By: Christina Galbornetti, V12 Group
Unlimited data plans are now a thing of the past; in fact one carrier has recently come under fire for throttling data speeds and bandwidth to their $30 unlimited data plan subscribers making it painfully slow forcing those data hungry customers to upgrade to the pricier tiered plans for faster service.
All cellular carriers will be affected by the surge in Smartphone usage in the coming years. App/Music downloads; streaming video, texting and email all require a sizable data plan that can support all those features. AT&T alone activated 7.6 million iPhones over this past holiday season so naturally that growth will affect the network, usage and overall speed. Most recently, customers using as little as 1.5GB of data per month are getting an alert message to use Wi-Fi OR upgrade their plans if they start using too much bandwidth.
Email marketers have reason to worry because consumers will likely opt-out of unwanted and irrelevant emails that eat up too much of their limited data plans. We could see increased consumer complaints for this medium across the board IF the industry does not proactively plan to adjust their strategy for email marketing to mobile users.
So what factors need to change so that email can better adapt to mobile users on limited data plans?
1. Data quality and segmentation breeds relevancy
A relevant email is likely a wanted email that gets read and increases the chance of a recipient taking action. So here’s where effective targeting plays a big factor in the success of an email campaign. It is key to identify appropriate data segments that will work best for your offer, product or service so that the recipient sees the value of receiving your email even on their mobile device.
V12 Group’s database is rich with behavioral, personality and demographic attributes that enables us to provide and append information to existing customer files. This allows clients to better define audiences and provides a targeted approach to increase relevancy, drive customer retention and increase revenue through segmentation. V12 can help you determine the best way to slice and dice our prospect database to help improve click through rates, conversion, and lower spam complaints. Marketers can then develop unique campaigns that are compelling, inventive and most of all, relevant to the consumer.
2. Outstanding email-only offers
Email recipients need to find value in the content so an exclusive offer that can’t be accessed anywhere else increases the attractiveness of your emails and will make the consumer feel like they absolutely need to see them or they’ll miss out. Pay attention to crafting effective subject lines that communicate value and exclusivity. Pair this strategy with your social marketing plans for even greater effectiveness.
3. Email file size and overall length
Email file size is another major factor since mobile users will want to use the least amount of data for checking emails related to consumer offers. The days of sending one large image as an email are long gone since they take so long to load and eat up data plans. Try to keep the size of each image at 20k or less and the overall file size of the email should not exceed 50-70k. Maintain a 60/40 image to text ratio and program html offer text high above the fold so it’s easily read on any hand held device. Do not use flash or gif animations, they will not render and just add to the email file size. Lastly, keep it simple and short to reduce frustration caused by scrolling through too much text: reserve your longer sell copy for the landing page.
The iPhone and some other devices automatically disable a portion of larger emails with an option to download the remainder of the message. This gives mobile users ultimate control to view your email offer so the message and subject line need to be compelling. Visit the Mobile section on this site for more helpful tips on designing for mobile devices.
Conclusion
All these tips can help improve the user experience for mobile consumers concerned that email won’t be worth the data it takes to download them. Prove to them it’s worth it, and your campaigns won’t suffer. Ignore it and you might feel it in your bottom line.
In the end, RELEVANCY will be king, offers will need to sizzle, and larger-sized data hogging emails will become obsolete.