Whether they get new emails instantly on their BlackBerry or every fifteen minutes on their iPhone, the convenience of mobile devices means there is a very good chance that people are going to read the emails you send them on it instead of an actual computer. Because just about everyone falls into this category, you want to make sure that you aren’t losing potential leads as a result of their inability to read your emails on their phone. While modern phones are much better at handling email than models from just five years ago, there are still some specific guidelines you will want to keep in mind. What’s really great about these guidelines is not only will they improve the experience you create for mobile recipients, but they will actually help you craft emails that are more useful in general:
Spend Time on Your Subject Line: There are plenty of great blog posts floating around that have only attracted a few dozen readers. In almost every case, it’s because a great post wasn’t properly complemented by a killer title. The same applies to sending emails. You can have an extremely compelling offer, but if your subject line doesn’t properly communicate that fact, people are going to hit delete and go right back to texting one of their friends.
Don’t Beat Around the Bush: It would be foolish to say that long sales copy doesn’t work. Numerous tests have proven that long sales copy can yield great results. But the key to long sales copy is people need to be in a place where they can sit down and read every sentence of it. When someone’s on the go and quickly glancing at their phone, the last thing they want to do is wade through dozens of paragraphs. To avoid losing recipients who are in a hurry, make sure you don’t waste time getting to the point of your email.
Be Direct: Not only do you want to avoid being longwinded, but you also want to make sure that people know what action you want them to take. Although it’s easy to assume that people are going to automatically take the action you want, countless email campaigns have fallen short of their potential because they didn’t include a direct and compelling reason to take action.
Analyze and Adapt: Emails aren’t just convenient for the people who receive them. Another reason this form of marketing is so great is because it gives you access to a wealth of information. As long as you’re using any of the major email marketing platforms, they will automatically gather tons of stats for you. From how many people actually open your emails to how long they spend reading them, you can find out everything you want to know about how a campaign performed. However, the key to making the most of this information is to not just look at the cool charts in your dashboard. Instead, you want to really analyze the data, and then based on any important things you learn, adjust your future emails accordingly.
Craig Klein is the founder of Sales Nexus is a CRM software firm that also simple online email marketing software.
