Click to enlarge infographic

Tweetables

• Consumer data collection is a $3 Billion industry in the US Tweet this

• Acxiom is the largest data broker. It keeps a database of over 500 million consumers worldwide “nearly every US consumer” Tweet this

• Acxiom tracks avg of 1500 data points on each consumer, placing them in one of 7018 socioeconomic data clusters Tweet this

Tweetables

• The estimated number of Internet users in the Middle East is 90 million Tweet this

• Only 15% of Middle Eastern businesses have an online presence Tweet this

• B2B ecommerce sales in MENA (Middle East/N Africa) to reach est. $15B in 2105 vs. $9B in 2012 Tweet this

• The value of mcommerce in Middle East/N Africa could reach $4.9B US by 2015 Tweet this

• 52% of shoppers over the age of 26 in Middle East/N Africa shop online Tweet this

• 31% of Middle East/N African shoppers under the age of 16 shop online Tweet this

• 68% of online shoppers in Middle East/N Africa are male Tweet this

• 70-80% of online purchases in the Middle East are paid by COD, 30% paid online Tweet this

• 47% of e-shoppers in the Middle East use prepaid cards vs 30% credit or bank transfer, 28% COD, 27% paypal Tweet this

• 33% of Internet users in the Middle East regularly use the Internet to purchase or research products Tweet this

• The 3 most popular online shopping categories in the Middle East: Online games (41%), computer software (31%), Electronics (28%) Tweet this

Shrunken email creative might survive users’ mobile habits if only they would view the same messages across devices. But research shows only 3% do (in retail, it’s 2%). Don’t bank on users forgiving your unoptimized content and marking it for later viewing. You get one shot. What’s worse, 1/3 of users will unsubscribe from your list if they can’t read your messages on their small screens.

What is responsive email design?

Responsive email identifies a device’s screen or display size using the @media query and serves the appropriate layout determined by the designer. The most common “breakpoint” is 480 pixels (iPhone specs), but any breakpoint can be set to target various screen sizes including tablets and phablets.

Unlike scalable design which scales 100% table widths down to any screen size, responsive allows room for a designer to modify, hide, stack, add or expand/collapse content to optimize usability for narrow screens. While scalable design is certainly easier to code and is likely to “work” on all devices, usability can suffer when layout and design elements are not designed from the smallest screen up. Scalable’s best for text-based emails without many graphics (i.e. not retail email!) Responsive doesn’t require desktop layout to conform to narrow-width best practices, offering the most flexibility and control over merchandising and content.

Unfortunately, responsive isn’t foolproof. Some email clients like Gmail and Outlook strip out CSS style sheets and don’t support @media queries. It’s reported that users prefer to sync these accounts through a phone’s native email application (which does support @media) which will render the responsive version properly, but Gmail’s native app, for example, does not.

Best practice is to plan for failure by using flexible grid and fixed-width layout in your HTML template, and to test known problematic clients.

Tips for responsive email design

Layout / template

1. Use a “mobile first” approach. Generally, beginning with the mobile experience and working up to desktop is much easier than trying to retrofit desktop content. That said, there are no rules that your desktop and mobile creative have to contain the same content or mirror design, so don’t feel you must constrain your desktop design to what is contained in your mobile version.

2. Simplify navigation. Be brave enough to let go of the idea that your email template needs a category menu. Users don’t treat emails like websites, they scan the content and decide if there’s anything worthy to click. Category menus, though ubiquitous, are often unnecessary. Go ahead and check your email analytics. What percentage clicks on your category menu vs. your merchandising zones? Exactly.

Crocs tested a responsive version which included a bold strip-down of its menu.

Responsive did beat both desktop and static versions in revenue and AOV, though clicks were consistent. Removing navigation links did not hurt metrics.

Also consider removing unnecessary links like social sharing buttons in headers and footers.

3. Get stack-happy Rather than scale down images, transform horizontal assortments into vertical at the 480px breakpoint. The Crocs example above illustrates this.

Two- and three-column layouts can also be stacked into one. Though RueLaLa is praised for its responsive website, its email is not.

Style

4. Use a readable font This doesn’t just mean sans-serif. Use a minimum of 13 pixels (iPhone’s minimum font size), as smaller fonts get scaled up by the device and can affect your layout.

Watch out for bold, capitalized words. They’re harder to read in smaller font on smaller screens, especially when they’re white-on-black, as in Sephora’s calls-to-action above.

The example below illustrates the challenge with script and fat fonts, and low contrast between images and text.

