49% of business emails are opened from a mobile device. And this number continues to grow year-on-year.
And so, marketers, we face yet another challenge.
Emails that have been designed for reading and interaction on desktop screens are not going to cut it on mobile. Text will not always display how we originally set it up, with oddly positioned wrap points or render too small to read on a mobile device. Images could be blocked automatically or viewers may be struggling to click on our call-to-action button as it’s squished up with other links.
But with challenges, so too come opportunities. Fortunately there are a number of ways we can optimise our email for mobile readers. Let me take you through 10 areas we address when creating mobile optimised emails.
Probably the most important aspect to designing mobile optimised emails is to utilise templates that are responsive. This means that they adapt according to screen size and render the most optimised view of the content for that particular device. Using a responsive template will give your email a greater chance of being viewed and interacted with in the manner in which it was designed.
There is an overall lack of standardisation regarding mobile optimisation when it comes to different email clients. What will render well in one is not adhered to in another. It is therefore important to design as close to the uniformly ‘accepted formats’ as possible. In terms of layout of columns this would be to opt for a single column layout no wider than 600 pixels. If it does happen to ‘break’ it won’t be as messy as with multiple columns.
We know that subject lines are vital to our open rates and on mobile you’ve got even less real estate to work with compared to desktop views. At best you have about 50 characters to convince your readers to take the next step. If your subject line has to be longer than that, ensure that you are putting your most critical information within your first 5 words.
We’ve always said that emails need to be concise and to the point. For optimising for mobile this is even more critical! People want to read your email quickly on their phone not spend ages trying to scroll which takes far more finger effort than on a mouse. Drop fluff, get to the point and place your important design elements in the upper portion of the email.
Most mobile speeds aren’t as fast as fixed lines and people won’t wait around for large messages to load. Images need to load quickly and this is done via software that can reduce file sizes without compromising on quality. Internally we use Adobe Fireworks to optimise images for web and mobile. Speak to your designers about creating mobile optimised images or use a service such as FastStone Photo Resizer and Tiny PNG to achieve the desired results.
Elements such as social sharing buttons, for example, aren’t always easy to use when in mobile view. Where applicable, hide content that is going to present issues in mobile layout and only show these in tablet or desktop versions.
Smaller screens make reading text difficult. Ease viewers having to squint by using larger fonts for mobile views. Apple automatically resizes any font smaller than 13 pixels, causing text to potentially wrap differently than laid out. It’s a safer bet to go to 14 pixels for body copy and a bit larger for headlines.
Considering people are accessing your email on a mobile phone, you take advantage of this by using calls-to-action designed specifically for mobile users. People already holding their phone will appreciate a ‘click to call’ CTA more than their desktop counterparts. If you have a mobile app available, a mobile email view would be the perfect place to present this as an offer, as they are already on their phone.
When it comes to including links and buttons, we need to consider the fact that people on mobile devices are mostly using their fingers to navigate. You want to reduce the amount of pinching and zooming needed to interact with your email effectively. Aim to have a minimum target area of 57 × 57 pixels and be sure to keep links sufficiently spaced out so that people aren’t clicking on the wrong link by mistake.
If you've applied all the above and created a beautifully optimised mobile email, don't drop the ball by sending people to a webpage that isn't mobile-friendly. Keep the good experience going by ensuring you implement responsive website design on your landing pages and website.
If you're a fan of continuous optimisation, then check out the Growth Driven Design methodology for your next website redesign.