Even those of us who have regarded them as a fashion statement rather than an efficient tool must have been tempted to upgrade to a smartphone. When I bought my Blackberry I became a member of a group which will be in the majority by the end of this year. Further, this group also has a major effect on email marketing software returns.
There seems little doubt that these cheaper by the day expensive items have modified the way many people access the internet, connect with friends and, most importantly for those of us working in email marketing, changed the way we receive and read emails. This can give rise to minor problems, some of which are exacerbated by the fact that many people choose their own way of doing things so there is no standard method of using smartphones that we can depend upon.
Html emails are those which contain a variety of images, one of which will have a small bit of code which informs your email marketing software that it has been received and opened. When emails are converted to text only, the images are not downloaded so without some form of extrapolation of the figures you will mark them as unopened.
The best way of looking at smartphones is that they provide another way of connecting with your subscribers. All you have to do is identify those who use them. Once you have done that you can extrapolate from the data those who accept html and those who read text only.
Email marketing is all about doing things the simplest and cheapest way and this is no exception. So ask your subscribers how they view their emails. They will, in all probability, tell you. Job done.
Remember that it is not a simple case of one way or the other. There is a variation. I’m hardly quixotic, but I view my emails on smartphone, laptop and office computer. This would appear to be the norm.
Once you are aware of those who use smartphones to view emails you can use your email marketing software to predict, with considerable accuracy, the likely open rates.
Preparing emails for text only readers will be in a follow up article.
Go to The Smart Option – Part2