5. Use high contrast Always recommended for Web, but all the more important on mobile devices which are not only tiny, but often used in lower-light conditions. Don’t do this if you can help it!

Content

6. Lead with the important stuff. Ask yourself if the customer can digest your most important messaging without scrolling, and does it compel them to scroll or click through?

7. Hide unnecessary pre-header and footer content. Unless you’re obligated for legal or branding reasons, consider nixing extra text that push down your most important content. Hint: kill the “mobile friendly version” link, you’re responsive, baby!

8. Rethink your merchandising. If your emails are typically jam-packed full of products and offers, consider stripping them down for mobile users. Remember, your desktop assortment doesn’t have to match mobile. Think of user context and what’s optimal within that.

9. Use text messaging. Not that kind of text messaging! Use text-based messaging instead of images for your main “hook” content for clients that are images-off by default.

This email gets the point across. A strong hook will motivate the customer to turn images on, or just click right on through.

10. Design for images off Avoid the white screen of death.

The above is from an Internet Retailer top 5 company! This link points to information on designing for images off.

11. Modify images You’re not forced to scale down images with the responsive approach. In fact, many images lose their context as they shrink. Consider cropping or swapping images, or even removing them completely.

12. Optimize image size Page load speed is important for Web, even more important for mobile devices connecting to flaky Starbucks wi-fi.

13. Sharpen your image High density retina display requires higher resolution images to appear sharp.

14. Replace animated GIFs with static images That’s GIF (like the peanut butter). Won’t work on mobile, so pick the still shot you want!

Calls to action

15. Use large tap targets. School yourself on designing for touch screens. To start, links and buttons should be a minimum of 44 x 44 pixels, according to Apple guidelines.

16. Embrace white space. White space is your friend. The most common design mistake I see on mobile are link targets too.close.together.

17. Make the button bigger! Yup. Within reason.

18. Fold ‘em. Pay attention to placement of call to action, remembering the fold depends on whether the device is in portrait or landscape mode. This doesn’t mean you should have a call to action as high as possible to accommodate landscape users. But content that appears above both folds should be enticing enough to lead to a strong call to action with minimal thumb action.

19. Make them proximal to content. Every link is in essence a call-to-action. Product links should be close enough to their corresponding images for users to know what they’re clicking. Ditto for any type of link/button in your message.

20. Make links look like links. Sound like Web usability kindergarten? It’s still important, especially since modern designs style links as colored text without underlining (see Sephora example above).

21. Optimize CTAs for images off. Buttons are images, too.

22. Use click-to-call when appropriate. What’s narrower than 480 pixels is probably a mobile device. This is user context handed to you on a silver platter, so use it when it makes sense.

23. Link to mobile friendly landing pages. Don’t drop the ball on your website!

24. Copy promo codes. Auto-applying a discount code for email referrals is boss for mobile users who have a harder time toggling between open tabs and applications.

Better yet, inform the customer that it will be auto-applied.

Is it worth the effort?

Responsive does carry a higher cost in time, effort and resources than its alternatives, but as mobile opens top 50% (check your analytics to see where you stand), it’s too costly to disappoint your email subscribers with an unusable experience. It’s also much cheaper and quicker to apply responsive to and test a single email campaign than it is to undergo a responsive website overhaul. If you’re considering applying responsive to your website, starting with an email campaign can help build the case for the whole shebang. Finally, if you are responsive, don’t forget email (like RueLaLa), it’s just as important.

A friendly reminder I’ll be speaking on Mobile Commerce: Is Responsive Right for Retail? at the Shop.org Merchandising Workshop in Huntington Beach, July 16. If you’re headed that way, please say hello.

With only 25% of companies observed sending mobile-friendly email, and 73% of US mobile users checking email on their devices daily, sub-optimal email experience should keep many a marketer up at night.

Click to enlarge

Tweetables

• 43% of emails are read over mobile devices, expected to top 50% by end of 2013 Tweet this

• 73% of Americans check email on their smartphone daily, 62% in UK, 57% in Australia Tweet this

• 43% of mobile email users check email 4+ times/day vs. 29% that don’t use mobile email Tweet this

• iPhone leads all email clients for email opens (yes, even desktop) with 23% (Outlook 19%, Gmail 4%) Tweet this

• Only 3% of email users view a single email on both mobile and desktop. The other 97% are read only once. Optimize for mobile! Tweet this

• Mobile is the preferred device for checking email on the weekend Tweet this

• 38% of mobile users open emails based on interesting subject lines, 23% to pass time Tweet this

• Top 3 preferred email messages: special offers (27%), promo/voucher (21%), order tracking/delivery info (21%) Tweet this

• 75% of companies do not create mobile friendly email Tweet this

• If you can believe it, there are more iPhones sold per year than babies born. Luke W illustrates this crazy fact and hopes you’ve got your multi-device strategy in order.

