— Time to Consider Mobile

We launched an email campaign last week for a client who called immediately after the launch concerned about how the message looked when he opened it on his Blackberry PDA. Being a owner of a shiny new Blackberry - I quickly picked the devise and understood his concern. The fairly simple email Anniversary Party invitation looked as if it had been put through a blender.

Now given that this message was intended for businessmen and executives who are known for reading their email on Blackberry PDAs this was a problem that needed fixing.

As usual, we had tested this campaign on gmail, hotmail, yahoo, aol. outlook, thunderbird and entourage - but that still was not enough. We now had something more to learn about how people are viewing our email marketing campaigns.

Mobile users are often looking for specific pieces of information, rather than browsing. Content providers need to consider how their work is being consumed and make adjustments so that the users have a useful, instinctive experience.

So this is what we learned:

1. Keep image files away from the top of the message - and certainly below the message text. Some Blackberries by default display the image file name in place of the image. This is made worse if you are using Constant Contact or Vertical Response because they a lengthy naming system to your images.

2. Stick to the facts - Title and text need to be short and sweet. Use words that are descriptive and create strong tangible images for the reader:

Cigars and Fine Cars.
Your Invited.

Is stronger than:

The Thompson Cigar Company
invites you to an exclusive
evening to celebrate one year
of fine Cigars in Boston

3. Keep text line lengths short and Flush left.

4. Use ALT Tags for images. Often the image will not initially display but the ALT tag will. So use your alt tags wisely - Instead of "Thompson Logo Image" use "1st Anniversary Party - RSVP Now"

5. Use full html "mailto: links and full phone numbers "1-617-888-7777" so that the receipients can reply with a click


Some words of advise:

For the Designer and Marketing professional - keep ahead of the curve. Own or have access to a Mac, A PC, A Blackberry, an iPhone, A laptop, A netbook. The environments that we are designing for changes weekly and it's our responsibility to keep up.

For the Client - Work in partnership with your creative and marketing team. Your input and perspective is a valuable resource. Your customers may not let you know that they couldn't read your email - and your creative team may have tested it on everything they thought to test it on - however given all the possible variable that still may not be enough.

Be Patient ... The internet isn't finished yet.


Mike Ciolino
617-332-9588
Boston Web Design Company
Verve Creative Inc
www.getverve.com