The Challenges of Email Engagement in the Mobile Era

Mobile devices are soaring in popularity, and this has its impact on email engagement and deliverability as well. More people are now opening their email and reading email messages from their mobile devices, rather than from immobile desktops or bulky laptops. In fact, according to Litmus, 47% of email is now opened on a mobile device (“Email Analytics” April 2014)

These trends make it imperative for the marketers to ensure their email remains optimized for both desktop and mobile viewing. It is equally important to ensure consistency across different mobile platforms, for there is no telling the platform from which a recipient may access email. In fact, about 90% of smartphone owners access the same email account on mobile and desktop. So, really, which device your email is opened on depends more on the time it is received than any other element such as subject line, who the message is from, etc…

By 2018, 80% of email users are expected to access their email accounts via a mobile device. – The Radicati Group “Email Statistics Report, 2014-2018″

Optimizing for multiple platforms requires not just clarity and brevity in content, but also careful consideration of the layout and design of the email. It is, for instance, better to have a single, stacked content column rather than two or three columns. Multiple columns do not reflect on a mobile screen and can interfere with email readability.

Desktop emails look best at 600 pixels width, but emails accessed from mobile devices have the best impact at about 220 pixels wide. Most mobile screens are high-resolution retina display, which makes everything look sharper and clearer. The high clarity may allow marketers to get away with a relatively smaller font size. Marketers may also opt for a light or sparse design to ensure the email, even when minimized in the mobile screen, is still clear and readable.

Marketers using email as a medium of engagement would also do well to highlight the call for action (CTA) and give a clear-cut option for recipients. For instance, if there is a “Sign up now” button (and that is your main call-to-action), make sure this is the most prominent element in the email. Mobile users have short attention spans and very little patience, and would more often than not delete an email rather than search for the CTA. Note: This is a best practice marketers should be implementing in all email messages, regardless of how recipients engage with marketing communication.

Are you currently facing any challenges with email engagement?