作者：Cezary Pietrzak

当说到手机时，你可能不会立即把它与电子邮件联系起来。

电子邮件第一次出现于上世纪90年代，且伴随着台式电脑和网络的普及。甚至是对于第一个提出手机邮件这一概念的黑莓手机，这种信息格式也已经失去光彩。今天，营销人员更加看重的是以应用为中心的消息应用和手机优先的应用，如Snapchat和WhatsApp。

尽管已经不新鲜了，电子邮件仍然是非常有效的。两年以前，邮件的打开率是23%，邮件广告是所有形式广告中，每千人印象成本最高的一种。但随着智能手机、平板和其他移动设备的爆发式流行，这种优势也被大大削弱。

今年，邮件的打开阅上涨至31%。因为越来越多人可以通过移动设备查看邮件，营销人员似乎看到了邮件广告的潜力。2011年，通过移动设备查看邮件的比率是11%，与之相比，这个数字已经攀升至惊人的44%。这个数字预计有望在年底突破50%。

想象一下，一种原本是为大屏幕和实体键盘而创立的技术，现在却被运用于屏幕的输入设备上。这种巨变的影响是非常深远的。

不幸的是，在制定手机营销策略时，许多手机营销人员完全忘记了邮件，而仅仅着眼于使用消息推送作为信息渠道。

你还记得阅读为Instagram或Flipboard做广告的邮件吗（其实不存在这种邮件）？像Facebook或Amazon这样的公司非常爱用邮件通知，当你打开它们发来的邮件，你有什么感觉？你可能会想起来密密麻麻的小字和小小的图片，似乎得用放大镜才能看清楚。只有11%的新闻邮件使用响应技术优化邮件的布局，与当前的手机使用频率非常脱节。

mobile-email(from npengage.com)

手机邮件广告必须适应在小屏幕上收缩放大和旋转要求，而营销人员在这方面做得并不好，很大程度上浪费了这个机会。这一方面破坏了终端用户的体验，另一方面也没有达到邮件本应该达到的宣传效果。

如果做得好，手机邮件具有几个战略优势：第一，它是非本地信息格式，允许受众返回手机应用。对于3个月后往往要流失76%用户的营销商来说，这是一个很大的卖点。第二，邮件是永久性的，可以在任何时候看，这与来得快去得快的通知推送和应用内置信息相比，可以给营销渠道上一个“沉浸感保险”，或比较有保障的结果，即使它的时间选择并不是完美的。最后，邮件可以转移到电脑设备，后者比小屏幕的手机更适合填表和刷信用卡。

为了让手机邮件的三大优势充分发挥，营销人员必须培养一种手机第一的心态。这并不容易，因为电脑邮件的原理中，只有一些适用于手机，而其他的是完全不同的。但做出这种改变是必须的。以下是几种最大化手机邮件营销效力的方法：

1、优化邮件，以适应小屏幕

即使有一些格式的限制，这一点也应该是优先考虑的事。你可以通过一系列能够根据屏幕调整文本大小的响应设计技术来优化邮件，但仍然要保持在大屏幕上阅读的良好效果。记住，在受众关掉邮件以前，你只有3-4秒的时间吸引他们。

2、试读内容

长条形邮件在手机上阅读的效果并不好，因为要经常滚动或翻页。为了解决这个问题，你应该抽取你想传达的要点，做成小块文本，同时给予受众阅读完整版的选项。这样的手机邮件更像一种社交媒体渠道——简短、及时、定向。

3、标题要醒目

虽然不同的操作系统允许的标题预览长度不同，但基本上手机上的可预览长度都比电脑的短。众所周知，标题与打开率大有关系，所以确保你的关键字眼能出现在标题预览中。在iOS邮件的纵向模式中，邮件标题差不多是30-33字符，是网页版Gmail的近三倍。可穿戴设备如Pebble手表的兴起，使标题的简洁更加重要，因为这些设备的屏幕更小了。

4、反思你的链接策略

在手机设备上，很难同时进行多个任务。想一想你放在内容中的链接数量，请按优先次序排列，并重点突出最重要的一个。你应该使用大的、容易点击的返回按钮和图片。一旦受众通过邮件链接到其他地方去，那么他们就会分神，基本上不太可能回来了。

5、考虑手机使用习惯

据说，最容易使用户对手机产生沉浸感的时候是晚上。研究你的受众的使用习惯，因为使用手机和使用电脑的习惯可能有很大的区别。

随着邮件越来越向手机转移，营销人员应该把这个渠道当成过时过气的老技术，而是新的秘密武器。今天，邮件的效力比几年以前的更高了，并且具有几个优势使它能适应小屏幕设备。做手机邮件并不难。营销人员如果能采纳上述几点建议，会比他们那些觉悟不高的竞争者获得更大的优势。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Email: A mobile marketer’s secret weapon

by Cezary Pietrzak

When thinking of mobile, email is probably not the first thing that comes to mind.

