By JAMES ANDRADE
It’s pretty simple and I’ll get right to the punchline. No matter if you’re sending it to the right individuals with the most compelling and timely offer/message or how well you’ve crafted your subject line, heading and copy or how catchy the visuals are and how right on your call-to-action is, this email will be ineffective unless it’s been implemented with Responsive Email Design. Yes, it might be effective with those that view it on their desktops/laptops but a no-go for the majority who will attempt to view it on their cellphones.
By now, most everyone is aware of Responsive Website Design; if anyone has created/redesigned their site in the last few years, it’s doubtlessly been implemented with Responsive Design.
This means a few things, but most pointedly, the menu, images and layout accommodate to the different screen sizes and resolutions where the site is being displayed. It’s pretty obvious that someone on a cellphone will not scroll through a lot of text and images or tap on too many links to get to where they want to go; if they can’t easily see what’s of potential interest to them (which ideally should be what you want them to see) and the content is not displayed in a visually appealing way on a small cellphone screen, the user will likely delete the email without even making an effort to view it. They’ll feel a lot more favorable about a company/institution (your competitors) that sends them an email optimized for whatever screen they’re viewing it in.
“As with so many situations where we wonder aloud about common sense or lack thereof, it’s head-scratching why companies that get why their websites need to be mobile-friendly don’t have the same attitude regarding their email efforts.”
We were recently working on an email campaign and started reviewing email offers received on cellphones from many companies, big and small, and were surprised how in today’s mobile-obsessed world, so many companies are sending the same type of emails as 2-3 years ago, full of text and images and layouts that aren’t completely visible even in the landscape view of the biggest cellphones; when encountering this situation, most people would not think about reviewing the offer. And once most users open an email in one device (say a cellphone), they don’t reopen it elsewhere (say a desktop computer).
