Little Wonders Can Lead to Big Success- Part 1

A 'little wonder' is a seemingly insignificant action or event that eventually has a large impact on your long-term situation. In this two-part series, Jordan Lane looks at some email little wonders — simple ways to improve your email programs — and the key benefits from each of them.

Like diligently saving pocket change, there are some easy additions you can make to your email campaigns that can bring large rewards in the long run. Today we'll look at two of these tactics that can yield long-term success.

View a hosted version of an email

Providing the opportunity for a subscriber to view an online or hosted version of a message will enable those who might have images blocked or have email rendering issues to be able to view the message. A hosted version, often linked via the text Having trouble viewing this email?, is typically used for HTML and text versions of a mailing. A great place to put this link is in the top or header of an email.

Subscribers now have one less excuse as to why they should not read the content of an email. If the email can be viewed by the subscriber despite content rendering issues, then the email marketer has overcome a significant technical challenge.

View an email easily on a mobile phone or other mobile device

Mobile devices are everywhere. Wirefly.com (who boasts to be the Internet’s #1 authorized retailer of cell phones) recently reported that “the sales of touchscreen mobile devices increased by 56 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2009.” Despite the availability and popularity of mobile devices, there are some drawbacks when it comes to viewing email in the palm of your hand.

One of the most common issues is the rendering and loading of HTML-heavy emails. Inserting a mobile view link into an HTML email will ensure that all mobile users will have the opportunity to view the content of the email. The mobile link should open just the text or rich text versions of the email for ease of viewing. As a general practice, presenting a text version of an email is a much better option than not presenting anything at all.

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Remember to use these simple tools consistently, wisely and appropriately. These little wonders can take time to have noticeable and meaningful impact on overall email performance, so be patient. With the proper use, tracking, testing and reporting, you will eventually reap the fruits of your labor. Little things can make a big difference!