• Baymard Institute has put out a pretty phenomenal guide to mobile commerce design, and shares a tip on their blog about the importance of very distinct hit areas for touch screens.

• Definitely one of the most interesting subject lines and a darn good article too, check out KISSmetrics’ 3 Reasons Batman is Better Than Superman & How it Can Improve Your Conversion Rates

• This month, Google unveiled a new way for brands to advertise using a “channel gadget” that supports in-video shopping, directing viewers where to buy through certain product videos like Unilever’s Tresemme shampoo, one of it’s pilot brands.

• Business Insider has an insightful look at 3 traits of Chinese online shoppers that differentiate them from Western consumers.

• Speaking of the Chinese market, MarketingExperiments ran an A/B test on imagery and clear calls to action. The test resulted in a 62% uplift across geographies in aggregate, but a staggering 433% improvement on the Chinese version of SAP.com.

• If you sell SaaS products, your conversion Nirvana is an upgrade. KISSmetrics discusses SaaS Pricing: Features that Make People Upgrade.

• Another entry from KISSmetrics (have you subscribed to this blog yet??): How to excel at the subscription economy.

• We interviewed conversion optimizer Chris Goward this month and he concurred that carousels generally suck on websites. Econsultancy has 3 ideas that convert better than standard carousels.

• And if this isn’t enough content for you, Conversion XL has rounded up 13 fascinating posts on pricing strategies. Enjoy!

I’m not against merchandising emails with offers, featured products or even a personalized assortment of items, but conventional ecommerce emails often do little to create compelling demand for products vs. impulse buys. (Not to mention the effects of paradox of choice).

Back in my restaurant days, we hostesses were encouraged to “romance the features” of the daily signature dish while walking customers to their tables. Before the wait staff arrived or even the menus hit the wood, my job was to create desire and interest for that one meal.

Similarly, commercial email can be that slow, romantic walk that tells people what they should want to buy when they sit down to your site. An example of this recently landed in my inbox.

Subject line: Hemp Protein….The Next Protein King?

Hey Linda,

I have made a couple big changes with regards to my protein recently and I wanted to fill you in as it might affect you.

Have you ever thought of using hemp protein powder? Well unless you are into a plant based diet, lactose or gluten intolerant or avoid dairy altogether you probably haven’t thought about it ever.

I eat meat and up until recently have always used a steady diet of dairy based protein powders whether it was whey or casein. Frankly I might have laughed if someone had mentioned the thought of substituting or at least supplementing my protein powder regime with a plant based powder such as Hemp.

I am not sure about you, but I always thought hemp protein only for hardcore vegans/vegetarians, non-athletes and those with a high tolerance for gritty awful tasting protein?

After doing extensive research and a bunch of personal taste testing I did a complete 180! Not only does hemp protein have tons of health benefits, but they are benefits that no other protein contains (even whey!)….and on top of that there are hemp proteins that not only are tolerable but taste amazing!

Yes I am sure you are skeptical as was, but to be honest my friend hemp protein these days is health optimizing, performance boosting, and pallet satisfying as ever!

To learn 5 of the best reasons to try hemp protein click here:

https://healthmarketing.infusionsoft.com/app/linkClick/10326/71d24da225936de3/2592381/ca745800d6aecf99

You can thank me later

Yours in good health,

Mark Holowaychuk
Founder, Vitamart.ca
www.vitamart.ca

Though I cringe at the conspicuous URL, here’s what I like about it:

1. Using content to market content

Yeah, yeah, web users don’t read. But they don’t look at banners and ads either. And if you believe that nobody’s going to read a text-based email, you have to believe nobody’s going to look at your banner-spangled campaigns either. This email embraces web copywriting best practices and uses “story selling” to get and keep the reader’s interest, then direct the reader to more compelling information.

Like Marketing Experiments’ Flint McGlaughlin says, an email’s job is not to sell, it’s to generate interest — to get a click. Drs. Foster and Smith‘s educational approach resulted in 15% higher sales than its sales-promotion competitor in A/B testing. Sometimes educating does a better job at selling than coupons and images.

2. It’s personal

Not only did they get my name right, it’s signed off by the founder of the business. I’m not gonna kid myself that he wrote it himself, but it does humanize the company.

