Understanding the pros and cons of Retina screens in email design
Children of the (higher) resolution - Every time I see an article or advert about Apple’s Retina Display, I have to force myself not to dismiss it as marketing guff and consider the relevancy. Let me explain.
As an email designer, devices with a Retina display are a pain. When I open an email I have lovingly crafted they make my pin-sharp graphics look a touch blurry, and that’s guaranteed to upset any designer.
In this article I look specifically at email design for retina displays, register for the free webinar with my colleague Darren for more insight on mobile design for Email.
…
Will Digits displace other email address-based user sign-in and authentication methods?
Importance: [rating=5]
Recommended link: Twitter Blog Digits announcement
This is another interesting piece of new jargon and associated tech that marketers need to ‘get their heads around’. Here’s a summary of my understanding. I’ve also gone a bit beyond the ‘copy and paste’ summaries of other announcements by digging out a couple of case study examples of brands already using Digits which show how important this could be as part of the overall digital marketing ecosystem. This is why I have unusually rated its importance as 5/5!
1. Digits is a new method of signing on to mobile apps and websites developed by Twitter. Twitter says it will reduce ‘friction’, enabling users to sign in to apps more readily.
2. Digits works by signing in with mobile numbers and confirming using an SMS . It’s similar to two-step…
Dispelling some email marketing 'best practices'
In our email marketing campaigns, we are always looking to boost our open and clickthrough rates and the business outcomes we're looking to achieve. Following best practices can help here to avoid dumb mistakes like not having compelling headlines or clear calls-to-action. However, this contrarian infographic from Alchemyworx suggests many rules-of-thumb for email marketing are really just myths have developed and could be damaging our campaigns.
For example, it questions whether we should we send our emails every Thursday, Should we stop contacting inactive subscribers after six months or if we send too many emails then they are ignored?
'Actually, sending 4 emails per month rather than one doubles the likelihood of one email being opened"
'Though we know, it has to be targeted and personalised etc.
We like this classic infographic since…
Are consumers looking for a simple ad free social network?
Ello is a new social media platform designed by a small group of artists and designers. It started as a private network which is now available publicly, but with an 'invite only' membership.
Is it an anti-social media platform to fight back against Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn who are now set on squeezing money out of us as they monetise using advertising and fees for premium add-ons. They're certainly positioning it that way. Or is it a network which is more social and simple to use - in line with their strapline 'Simple, Beautiful and Ad-Free'?
Ello is currently available in beta form only and is only accepting new members by invite only, which some have suggested is restricting growth and goes against the ethos of a social network. However, Google Trends suggests a…
The Top 10 world ranking email clients
If you're an email marketing specialist you'll almost certainly know Litmus for their awesome email analytics tool and great insights. We've featured them several times before, including this great infographic showing trends of Email client share. Here is the latest update from their Email client market share site which they update each month.
We would probably expect Apple to be dominating due to the surge of iOS mobile devices and growing popularity of Apple devices, though it's interesting to see that Outlook is still popular and it reminds us of the importance of testing the effectiveness of designs for Gmail on different clients. When interpreting these results, we need to bear in mind variation across desktop and mobile usage and demographics which Litmus have in their…
What do effective integrated marketing campaigns have in common?
Integrated marketing campaigns can be a tricky art to perfect. We live in a multi-media world, which means that new media and old media sit alongside one another, sometimes competing, other times working collectively - in the case of integrated campaigns they work together.
However despite saying all of this, what is it that actually leads to successful results? Consistent branding and messaging, frequency of communications and deciding on your primary medium are collectively important points to factor in. Let’s take a look at some of the most impressive integrated campaigns:
#1 Compare the Market - Baby Oleg
On Christmas Day 2013, comparethemarket.com released a television advert revealing new character Baby Oleg. In January 2014 the campaign went into full swing with an advertisement promoting a cuddly toy to accompany the cute Meerkat. Following this announcement a blog was created for Oleg online, for customers to…
Testing of over 900 Ecommerce sites shows how 'cleaner' designs can increase ecommerce sales
What can the fastest-growing eTailers teach us about visual design? Anyone involved in the design or marketing of ecommerce sites has had the discussion at some point: 'is this design too busy? Too cluttered?'
As it turns out, it probably is. And you can probably make more money by cleaning it up – at least according to our latest research here at EyeQuant, a German neurotechnology company that specialises in quantitative user experience metrics.
A classic debate put to rest by data
To examine the role of visual clarity in user experience, the EyeQuant team took a sample of 960 ecommerce designs and showed them to 500 users in pairs, asking which design felt 'cleaner'. After collecting responses from several hundred participants, the team ranked every design in the study and used this data to train an artificial intelligence that can…
28 point pre-email send checklist
We are sure that you will already know many of these email marketing best practices, so let's collectively build it up to 40!
We shouldn't give our emails that six or 12 month car service, or cut corners as we send out emails all of the time. Email Monks, email marketing designers, have saved us some time writing that important check list before we 'press the send button' , breaking it into four sections - client compatiblity, email delivery setup, inbox preview and html open preview.
So let's avoid those simple email blunders that can be avoidable by reading their tips and it would be great to build this up!
…
9 ways to improve your mobile customer experience
As mobile shopping sites and apps increase in popularity, and overall experiences improve, customer expectations are rising at the same time, so there is an imperative for customers to act to improve their mobile experience and how it joins up with the overall brand experience.
Research by IBM has highlighted the extent to which customers are intolerant of any faults, with 16% of respondents reporting that they would be more likely to buy from a competitor if they encountered a problem, and 13% admitting they would abandon the transaction altogether and try a competitor’s website or app instead.
'Some of the bigger leading brands have really upped their game, and the ones that are keeping pace have strategically invested in a platform that is able to service both traditional online channels and also…
Perhaps it’s customer engagement
There’s a huge irony in marketing now - I feel - one that ignores understood, proven mantras of direct, or one-to-one, marketing stretching back decades.
“Your future prospects resemble your best customers, and that’s the place you should start.”
Holger Schulze, vice president of eG Innovations
Put existing customers (consumers) first in marketing planning
It doesn’t matter how advanced modern marketing gets, how intelligent our advertising, our targeting and re-targeting, our key-phrase strategies in search and our use of social and mobile advertising. Marketing success and commercial growth rely on strategic thinking and most importantly begin with customer retention and loyalty before acquisition. Yet how much marketing spend do we see launched into cold reach and acquisition compared to the spend volumes in how we add value to our customers and leads? Is it possible then that we’re over-spending on acquisition and underspending on the sustainable opportunities in customer engagement and…
