Image courtesy of ATCoreSystemsThe move to mobile is no longer an unavoidable, upcoming trend. It is officially upon us.
A bevy of new web users are browsing, scrolling and clicking through the endless corridors of the internet using their mobile devices every day.
And with every twist and turn, your nonprofit must contort to meet new challenges contemporary society throws at you.
Simply put, over 50% of all emails will be opened via a mobile devices in 2014. Here are 6 strategies to help your nonprofit cater to this sweeping landscape, according to Mike Snusz of npENGAGE.
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Decrease Email Width
Different devices handle resizing of emails differently. iPhone will compress your email message, while android devices will often just cutoff the right part of your email completely. Keep your email narrow enough so your constituents do not have to scroll from side to side while trying to read your message.
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Increase text size
Most standard web users use 12pt font across the board. However, with so many people reading emails on the go now, turning the dial up to 13 or 14 is not a bad idea. People are reading while the walk, on trains, and the less they have to zoom in, the better chance you have of communicating your message.
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Keep emails below 102KB
Many mailboxes, like Gmail, will only display the first 102KB of an email. This forces your constituents to download the remainder of the message. An immediate turnoff for many readers.
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Use short engaging subjects
This may seem obvious, but it’s an important step for a lot of reasons. Individuals receiving your message will see less of a subject line in their mobile device’s inbox. Therefore, if your title is too long they may not fully understand who the sender is or what you’re trying to communicate. Additionally, the longer the title the more space it takes occupies at the top of the screen. This means the meat of your content is now being pushed further and further down the screen, almost out of sight because of your title’s length.
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Short paragraphs keep attention
Like it or not, people are going to be reading your emails while walking, jogging, using public transportation and in the passenger seats of cars. They are distracted and not likely to open your email again. Combat their desire to close your email with short, engaging sentences that get right to point. The more direct, the better the sentence.
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Understand what your emails look like
Too often nonprofit organizations will simply tap out an email, or a series of emails, and send it off into space without fully understanding with it looks like. There could be undetected formatting problems, or it could violate one or more of the rules spelled out above.
The most important thing for you to understand when typing up emails in 2014 is to understand how it will appear on mobile devices before sending it out to your mailing list.
If you’re interested in reading more you can check out the original article by Mike Snusz of npENGAGE.