3. It sounds (a bit) like a product review

According to eMarketer, consumers trust product reviews nearly 12x more than manufacturer copy. The fact it’s written by an individual who identifies himself, and presents himself as someone like me who’s actually tried this product could be very effective.

4. It sounds a lot like a sales letter

Email may have squeezed out direct mail sales letters, but let’s not forget the Wall Street Journal‘s most famed sales letter ran for 28 years, raking in $2.5 billion in subscription revenue. These things work when done right, can be adapted to Web-reading, and stand out from the typical shotgun merchandising retail emails.

The key is good story-selling. How can you turn a product’s value propositions into an engaging, persuasive or educational story? Try it in a content based email like this. Even better, test it against your “typical” email creative.

• Social proof goes beyond customer reviews and testimonials. Econsultancy shares 11 ways to use social proof on your ecommerce site.

• Shazam’s partnership with television show producers to enable tagging and links to purchase clothing worn on TV is just one way apps could disrupt search engines’ dominance in product search and discovery.

• What’s the optimal placement for form field labels on mobile? Check out Baymard Institute for the answer.

• There’s a lot of buzz around responsive design, but is it really the future of web development?

• If you decide to go responsive, here are 9 things you should watch out for.

• Does your ecommerce business sell, how do you say…less than sexy products? Your website doesn’t have to be boring. Inject some personality with cool copy for unsexy stuff.

• In other persuasive copywriting news, why not delve into the secrets of selling like a used car salesman?

• Persuasion continues. I’ll admit it, I’m suffering from some serious blogger envy on this one. Wish I wrote it. ConversionXL’s 5 principles of persuasive web design is definitely worth a read, a bookmark, and a whack of social sharing.

• Keywords ‘not provided’ in analytics is one of the most heartbreaking things to see as an SEO, conversion optimist or web analyst. But there’s hope. Cardinal Path’s how to manage keyword not provided for Google search part one and part two addresses the reality that we’ve lost data, but offers some viable workarounds to ease the pain.

• Bryan Eisenberg’s a Tale of 2 Publishers contrasts Huffington Post and the Daily. Can you guess which one publication is killing it, and which is lagging — and more importantly, why?

Click to enlarge infographic

Tweetables

• 61% of UK email marketers rate their campaign performance poor or average. Only 35% good, 4% excellent Tweet this

• 62% of UK email marketers spend 2 or more hrs on campaign design and content, 18% >8 hrs Tweet this

• 12% of UK marketers report they spend NO TIME on email strategy. 27% spend no time on email optimization Tweet this

• 43% of UK marketers feel lack of email marketing strategy is a problem Tweet this

• 71% of UK email marketers have basic to non-existent email optimization for mobile Tweet this

In the 90’s, simply having a website may have been a competitive advantage in your industry. Today it’s table stakes. Even with a full catalog of products, robust features and lightning page load speed, your website is really nothing more than a pile of code. And everybody’s got one.

Of course, some websites are more successful than others – and branding is a major part of this. Whether you’re a brand selling direct-to-consumer, a marketplace, a content publisher, or a retail operation, your competition is a click away. As a digital marketer, your challenge is to differentiate your commodity web presence from the rest of the pack.

The good news is commodities can be differentiated. Water is a perfect example. What’s readily available for free in the Western world is also a multi-billion dollar industry.

I caught up with our friends at The Blake Project (branding gurus and publishers of the top-ranked Branding Strategy Insider blog) to pick Chief Branding Strategist and author of Brand Aid Brad VanAuken’s brain on branding commodities in an ecommerce context.

Driving brand insistence

How can you make customers insist on your business’ brand, and consistently choose your website as the place to purchase amongst your competitors?

The Blake Project has determined there are 5 key drivers to brand insistence.

Awareness Are consumers aware of your business’ website as a shopping destination amongst your competitors, and is your business brand top-of-mind?

Accessibility Does your business’ brand and digital presence reach the consumption channels where consumers are (including mobile and social, if relevant)?

Value Do consumers believe your website is worth the “price”? (In context of your website, does your website and purchase experience live up to the time and dollar investment in transacting with you?)

Relevant Differentiation Does your brand own consumer-relevant, consumer-compelling benefits that are unique and believable?

Emotional Connection Does the consumer know your brand, like your brand, trust and feel an emotional connection to it (and does your website reinforce this connection)?

What makes a strong brand differentiator on an ecommerce site?

Amazon.com is a perfect example of an ecommerce site that effectively pulls all five levers. But not all businesses competing with Amazon enjoys its scale, operational efficiencies, selection or community content.

