Successful Email Design Approaches That Work For All Devices

Justine Jordan | Litmus | @meladorriJay Jhun | Engauge | @emailrocks

May 2011

Successful Email Design Approaches That Work For All Devices

Introductions…

Justine Jordan Marketing Director, Litmus

justine@litmus.com | @meladorri

Jay Jhun Email Services Director, Engauge

jjhun@engauge.com | @emailrocks

Presentation available at www.slideshare.net/litmusapp

Email is moving beyond the desktopSubscribers are viewing emails in a diverse ecosystem of webmail, desktop, mobile and social contexts.

Today we’ll talk about:• Current status and predictions for the future

• Options for mobile email

• Best practices in mobile email design

Agenda

9.29%OF OPENS ARE ON A MOBILE DEVICE

2-15% on individual campaigns30%+ for niche audiences

Source: Litmus Email Analytics, March 2011

Mobile Opens by OS

iOS86.86%

Android12.39%

Blackberry 0.46% Symbian 0.24% Windows Mobile0.04%

Source: Litmus Email Analytics, March 2011

iPhone accounts for 85.95% of iOS opens; iPad for 14.05%

Outlook 38.82%

Hotmail 13.07%

Yahoo! Mail 12.13%

Web Version 8.11%

Apple Mail 7.16%

iPhone 6.94%

Gmail 4.08%

Windows Live 2.22% Android 1.15%

iPad 1.13%

Thunderbird 1.08% AOL Mail 0.50% Others 3.61%

Top Ten Email Clients by Opens

Source: Litmus Email Analytics, March 2011

Your mileage may vary…

Apple Mail 46.31%

Outlook 20.79%

Gmail 9.46%

iPhone 8.48%

Thunderbird 3.98%

iPad 1.44%

Others 9.54%

Source: Email Analytics for Litmus Newsletter, February 2011

Android iOS Blackberry Windows Unsure0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

26%

33%

13%

7%

18%

31%30%

11%

6%

20%2010 2011

Consumer preferences are changing

Source: The Nielsen Company, survey of U.S. mobile consumers

Next desired operating system

OS 2011 Share 2015 Share Change

Android 39.5% 45.4% 16.4%

Blackberry 14.9% 13.7% -8%

iOS 15.7% 15.3% -2.5%

Symbian 20.9% 0.2% -99%

Windows Phone 5.5% 20.9% 280%

Others 3.5% 4.6% 31%

Smartphone OS Share Predictions

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, March 29, 2011

Nielsen Stats

Android: 37%iOS: 27%

Blackberry at 22%

Do you have a mobile audience?

Web analytics, user agent detection, surveys and preference centers can help you decide.

• The analytics make a case– User agent detection– Web analytics– Clicks on mobile link

• Existing mobile site/app• Existing SMS program• Transactional emails for

“on the go” situations• In-store coupons• Mobile purchases• Travel updates• Urgent communications

Making the mobile email choice

OS Preview text

HTML* Images* Alt text Scale Enlarge fonts

Android 2.2 ✗ ✓ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✓Blackberry ✗ ◐ ◐ ✗ ✗ ✓‡

iOS 4.x ✓ ✓ ✓ -- ✓ ✓Symbian ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓‡

Windows Phone 7 ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓‡

Display and Support Challenges

*HTML or images enabled by default

◐ Blackberry HTML email may be enabled, but is not on by default in 4.5/5. The ability to download images automatically is an option. Blackberry 6 has webkit support and displays HTML email by default, but a prompt appears to download external images

‡ inconsistent wrapping and scaling of text

There are no mobile email standards!

Display and Support Challenges

Android alt text Symbian images off Symbian images on

Display and Support Challenges

WinMo Preview WinMo images off WinMo images on

• Link to a “mobile-friendly” text version– Usually a modified plain text version– Often the first step in a testing phase– Requires an extra click– No longer truly mobile friendly

• Link to mobile-specific version– Requires extra resources (more design/production time)– Requires an extra click

• CSS @media queries and scalable layouts– No extra click– Suitable for newer phones with HTML capability– May require more advanced coding know-how

Mobile Email Options

Link to “mobile friendly” text version

email web sitemobile version

Why the extra click??

