Return On Subscriber – Email Marketing Blog

I have had mobile on the brain lately. The growth numbers are staggering. I feel like many out there are afraid of the challenges mobile email marketing presents, or are not taking the channel seriously.

I got together with Michelle Eichner, COO & Vice President of Client Development for Pivotal Veracity, to discuss the growth of this channel, the challenges it presents, and what you can do to start planning your mobile email marketing strategy. Enjoy!

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Today we are going to cover how to add a “View Mobile Version” to your email campaigns. All you will need to complete this is the ability to upload/FTP new HTML files to your hosting server. Nothing horribly complex here, and your web team/developer will yawn at this.

Before we get started, I want to show you an example of what we’re talking about from the Sony newsletter.  Below, you can see the header from their email newsletter, where I have highlighted the call out to “View mobile version”

After clicking through on this link, you are taken to the mobile version of the email in your mobile browser, which you can see below.

Why do I need a Mobile Version of my Emails?

The answer to that question, like most when it comes to email marketing, is “it depends”.  Due to the lack of standards of the mobile inbox and different technologies in play, there is simply no way to design a layout that will work across the landscape. For example, iPhone, Palm Pre and Blackberry Storm to some extent, will do an adequate job of rendering your email, albeit very small. However the top selling smart phone – the Blackberry Curve – will not. And since most people receive the exact same emails on their mobile device as they do in their desktop client, we can’t deliver a unique message to each – it’s all or nothing.  An analogy I like to use is Johnny Five from Short Circuit (filmed right here in Oregon). Just as Johnny Five thinks he is human, but is not, a mobile email client thinks it can read HTML, but can’t. So creating a link to a mobile version is going to be your best way to control the experience.  You will also be able to track the click through on this link to know how many mobile users you have and whether or not to dedicate more resources to this emerging channel.

Linking to the Mobile Version in your Creative

First off, we need some real estate in your email header. Ideally, this should be somewhere near the pre-header, (more…)