Email Newsletters & Confirmation Messages

1. Users (try to) use mobile to read email newsletters – anywhere & everywhere. Don’t because of:
   1. 44% don’t read due to formatting/display problems
   2. 25% long load times
   3. 14% too long
   4. 13% ads
2. June 1 to Dec. 31, 2011, 41% of people in U.S. were reading email on their mobile devices.
   
   1. Mobile email open rates increased 34% while desktop email open rate decreased by 9.5% (6/1-12/31/2012).
      
   2. Nov. 2009 to Nov. 2010, 36% more people were using mobile for email.
3. Sender information & subject lines are limited on mobile.
   1. For sender information, put most important details in first 20 characters.
   2. For subject line, use keywords in first 40 characters.
   3. Don’t repeat sender information in subject line.
4. Use brief, concise headlines – no more than 10 words.
   1. Write 2-4 sentence blurbs that focus on one point and provide 2-3 supporting details.
5. Keep repeating information (opening paragraphs, etc.) at bottom of message.
6. Limit images and graphics (slow download times; paying for data).
7. Use alt tags for images.
8. Use a fluid template/scalable design (content flows with size of device).
9. Limit message size to 20K or less.
10. Link to mobile-friendly websites.
11. If newsletters aren’t mobile-friendly, offer link to a mobile-friendly version: text or HTML “lite.” If designing a mobile version, be sure it works for mobile.
12. Test on various mobile devices.