Making Email Work in 2014: A guide for marketers and designers

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There's a lot of noise in the ether around what makes for great email design and how to get the best results from email marketing. Things are continually changing and evolving, so keeping pace can be challenging. To help out, we've pulled together our own views on the basics. Here are 12 considerations for how to use and design for email in 2014, based on our experiences with NZ clients and other sources. About the author: Jack Cunningham is head of digital at Twenty NZ. He has worked in the digital industry ever since there was one. He was the co-founder of a UK-based agency and has worked on numerous global brands before emigrating to NZ in 2011. At Twenty he is involved in all aspects of the agency's online output, applying the Science of Persuasion at every stage of the development of our digital comms. When he's not at work he lives and surfs at Muriwai on the wild west coast of Auckland. To contact Jack, email info@twenty.co.nz or visit www.twenty.co.nz

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making email work today. November 2014.

Making email work

today

Making email work today. November 2014.

12 considerations for how to use and

design for email in 2014, based on our experiences

with NZ clients and other sources.

1) subject lines and pre-headerswhat the decision to open or delete an email is based on.

Making email work today. November 2014.

with a 40% open rate, 60% of interactions

with the customer end here.

2) primary messageshould the call to action be above the fold? probably not.

Making email work today. November 2014.

mobile email can be a hostile environment for

the marketer. aim for 80% of the message

in the first 20% of the email.

3) what makes a good call to actionset the expectation of the action.

Making email work today. November 2014.

3) what makes a good call to actionsquint and see what’s left.

Making email work today. November 2014.

3) what makes a good call to actionSome nice examples...

Making email work today. November 2014.

4) where do users click the most?... and are different types of content clicked more often?

Making email work today. November 2014.

4) where do users click the most?Some real examples.

Making email work today. November 2014.

34%24%

1%

9%

18%

5) understanding modes of use

Making email work today. November 2014.

lean forward vs lean back

A/B tests carried out for our clients have shown that a 7pm, after drive-time send, vs during the working day, can result in both higher device usage and higher click rates. This is consistent with engagement associated with a ‘lean back’ mode of users at that time.

6) How big should it be?

Making email work today. November 2014.

6) How big should it be?Some actual sizes customers will see the message

Making email work today. November 2014.

EXAMPLE email client breakdown for two different

new zealand based clients

during 2014

DESKTOP

webmail

devices

?

DESKTOP

webmail

devices

?

7) ios vs androidstill not clear what android devices are actually used for.

Market Share evidence of usage

Smartphone market share in Australia, in August 2014, according to Kantar World Panel.

Device email client usage for New Zealand based customer email, opened by 10,775 customers.

Making email work today. November 2014.

ios devices are still 80%+

of the device based usage, across all

our clients’ emails

8) fixed vs responsive

Making email work today. November 2014.

! text is illegible by default in fixed width email, on your phone.

9) designing for responsive! headlines in resonsive mastheads and hero graphics can become smaller than the body text.

Making email work today. November 2014.

9) designing for responsiveExample emails that respond to the device size without compromising the message.

Making email work today. November 2014.

Hi Beverly

Hi Beverly

Hi Ben

Hi Ben

10) supporting retina devicestraditional versus retina optimised methods of outputting images for web and email.

Making email work today. November 2014.

support retina devices and save 20%

file-size, with no downsides

11) making emails easy to scanexamples of the undesirable ragged edge in typography...

Making email work today. November 2014.

It’s harderto scan content if

your eye has to move left to right as well

as up and down.

11) making emails easy to scan...in navigation

Making email work today. November 2014.

It’s harderto scan content if

your eye has to move left to right as well

as up and down.

Making email work today. November 2014.

11) making emails easy to scan...and in email layout.

It’s harderto scan content if

your eye has to move left to right as well

as up and down.

Making email work today. November 2014.

12) Rules

Sometimes intuition and a

good idea trumps best practice

13) IN EDITION TWO...

Making email work today. November 2014.

animation, DYNAMIC CONTENT

TO PERSONALISE EMAIL CONTENT, balancing

relationship and retail multi-device...

Making email work today. November 2014.

thanks.twenty.co.nz