Emerging Online Marketing Strategies for 2014
Use Responsive email formats
In their analysis of more than five billion marketing emails in Q2 2013, Yesmail found that, while more consumers are opening emails on mobile devices, marketers aren't optimizing so that consumers will click to open emails.
Almost half (49%) of all email opens now happen on mobile devices, but the number of consumers clicking on emails after opening is just 11%--half the click-to-open rate on desktops (23%). This suggests marketers aren't providing consumers with the mobile email experiences they want.
Businesses can implement three major changes:
- Design mobile friendly emails: These emails are the same width as other emails, but have large headlines and call-to-actions on the left side, which makes important take-aways get attention, since that side of the screen is initially loaded on mobile devices.
- Optimize emails for mobile: These email formats also include clear, large headlines and call-to-action buttons but they also tend to be smaller than emails designed for desktop. Their sizes range between 480 and 560 pixels.
- Opt for responsive emails: Responsive emails are designed to automatically re-format and re-size themselves to optimize for whatever screen size your recipients use. These formats hide non-essential elements of the email from mobile readers, making sure the main calls-to-action of the emails are easily found. Other elements of emails can change, including text sizes and colors, background images and background colors. Responsive emails should always be backed up with good mobile experiences. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, it’s worth the time and effort to optimize first and then come back to update your email program for mobile.
Retinadore is a provider that helps its customers design responsive email templates.
Integrate print with online channels
There are tons of innovative ways that brands are combining the digital and physical. Personalization aside, consumers still enjoy the physical nature of print. But it is becoming essential to use print marketing tools to lead consumers to a more personalized and updated communication in online and mobile channels. For example, brochures, postcards, flyers, etc., should lead prospective buyers to the next steps in their paths to purchase, which usually means getting them to visit websites or landing pages.Shelf Reliance shares its URL on brochures to draw visitors to their website and help them learn more about the company and its purpose.
