After we’ve covered SMS and QR Codes as part of your mobile marketing user acquisition mix, let’s focus on an extremely important channel: email. A perennial favorite that had dominated desktop for years, it’s now vastly important in mobile as well. According to the Kahuna Marketing Index for Q1 2016, a staggering 86% of emails are opened on mobile. In addition, they are sometimes read multiple times. You definitely don’t want to miss out on those numbers!
Another interesting thing to keep in mind is that the iPhone is the most popular email client for mobile devices, while its email open rates are also the highest. Below is an excerpt of an infographic put together by Hubspot indicating the popularity of the various platforms:
So what does that mean for all you marketers out there? From an app user acquisition perspective, this is relevant for businesses that know their customers’ emails such as eCommerce and travel. For years, they have collected multiple data points from online and brick-and-mortar users with loyalty cards. Now that you have an app of your own, it’s time to dust off your mailing lists to get them to connect with you on mobile as well.
Email can be an amazing channel to grow your user base, especially since you already have a relationship with them through other touch points, which means there’s real data to work with. While some tactics for email on desktop still hold true for mobile, there are other important ones you need to be aware of to maximize the impact of your campaigns.
To put you on the path to success, here are 4 strategies to ensure you actually acquire the users you’re targeting!
1) Mobile Optimization
When you’re creating your email campaigns, you can’t only think about how it’s going to look on desktop. According to a recent survey, no less than 85% of consumers are unlikely to do business with a brand after a bad mobile experience. When it comes to email, that means content that isn’t formatted properly for the device.
The good news is that if you’re using platforms like MailChimp or Hubspot they do offer mobile-optimized templates. While that may take a load off, you’re not at the finish line yet. Emails display differently on different mobile devices. That’s why it’s important to meticulously test your emails on iOS, Android, smartphones and tablets.
While templates take care of the email’s holistic view, there are certain parts that need your special attention, according to the Campaign Monitor:
- Less is more: Whether your subject line or the body of the email itself, keep it short. As a rule of thumb subject lines should not exceed 50 characters
- Images: Make sure that emails display properly even without images
- Email pre-header text: Make sure to entice users to open emails by including this preview text. As you can see in the screenshot, this is the faded grey text below the subject line
![email_sub]()
- CTA: Make sure your call-to-actions stand out in the email body
2) Not All Emails Are Created Equal
The fact is users get bombarded with emails daily. Some will definitely make it to the email black hole and will never be read. However, this chart from ClickZ is a good indicator of how your email will be prioritized by users. As you can see event email make it to the top of the list with a ~67% open rate as opposed to B2B sales at ~28%. Always consider your vertical and how you can make an email stand out so the user will open it.
3) Personalization
One of the mantras we hear about in the mobile advertising space is the importance of personalization and customization. That holds true for mobile emails as well. Email is another opportunity to engage with your users and strengthen your relationship – in this case by encouraging them to download your app. Here are some things to consider, according to Kissmetrics:
- Subject: Customize subject lines to make it relevant to your users
- Personalize the greeting: Include the person’s name in the greeting to get his/her attention
- Segment your mailing lists: With a global audience, you should be segmenting your email list by region to ensure that the email is received at the optimal local time. Also be sure to segment them by interest and to make sure they are getting relevant emails.
4) Deep Linking in Email
So why is deep linking fundamental to measuring your mobile email marketing campaigns? Well, it ensures a seamless and cohesive experience from email to app, coming into play in two cases:
- If the app hasn’t been installed, it refers the user to the appropriate app store to immediate download the app. Imagine the disruptive user experience if an iOS user is referred to the Google Play store. That’s a recipe for disaster! The other big nuisance being avoided is having the user go to the mobile web instead of the app itself. This is elegantly resolved with deep linking.
- Deferred deep linking is an extension of deep linking technology. If you send a promotion to someone without the app, not only will the user be immediately transferred to the correct app store, but following installation, conversion data is fetched, and the correct app screen will open with the right promotion.
Deep linking not only ensures a unified user experience but more importantly all your UA and retargeting campaigns can be tracked and measured.
Conclusion
As email takes mobile by storm be prepared in order to achieve the highest conversion rates. Optimize, personalize, know your vertical and use deep linking to continue to grow you loyal user base. Growth through email is a strategy that should be considered “low hanging fruit” for every marketer.