Many smartphones have touch screens that allow people to click through, scroll and perform other actions using their finger tips. And while this has made smartphone use more convenient, email marketers have to be aware of these new features to make email content more interactive and useful for those with touch screen capabilities.
Email Template Changes
Most email marketing services offer two preview panels - one for traditional PC viewing and one for smartphones. Since smartphones with and without touch screens have smaller screens, you must adapt email design to suit various screen sizes. This means readjusting image and graphic placement, headline and text size and ways in which people can view content - either by setting up content so people can easily scroll down to view or creating larger 'More' or 'Click to Read More' icons so people can touch them with their fingertips to read entire articles.
If your email marketing service doesn't offer multiple preview panels, send email previews to your smartphone (or a friend or family member's smartphone if you don't have one yet) to see what subscribers see. Make changes as necessary to ensure that all subscribers, whether on a computer or smartphone, can easily view content.
Interactive Changes
In addition to making email template changes, you also need to consider making links more noticeable and clickable for those on smartphones with touch screens. Make links large enough so people can see them, but not so large that they take up all available space. Again, testing link size is the only way to determine the most adequate size.
Add links to social media pages, blogs and websites to email content. Since people tend to surf on their phone when waiting in line, during meetings or when drinking coffee at their local coffee house, take advantage of their down time by providing quick links to product and social media pages. Interact with subscribers by creating games, polls and surveys to maintain interest.
Call to Action Changes
Persuade subscribers to make purchases from their smartphones instead of on their home computer. Chances are if a person is extremely interested in buying from you, they will forget by the time they get home. Express how it easy it is to buy from your website - and explain how safe it is as well. Compel people to purchase immediately through very limited time offers, one-time discounts or free stuff.