Link to “mobile friendly” text version

Mobile “friendly”

??

Consider context & subscriber experience

email mobile version landing

Consider context & subscriber experience

• More than just your plain text version

• Get to the point• Larger fonts• Basic HTML is OK• Consider CAN-SPAM

If you must…

Beware text resizing

• Plan for font sizes to auto-adjust (13px minimum on iOS)• Use CSS “-webkit-text-size-adjust: none” for iPhone and Android,

possibly BlackBerry 6

Beware text resizing

Before (Android)

After (Android)

Link to mobile-optimized version

Link to mobile-optimized version

Scalable design

Desktop iPhone

Mobile optimized using CSS @media

Facebook Messages: Another “Device”? (1)

Facebook Messages: Another “Device”? (2)

Use caution with divider lines

FBM may cut off footers, unsubscribe information

Facebook Messages

FBM viewed on the iPhone app have functioning links and better HTML support.“Other” inbox does not appear in Android or WinMo app

• Monitor for @facebook.com addresses

• Messages are grouped together by from name (i.e. info@acme.com)

• No subject lines• Commercial email goes in the “other”

folder

Text Version Tips• Drop navigation bar and

submessages• Place the most important message

first• Line length < 60 characters to avoid

undesirable line breaks• Use capitalization, line breaks,

dashed lines and other devices to visually separate different messages.

Facebook Messages

“Best Practices” in Mobile Email

“Methods and techniques that have consistently shown results superior than those achieved with other means, and which are used as benchmarks to strive for. There is, however, no practice that is best for everyone or in every situation, and no best practice remains best for very long as people keep on finding better ways of doing things.”

- BusinessDictionary.com

“The idea is that with proper processes, checks, and testing, a desired outcome can be delivered more effectively with fewer problems and unforeseen complications.”

- Wikipedia

• Single column design

• Large(r) fonts

• Pressable buttons & “thumb navigation”

• Short, direct content

• Clear + direct calls to action

• Eliminate or hide low priority content

• Remember subscriber experience & context is key

Design for mobile first!

“Best Practices” in Mobile Email

• Elevate the Content People Care About• Think Top Down• Brand Appropriately• Use UI Elements Consistently• Make Targets Fingertip-Size

Read the User Experience Guidelines

http://www.mobilexweb.com/blog/ui-guidelines-mobile-tablet-design

44px ~ 0.3”

iOS as Inspiration

iOS as Inspiration

• Outlook, Gmail, iPhone and WinMo pulls in the preheader or first few lines of text in the email as a “snippet” or AutoPreview

• Maximize subject line (35 characters), preview text (90 characters)

• Leverage this feature to extend your message:• Time-sensitive deadlines• Important announcements• Another way to reinforce your call-to-

action• Secondary subject line

Add Preview Text!

Are mobile users more engaged?

49%

22%

29%

Mobile

26%

4%70%

Webmail

55%

28%

17%

Desktop

Read (>7 seconds) Skim Read (2-7 seconds) Glance/Delete (<2 seconds)

“Killing time is a killer app for mobile use.”-Nielsen Norman Group Email Newsletter Usability, 4th Edition

Source: Litmus Email Analytics, March 2011

1 Don’t panic! Mobile is changing fast, but it’s easier than you think

2 Discovery is an accomplishment!

3 Look for the mobile use case, use resources wisely

4 HTML is well supported, but images are often blocked

5 Ditch the plain text “mobile friendly” version

6 Adapt to a single column design with touch-friendly elements

7 Optimize text versions for Facebook messages

8 Get inspired by your mobile OS, apps, site

9 Readability, experience and context is key

10 Let analytics and data be your optimization guide

Top Ten Takeaways

Get in touch!

Justine Jordan Marketing Director, Litmus

justine@litmus.com | @meladorri

Jay Jhun Email Services Director, Engauge

jjhun@engauge.com | @emailrocks