s vital to already understand how email marketing works in your target audience before you start constructing a campaign. You’re also going to need to make your emails mobile friendly.
Design with a Mobile-First Mentality
Keep subject lines short and to the point. You don’t want subject lines that get cut off on a mobile device; readers should be able to know what your email is about and be enticed to open it. The content that you create is going to determine how much time they spend reading it once they do. Thanks to increasingly better and more affordable mobile devices, more of your customers have devices that can handle more robust content than ever before.
It’s worth the effort to design your emails with mobile in mind and develop responsive content. People aren’t going to be interested in your content if it performs poorly on their mobile devices. As a marketer, I know how much time we all put into creating engaging, actionable content. Most of us probably already know that just because a person opens an email doesn’t mean they’ll read it. If you can’t grab your readers’ attention within seconds of them opening your emails, you’re wasting potential.
What does this mean? The format of your email is just as important as the actual copy or offer.
I know it sounds crazy but people don’t read emails, they scan emails. By formatting your copy using bold and color headlines you are more likely to catch their attention. Keep sentences down to 12-15 words. Dumb the copy down to 10th grade education (Keep it simple), Paragraphs should have no more than two sentences. Break up copy with one image but make sure to keep the portion of image under 30 percent of your email.
Mobile has made its impact on marketing, and it’s time for you to put it to work. Observe these best practices – you’ll not only see a big boost in your conversion rates, but you’ll also create much more meaningful connections with your readers.
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