A technology first popularized in the 1990s, it still carries strong associations with the desktop and web experience. Even on platforms like Blackberry, which first introduced the concept of mobile email, the messaging format has lost its luster. Today, marketers are much more excited about app-centric messaging and mobile-first apps like Snapchat and WhatsApp.

Despite its lack of novelty, email is still massively effective. Just two years ago, email open rates were a healthy 23 percent, and email advertising commanded one of the highest CPMs (cost per mille) of all ad formats. But as smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices explode in popularity, the landscape has shifted dramatically.

This year, email open rates have surged to 31 percent. As more people access email on the go, there is a higher probability that marketers will reach them. But even more impressive is that 44 percent of all emails are now accessed on mobile, compared to 11 percent in 2011. That number is projected to cross the 50 percent mark by the end of the year.

Imagine a technology that was originally built for large screens and physical keyboards, now being used on small screens with even smaller input devices. That’s a massive change, and its implications are far-reaching.

Unfortunately, many mobile marketers have completely forgotten about email when crafting their mobile strategy, limiting themselves to push notifications as the sole messaging channel to drive engagement.

Do you remember reading emails for apps like Instagram or Flipboard? (Hint: they don’t exist). And what was the experience like with companies known for their email notifications, like Facebook or Amazon? You may recall seeing tiny text and images, as if there was an expectation to bring a magnifying glass. A paltry 11 percent of email newsletters use responsive techniques to optimize their layouts, creating a large gap with existing mobile behaviors.

Sending emails that require pinching, zooming and panning on a small screen is a missed opportunity for marketers. It frustrates the end user and minimizes the potential engagement that an email would otherwise achieve.

When done right, mobile email has several strategic advantages. First, it’s the only non-native messaging format that can bring an audience back into a mobile app. This is a big selling point for mobile marketers who typically lose 76 percent of their users after 3 months. Second, email is permanent and can be accessed at any time, in contrast to push notifications and in-app messages which disappear as soon as they’ve been read. This gives the marketing channel “engagement insurance,” or guaranteed results even if its timing is not perfect. Lastly, email can drive purchases to desktop devices, which are better suited for form-filling and credit card checkout than the small screen.

To take full advantage of email on mobile, marketers must adopt a mobile-first mentality. This is not easy, as only some of the principles of desktop email apply to mobile, while others are completely different. But making such a change is imperative. Below are a few ways to maximize the efficacy of email in a mobile marketing program.

Optimize email for the small screen

Even with some formatting limitations, this should be your first priority. You can optimize email through a set of responsive design techniques that size content for the small screen, but still look good on the big screen. Remember, you only have 3-4 seconds to engage people before they tune out.

Create bite-size content

Long-form emails are less effective on mobile because they require a lot of scrolling and panning. To solve this problem, create bite-size content that captures all of the important points you want to convey, while giving people the option of a longer version. It may help to think of mobile email as a social media channel – short, timely and directional.

Make your subject line snappier

While subject line preview lengths vary by operating system, they’re typically shorter on mobile phones than desktop computers. The importance of headlines in driving open rates are well-known, so make sure to get your key message across quickly. In portrait mode of iOS mail, an email headline is approximately 30-33 characters, compared to almost triple that number in web-based Gmail. The rise of wearable technology like the Pebble watch will place even more emphasis on subject line brevity, given that screen sizes on these devices are smaller.

Rethink your link strategy

It’s very difficult to multitask on mobile devices. Think about the number of links you’re including in your content and prioritize the most important ones, focusing on one primary call to action. You should also incorporate large, easily clickable buttons and images. Once people link out of the email, there’s a high chance they’ll get distracted and never come back.

Consider mobile usage patterns

It’s a well-known fact that the best time for mobile engagement is in the evening. Research the times that work best for your audience, as there may be a significant difference between mobile and desktop behaviors.

As email shifts to a mobile-first experience, marketers should think about the channel not as a dusty old technology, but as their secret weapon. Email today is much more effective than it was a few years ago, and it carries several strategic benefits for the small screen. It only takes a few small steps to get started. Marketers who embrace these changes — which can be as small as optimizing an email’s length — will gain an important advantage over their less-savvy competitors.(source:venturebeat)