Let your brand character shine through

Brad mentions Patagonia as an example of strong brand character. It’s apparent from their charitable involvement and its team of ambassadors that the company is committed to outdoor life, a story that’s far stronger than its competitors.

Capture a niche

Amazon disrupted the book selling industry, and many brick-and-mortar shops have not survived. Those that have survived tend to cater to a specific genre, or demonstrate superior product knowledge and customer service to deliver value missing from competitors.

Ecommerce sites can also win when they understand how to capitalize on gaps in experience.

Support the buying process

Tools like the former Garden.com’s product finder tool solves customer problems.

Other notable examples are Vodafone’s mobile phone finder and Crutchfield’s TV Fit Finder.

Branding direct to consumer

Manufacturers selling direct are in the position where brand awareness and preference drives traffic, but the website competes against channel partners for the sale.

Branding commodity services

Mobile network operators don’t just compete for device sales, but also on commodity services. Creative plans and bundling with and without physical product help differentiate. For example, free calls within the network, family plans, value-added services and triple/quad-play bundling.

Don’t fix what’s not broken?

A brand’s web design is important. But one of ecommerce’s favorite make-work projects is website redesign, often in the name of a keeping things fresh. What’s the branding expert’s take on web design overhaul?

Brad says, speaking himself as a “creative type:”

Companies with strong creative presence have product designers and marketing departments that love to create new things, including the brand’s look and feel. The problem with branding is consistency in presentation. I roll my eyes every time a new marketing VP comes in and wants to update the logo, change the colors and so on. When US Air rebranded to US Airways, all its planes had to be repainted, but there was no real difference to the brand or its services.

In my days at Hallmark, I oversaw product placement in grocery stores. Grocery stores will deliberately change the location of products to shake things up. If they go in specifically for milk and cheese, they don’t pay attention to what’s in other aisles. This can be frustrating to customers, but pays off in this industry.

Does this work on a website? There’s no need to overhaul look and feel unless you find the store isn’t working or there is some functionality to correct.

I asked Brad about his thoughts on Overstock’s domain rebranding, from Overstock.com to O.co – a $350,000 strategy intended to distance the pure-play from just overstocked items but failed to resonate with customers. Brad advises against veering from the very obvious (conventional .com and country-level TLDs) to unconventional extensions like .co, .net and .info (sorry ICANN). Web users simply think in terms of dot-coms, it’s very difficult to establish domain recognition with any other extension.

Don’t be a commodity

Your website is just one way to conduct commerce, and just one way to present your brand to the consumer, but it’s critical that it does a good job representing your business. To stand out, determine what makes you different, what values you have and what benefits you deliver, and communicate it strongly on your website.

Brad will be sharing more about branding commodities and more in-person at The Un-Conference: 360° of Brand Strategy for a Changing World, a 2-day intensive branding workshop May 16-17 featuring ex-Pepsi President and ex-Apple CEO John Scully.

• You may have spotted a clever April Fool somewhere around the Web. Mashable rounded up over 50 pranks, with notable ecommerce related stunts by Birchbox, Redbox, American Eagle, Sony, Kayak, REI, Modcloth, Netflix, Wayfair, Hulu, Nokia, Samsung, Square and more.

• What are the rules of engagement with CTAs (calls-to-action)? Smart Insights discusses where is the best place to put your CTA, analyzing a number of landing pages from a variety of industries.

• What’s the ROI of responsive design? Luke W dug up some data from 4 websites (O’Neill, Skinny Ties, Time Inc and Regent College) that spill the beans on the quantitative impact of going responsive.

• Responsive design has been hailed for its SEO benefits, but can it be bad for SEO? Check out Bryson Meunier’s controversial stance on the topic, and the lively commentary that follows.

• Do you know your ROA? Discover your Return on Analytics with Avinash Kaushik , complete with mathematic formula.

• Econsultancy shares the good, bad and ugly of abandoned basket emails.

• How to convert free users to premium? KISSmetrics’ got the goods on how to turn users into customers.

• On the flip side, how about some tips on how to reactivate your customer base.

• By now if you’re a Google Reader user you’ve heard of it’s impending closure…have you picked an alternate RSS reader yet? If you need some suggestions, Econsultancy has over 40 options for you.

• Storefront Backtalk asks if Google’s patent for customized pricing for digital content is brilliant — or an imminent disaster.

• Ready to put the test in testimonials? MECLABS’ got 6 ideas for testing testimonials for ya.