This is a live blog post from #OMSummit. Presentation by Karen Talavera @SyncMarketing, Top 100 Women in Ecommerce 2012 by WE Magazine.
Deliverable, Readable, RESPONSIVE, Email Message:
The traditional email: AIDA (quantity over quality approach)
- Attention - From line, Subject line, What's visible in preview window
- Interest - Pre-header text, headlines and subheadlines, Images and especially VIDEO
- Desire - Subject line, Images, especially VIDEO, body copy
- Action - Button shape, colour, copy, call to action etc.
- Invite
- Engage
- Education / Entertain
- Offer
- Free trial on a new product intro without asking to buy - let us prove that it's right for you and you make your own decision.
- Watch a free demo to help you learn XYZ to get them engaged
- What makes RedEnvelope different? - sent request for feedback on service and why customers appreciate them.
- Content marketing - information / newsletter
- Self Actualization
- Esteem
- Love / Belonging
- Safety
- Physiological
- You can't control a person's level on the pyramid (but your product or service may be able to influence it)
- Try to learn the level of your ideal clients (Keep in mind, not all target audience members at same level at the same time, if ever)
- Pyramid is bi-directional (Ideally people move upward, but distinct events can cause regression (temporary or permanent - natural disasters, economic crisis, "life events")
- Change your messages based on people's immediate needs and situations. Be mindful and relevant and timely based on the NOW.
- Because if people can't connect, they are indifferent. If they are indifferent they won't respond (hate is not the opposite of love, indifference is)
- Connections can be emotional or intellectual
- Connections can be emotionally positive or negative (resonance is a feeling of alignment, harmony and empathy, but can be in a positive or negative context)
- Proliferation of hardware, software, and physical place for receiving and viewing email create infinitely different and changing view-ability
- Image blocking inoign in Google, Outlook, corporate environments
- No uniform standards across receiving email clients (Some like iOS resize messages, others don't)
- Anti-spam
- Text
- Static HTML
- Dynamic HTML (with Animation or video)
- Mobile
- Main Offer
- View as web page
- Mobile link / text option
- Whitelist / address book request
- Social Media connections
- Large enough to show in preview or mobile
- Not so large as to dominate usefulness
- Relates to Offer
- Sub headline(s)
- Images
- Copy
- Links
- Call To Action buttons, icons, arrows
- Keep "view as Web Page / mobile" links in pre-hearder
- Add ALT-tags to images (these tags allow the designer to insert descriptive copy o rinks that views can read in place of blocked images)
- - Keep ALT-tag copy short and specific (Less than 10 words is good, less than 5 is best)
- Include "bullet proof buttons" - HTML code the graphic vs inserting a link or image
- Test all URLs and links to ensure they work and display properly
- An email design approach that uses a media queries to sense the type of device on which email is being used and optimize display for that device (Requires using CSS3 in HTML)
- The most resource demanding email option, but it's the direction the industry is going.
- Pros - consistent viewing across multiple devices, mitigates mobile email viewing frustrations, better subscriber experience, better response rate
- Cons - Requires strong HTML and CSS coding knowledge, takes longer to code / design, long load times can still cause slow rendering especially on mobile.
- About 44% of all email now opened on mobile devices as of Dec 2012
- 90% of smartphone users access the same email account on mobile and desktop
- 70% of mobile device users delete emails that display improperly
- If not using responsive design - use designs created on a grid, use single vs multicolumn layout, view designs on smart phone and big screen while designing and viewport meta tag for iOS
- Think "architecture" vs "art"
- Assume partial vs full view
- Plan layout to stimulate both open and click. Know where response hotspots are and use them to your advantage (upper left? Upper right? Re-header? Bottom?
- Simplify content organization
- Design with a "mobile is the mainstream" mindset
- The confused eye doesn't buy! Make it as simple and clear.
- Use your brand or company name
- Get to the point
- Do TEST long vs short - even long subject lines have proven effective
- Do test your subject lines for both response and filter tolerance level
- Do monitor affiliate subject lines and sending for CAN-SPAM and corporate policy compliance
- Do relate the subject line to message content
- Do relate the subject line to your offer
- Do follow naming or title conventions for newsletters, etc.
- Free product offer
- Discount offer
- Contains familiar brand name
- Contains recent pruchase info
- Free shipping offer
- Limited time offer
- Breaking information / news
- New product announcement
- Pre-conversion (Prospects)
- Conversion (All Customers)
- Post- Conversion
- Relationship-Building