Designed for Success: Optimizing the Email Experience

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Designed for Success: Optimizing the Email Experience

Thursday 28th May 2015 15.00 BSTJustine Jordan, Marketing Director, LitmusChad White, Research Director, Litmus

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• Email critic and popular industry speaker• Directs all things marketing at Litmus• Recipient of the 2015 EEC Email Marketing

Thought Leader of the Year award• Organizer of the Email Design Conference

• Author of "Email Marketing Rules" • Written thousands of posts and articles about

email marketing trends and best practices• Research and commentary appeared in over 100

publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

#CIQSUMMIT

@meladorri

@chadswhite

@litmusapp

JUSTINE JORDAN

CHAD WHITE

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new email

brainstorm + ideation

writing, design, creation

deploy

forget about the email

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all emails

brainstorm + ideation

writing, design, creation

test + deploy

evaluate + optimize

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all emails

brainstorm + ideation

writing, design, creation

test + deploy

evaluate + optimize

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EMAIL IS NOT

JPGPPC SEO CPC

ONE-PAGE WEBSITE

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EMAIL IS AuniqueMEDIUM

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Email

HTML

CSS

Images

Text

Design

Links

Web

HTML

CSS

Images

Text

Design

Links

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EMAIL ≠ WEB

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Web

<div><h1><p>em<style>background-colormargin

Email

<table><td><td>pxstyle=“font-face”bgcolorpadding

EMAIL ≠ WEB✘

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From name Subject line Preview text Open Tap/Click Page/Site

Inbox Email/Body Page/Site

Email user flowSubscriber experience

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From name~25 characters25% of the inbox

Subject line~35 characters25% of the inbox

Preview text~85 characters50% of the inbox

From name Subject line Preview text Open Tap/Click Page/Site

Inbox Email/Body Page/Site

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• What is recognizable, trustworthy and relevant?

• Does the subscriber have a relationship with a person or the brand?

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• Symbols can temporarily increase open rates.

• Use carefully to support your message rather than detract from value.

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75% of emails are displayed

with preview text in the inbox

Litmus research

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>> bit.ly/preview-text

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From name Subject line Preview text Open Tap/Click Page/Site

Inbox Email/Body Page/Site

What’s your open rate?Only those people get to this point…

…and fewer convert

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“Scrolling is easier than clicking.”

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43%of Gmail users have images disabled

Litmus research

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Guide to styled ALT text: bit.ly/styledALTGuide to image blocking: bit.ly/image-block

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Show the CTA even when images are off

>> bit.ly/bulletproof-buttons

BULLETPROOFBUTTONS

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• Minimize friction• Be clear and concise• Test buttons vs. text• Use active language• Consider size, placement, color, and context

TAP + CLICK

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> wtfmobileweb.com

From name Subject line Preview text Open Tap/Click Page/Site

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80% of subscribers delete emails

that look bad on their phones…

…and 30% unsubscribe

Source: BlueHornet Consumer Views of Email Marketing

hosted by Litmus research: emailclientmarketshare.com

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MOBILE EMAIL OPENS+500% since 2011

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KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

70% read on mobile

15% read on mobile

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Responsive design results in a 15% increase in unique clicks for mobile users.

https://litmus.com/blog/the-science-of-email-clicks-the-impact-of-responsive-design-inbox-testing

Responsive templates >> bit.ly/slate-templates

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Rendering is inconsistent across devices and operating systems

Responsive design is not supported everywhere.

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BLUE LINKS + BRAND

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BLUE LINKS + USABILITY

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Small fonts auto-resized

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• Body copy: 16px+

• Headlines: 22px+

• Buttons: 44px by 44px

• White space: 40px+

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‘modified’ ‘original’

QUIRKS

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Links are disabled.No text version? No email.

>> bit.ly/watch-email

A personal device that favors personal messages.

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“Triggered emails are not ‘set it and forget it’ programs. They are ‘review and renew’ programs.”

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“Keep an inventory of your triggered email programs and regularly schedule time to update and fine-tune them.”

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Why regularly update triggered emails?

Quality Assurance:• Broken links/redirects & old navigation links• Out-of-date messaging (benefits, options, etc.)• Out-of-date logo and branding• Faulty trigger logic• Broken rendering as code support changes

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• Sent in 2013• Last updated

in 2007• Out-of-date

logo

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• Sent in 2013• Last updated in 2009• Out-of-date navigation

bar and other design elements

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• Bad data pull from shopping cart results in blank primary message

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• Sent in 2013• Last updated in 2012• Faulty logic, sent day

after I purchased

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• Broken rendering around HTML text

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• Broken logo rendering

• Poor expectation setting

• No CTA

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Why regularly update triggered emails?

Optimization:• Fast-moving trends• Testing• Update seasonal messaging

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50%50%

2014

Sent a series Did not

Percentage of senders sending 2+ emails in response to abandoned carts

Cart Abandonment Email Series

19%

81%

2013

Sent a series Did not

Source: Salesforce.com research

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• 3-email cart abandonment series

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41%

59%

2014

Recommended other productsDid not

Percentage of senders suggesting alternative products in their emails

Email Content: Recommendations

19%

81%

2013

Recommended other productsDid not

Source: Salesforce.com research

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18%

82%

2014

Included seasonal messagingDid not

Percentage of senders including seasonal messaging in their emails

Email Content: Seasonal Context

5%

95%

2013

Included seasonal messagingDid not

Source: Salesforce.com research

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• Seasonal primary message

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• Seasonal hero image• Seasonal navigation

bars

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The new litmus test for email marketing greatness:

Does the majority of your email marketing revenue and engagement come from triggered emails?

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It’s impossible to achieve that without robust testing and re-testing.

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Questions?

FREE 14-DAY TRIALlitmus.com/giftcard coupon code: CIQSUMMIT

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Up Next:Stop segmenting start personalizing!

Thursday 28th May 2015 16.00 BSTDela Quist, CEO, Alchemy Worx