Quick Tips for Targeting Tablet Users with Email marketing

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Ryan

With the bevy of tablets recently released by companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft, as well as the impending holiday season, you can bet that there are going to be a whole host of new tablet users come January. This is particularly relevant for marketers. We already know that targeting mobile users is vital to modern marketing success, but with tablets on the rise, we now have to consider targeting tablet users.

Luckily, tactics for targeting tablet users bear a striking similarity to those that target your run of the mill mobile users. Now, we’ve written about targeting tablet users in the past. But these devices are significantly more popular than they were then – in fact, the Online Publisher’s Association found that 31% of Americans own tablets – and we think it’s time for a refresh. So, here we go.

Design

Optimizing your email design for tablet users should be one of your primary considerations. Tablets, like smartphones, come in all shapes, sizes, and resolutions. Because you’re working with so many different screens, you should consider using responsive design to give your tablet subscribers the best possible experience.

Responsive design uses a combination of HTML and CSS to create designs that automatically scale to specific resolutions, pixel widths, and screen sizes. For an incredibly detailed and elucidating look at responsive design, I recommend checking out this guide by Campaign Monitor.

Targeting Strategy

According to Forrester, 85 percent of tablet owners use their tablet while watching television. Furthermore, Nielsen says that 30 percent of all tablet use happens while watching television. What does this mean for marketers?

Essentially, it means that marketers have a number of opportunities to target tablet users by bridging the chasm between tablet and TV. This could mean sending a targeted email campaign while your ad is running on TV. You could also use a mobile search campaign to target users that are searching for your product after an ad runs, or, perhaps, while they are searching for information about the programming that’s currently airing.

If you have demographic and behavioral information about a show’s audience, you could run targeted mobile display ads on the sites that a TV show’s audience frequents while that show is airing. You could even create some unique, branded content that ties a recently aired TV show to your brand, and advertise that content to tablet users. All of these strategies should work like a multichannel campaign, strengthening your brand perception and offer relevance along the way.

Other Considerations

When targeting tablet users, it is also helpful to think about the demographic and behavioral attributes of tablet owners. These are people that have enough disposable income to purchase a relatively expensive leisure-oriented consumer electronic product. The idea that they’re primarily using their tablets when relaxing on the couch in front a TV also gives you a window into their mindset. They are relaxed and enjoying themselves. You can use these insights to create campaigns that are more targeted and more relevant, and therefore, more effective.

I hope you found these tablet targeting tips helpful. Targeting tablet users is something that’s going to take time. You need to test and analyze any campaign your run. Once you have an idea of what’s working, roll out your campaign on a large scale and reap the rewards.

Have you successfully targeted tablet users? What tactics or strategies did you use?

Why Every Email Needs to be a Mobile-Friendly Email

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Ryan

Email is changing. We all know that. Marketers are getting smarter with their data. Analytics are now the price of admission. Every component of an email marketing strategy needs to be informed by customer and campaign data. This includes understanding the devices that readers use to view their email.

Mobile represents one of email marketing’s seismic shifts. According to research from Litmus, they’ve seen an 80% increase in smartphone and tablet opens since January 2012. Asymco and comScore recently stated that of US consumers who use a mobile phone, 47% use a smartphone as their primary mobile phone.

This rapid rate of adoption doesn’t show any sign of slowing. And it means that it’s very likely that the person receiving your marketing message is reading it on a smartphone. So optimize for mobile. Here’s how to create a mobile-friendly email:

Design

Mobile screens are obviously smaller than desktop displays. Design your pixel width accordingly. For a mobile-friendly email, aim for somewhere between 320-500 pixels. Most mobile-only readers are in the 320 pixel range.

Images

Limit image size to 20k or less for each image. Text to image to ratio is still important with mobile-friendly email. Shoot for 60/40 text to images.

Call to Action

Use e a clear CTA button above the fold. Place it in the top 200- 250 pixels. Include an HTML text-based CTA to account for those users who disable images.

Pre-header

Use one line of pre-header text to succinctly outline your offer. It should be positioned so that prospects can read it before they’re prompted to download images. If you’re really savvy, the subject line will lead right into the pre-header for a seamless user experience.

Subject Lines

Avoid spammy words, and shoot for approximately 35 characters in length. Try to tie the subject line into your pre-header text.

Hopefully this brief look at the importance and design of mobile-friendly email was helpful. A second post on this topic will come in the next week. We’ll dig deeper into design and development considerations for the mobile crowd.

P.S. If you have this post helpful, please share it with your colleagues.

Set Your Sights on Mobile

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Jonathan

There’s more than a bit of buzz bubbling through the airwaves about mobile email marketing. I only have one thing to say, “Finally.” Most marketers haven’t fully integrated mobile into their marketing strategies, let alone digital media, which I think is astounding and kind of spooky.

Mobile should be the first channel that marketers think of. It’s one the fastest growing industries, and ignoring a rapidly expanding audience is plain unacceptable. If you think about it, marketers will stuff money into their print, TV, banner, and radio (really guys come on) ads, without giving mobile a second thought. At most, mobile is given that sideways look you save for the guy doing handstands in the middle of Times Square.

When you get down to the nuts and bolts, more and more people are checking their email with smartphones. Understanding and addressing this new audience will allow marketers to provide a dramatically richer user experience. A lot of this UX improvement comes down to technology and design.

You can now create one email design, add a small amount of HTML, and that message will be delivered in a manner specific to each customer’s unique experience. For example, you can deliver messages that conform to the phone’s orientation, with text and images that are clearly legible and tailored to a mobile audience.

In a similar vein, mobile email offers some interesting creative possibilities. First and foremost, is the integration of text and video. Sure, you can add this media to your desktop email offer, but if you’re using something like Outlook, either the message is going to end up in the junk folder, or at the very least, the images and video are not going to render immediately.

But with a smartphone, the recipient is going to get that video and image in all its intended glory. Taking advantage of this new functionality is going to strengthen your brand identity and improve your reputation and engagement with your customer.

I’m sure that some of you out there have started to get down and dirty in the mobile space, and I’d love to hear your thoughts, triumphs and struggles. It’s a brave new world out there, so leave a comment, and let us hear how you’re leading the mobile charge.