Content strategy and user experience lessons to help you connect with your mobile email subscribers

1. The Mobile Inbox 101
Content strategy and user experience lessons
to help you connect with your mobile email subscribers
Kristina Huffman, Global Practice Lead, Creative Services, ExactTarget, @krudz
Andrea Smith, Design Lead, Content Marketing & Research, ExactTarget, @andreasmith77

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3. Kristina Huffman
Creative Services, ExactTarget
@krudz
Andrea Smith
Design Lead, Content Marketing & Research, ExactTarget
@andreasmith77

4. “Mobile email opens just reached 50% globally last
month - we are losing some clicks - we should be
optimizing our mobile email and web experiences so
they are easier to spend money on.”

5. “Mobile email opens just reached 50% globally last
month - we are losing some clicks - we should be
optimizing our mobile email and web experiences so
they are easier to spend money on.”

6. A bad mobile email experience breaks the path
to conversion

7. A bad mobile email experience breaks the path
to conversion

8. For one retailer,
76% of subscribers
had opened on mobile
at least once.

10. Agenda
1. Behavior of the mobile subscriber
2. Content strategy for all screens
3. Optimizing email elements for mobile
4. Testing and tracking

11. Stop looking at devices.
Start looking at customers.

12. 1. Behavior of the mobile subscriber

13. What can we learn about
subscribers through
mobile email data?

16. Mobile is a barrier to clicking
Click-to-open rates for a B2C customer
Clicks
Opens
Clicks
Opens
Mobile openers
click less than
desktop openers.

17. Desktop
Mobile
Mobile is a barrier to clicking
Click-to-open rates for a B2C customer
Mobile openers
click less than
desktop openers.

18. For one retailer,
72% opened the email once.

19. For one retailer,
81% clicked the email once.

21. 2. Content strategy for all screens

22. Choosing content
for [sm]all screens

23. Mobile magnifies
content.

25. Resist the
kitchen sink.
View mobile version
Preheader
View web version
Nav1 Nav2 Nav3 Nav4 Nav5
READ THIS! And this version.
FREE DOWNLOAD
Shop Now +
Also, buy this. And this.
Share this email
on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
Google+, Tumblr. (And forward it
to all your friends.)

26. Ensure all clicks tie back to goals.
Be ruthless.

27. Mobile Success Requires Tough Choices
1. Pull click overlays for a variety of sends from the same template
2. Prioritize content into top three clicks
3. Cut content that doesn’t get clicks

28. Designing content
for [sm]all screens

29. 3 questions to ask for your next email…
What is the point of this email?
Why should they care?
How do they take action?
Via Alex Williams

30. Answer all 3 in one glance.
What?!
Why?!
How?!

31. Answer all 3 in one glance.

32. Answer all 3 in one glance.

33. Answer all 3 in one glance.

34. 3. Optimizing email elements for mobile

35. Branding
Text
User Interface
Images
Calls to action
Video

36. Branding: Be flexible
Don’t design yourself into
a box; give visual flexibility
Consistent type, CTAs
and styles will hold your
brand together across
screens

37. Branding: Be flexible
Message, tone, and feel is your brand,
not pixel perfect rendering.
- @alexcwilliams

38. Text: Large for legibility
28px
RECOMMENDATION:
Headlines ≥ 28px
Body Text ≥ 17px
17px
24px

39. Text: Use live text
People click without opening (especially on Android)

40. UI: Use conventions
“The most beautiful toilet sign is useless if
men constantly walk into the ladies’ room”
- Oliver Reichenstein

41. UI: Make calls-to-action stand out
with color, whitespace, placement
Protip: Color doesn’t matter. Whatever stands out gets clicked.
winner
Vs.

42. Images: Use them. Don’t hide them.

43. Images: Use them. Don’t hide them.

44. Images: Accommodate retina
Good: CSS buttons
Bad: Fuzzy
image-based
button

45. Images: Rethink borders:
the device is the container
Border-mania!

46. Video: view times are longer on mobile
Video-based content can lower the barrier to click on mobile.
(Embed it on the landing page to be closer to conversion opportunities)
Tablet
2:59
Phone
Desktop
ExactTarget.com Blog video content – average viewing duration by device
2:50
2:09

47. “Most of us lead busy but undisciplined lives. We have
ever-expanding ‘to do’ lists, trying to build momentum by
doing, doing, doing—and doing more. And it rarely works.
Those who built the good-to-great
companies, however, made as much
use of ‘stop doing’ lists as ‘to do’ lists.”
- Jim Collins

48. Mobile Email #StopDoingList
⤫ Stop using the “view on mobile” link
⤫ Stop redesigning the button/link styles every email
⤫ Stop cramming content above the fold
⤫ Stop panicking about new devices and technologies

49. 4. Testing and Tracking

50. It’s not a simple AB test
A
Opens !
!
Clicks !
Conversions
B
Opens
Clicks
Conversions !

51. Data Inputs for Designers
1. Your email client market share
Litmus Analytics and website analytics – ensure workflow and layout/code align
2. New devices/technologies in market
Priority Inbox, Z10, Gmail tabs… selectively freak out
3. Clicks by device
Are mobile clicks underperforming? Should we adjust?
4. Click overlays
Did they click where I designed them to?
5. Conversions
How close was I to meeting our goals?

52. 3rd Party Promo
Rate and Review
Abandoned Cart
Click overlays
Did they click where I designed them to?
Newsletter

53. Three lessons on
testing design

54. 1
If you have a large dormant audience;
test with new subscribers.
They haven’t been tainted by your emails;
the dormant audience is masking the true
impact of improvements.
engaged
unengaged

55. 2
Responsive design may not work on the first try.
Change occurs over time.
Re-train subscribers to see your emails [and website] as usable on mobile.

56. 3
Measure money, not clicks.
Responsive emails sometimes
lose on opens and clicks, but make
more money.
A
Opens !
Clicks !
Conversions
B
Opens
Clicks
Conversions !

57. Adopting mobile first

58. Do what’s best.
Start now.
Define goals:
• Branding
• Performance
• Production Efficiencies

59. Pick a small
team to pilot
a responsive
email…

60. 1. Wireframe
mobile first

61. 2. Design
mobile first

62. 3. Code
mobile first

63. Launch &
Repeat
Iterative testing is key!

64. Summary
1. Know your audience.
2. Develop a content strategy that
respects all environments.
3. Optimize email elements for a
mobile first user experience.
4. Identify goals and a pilot team to
test and track mobile optimization.
Mobile email optimization
is a long-term investment
in the user experience.

65. Kristina Huffman
Andrea Smith
Global Practice Lead, Creative Services
ExactTarget
@krudz
Design Lead, Content Marketing & Research
ExactTarget
@andreasmith77
Resources / downloads at:
pages.exacttarget.com/ETDesign

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