Let’s consider the challenges faced by mobile users, and how this impacts their behavior. Recent research among national nonprofits found that mobile phones accounted for between 12% and 17% of emails opened. However, mobile users were less likely than desktop users to take the next steps of clicking and donating or taking action. Mobile users were reading – but they weren’t engaging as much as desktop users. They would only account for 5% of those who actually made a donation online.
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Now, let’s consider a solution: making our emails and landing pages look great and be easy to use on mobile. Most of us don’t have a clue how to do this, but hopefully we’ve got tech support that does know. If not, the folks at M+R Strategies have provided us with a nifty ‘how-to’ with step-by-step instructions and before and after examples. The results are visually striking. Not only that, when the mobile-optimized versions of email were tested against non-optimized versions of the same email, the optimized versions resulted in greater click-through success.
And it’s not just email, but also e-newsletters, blogs and websites that are being viewed on phones. We should optimize all of these for mobile (and there are numerous examples on the web, from Campaign Monitor’s review of how they optimized their eNewsletter to simple tips on Mashable and Social Media Examiner . And do check out Katya Andreson’s recent post on Connection Café regarding 4 Questions to Ask Before Going Mobile.
Ask your tech support staff to help with the optimization, or simply outsource this and get someone on it sooner rather than later. Otherwise, you’re going to be missing a large chunk of your audience. You may be able to control the day/time you launch an email, but you can’t control where your constituents will open the email. If they’re on the go, you’ve got to go after them. Good luck!