We no longer live in a desktop email world. More and more people are checking their email from their mobile devices. Our emails get a nearly a 50% open rate on smartphones and tablets. That's why our email newsletters need to be responsive and work across devices. Here's what we've learned so far in making our emails responsive, and what we're still learning.

1. Back to an Email (and Responsive)
Future
@ryantriddle from @ZURB
Monday, October 28, 13

2. Emails are no longer for the
desktop.
Monday, October 28, 13

3. “More than 20% of emails sent during
the first six months of 2011 were opened
on a mobile device ...”
Monday, October 28, 13

4. “ ... mobile share of email open rates
increased by 51%”
Source: http://zurb.com/quips/402?&&search=email&utf8=%E2%9C%93
Monday, October 28, 13

5. “ ... 35.6% of Campaign Monitor emails
were opened on an iOS Device.”
Source: http://zurb.com/quips/403?&&search=email&utf8=%E2%9C%93
Monday, October 28, 13

6. He’s really
checking his
email ...
Monday, October 28, 13

7. He’s really
checking his
email ... and
Facebook.
Monday, October 28, 13

8. Going responsive with our emails.
Monday, October 28, 13

9. Monday, October 28, 13

10. Monday, October 28, 13

11. Monday, October 28, 13

12. Monday, October 28, 13

13. Monday, October 28, 13

14. Monday, October 28, 13

15. Monday, October 28, 13

16. Monday, October 28, 13

17. ZURB. How can we help you?
Monday, October 28, 13

18. Monday, October 28, 13

19. What do you mean there’s no Outlook support?!
Monday, October 28, 13

20. Monday, October 28, 13

21. Yet a lot of emails still look like sh*t.
Monday, October 28, 13

22. Monday, October 28, 13

23. Monday, October 28, 13

24. Monday, October 28, 13

25. Monday, October 28, 13

26. Responsive emails are hard to build
from scratch.
Monday, October 28, 13

27. HTML emails still use tables.
Monday, October 28, 13

28. <div class="column-wrap">
<div class="column">
<table>
<tr>
<td>
<!-- CONTENT HERE -->
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<div class="column">
<table>
<tr>
<td>
<!-- CONTENT HERE -->
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
</div>
Monday, October 28, 13

29. Templates are important.
Monday, October 28, 13

30. We’ve learned a few things about
emails and responsive emails.
Monday, October 28, 13

31. Some 145,000 subscribers ... even aliens!
Monday, October 28, 13

32. Some 145,000 subscribers ... even aliens!
(OK ... maybe not aliens)
Monday, October 28, 13

33. Provide value. It’s not enough to get into
their inboxes.
Monday, October 28, 13

34. Monday, October 28, 13

35. Lots of valuable
content for
readers
Monday, October 28, 13

36. Monday, October 28, 13

37. Monday, October 28, 13

38. Links ...
Monday, October 28, 13

39. ... and even
more links!
Links ...
Monday, October 28, 13

40. No link. No
context.
Monday, October 28, 13

41. Now with link
and context.
Monday, October 28, 13

42. We were
being too
transactional
in the CTA!
Monday, October 28, 13

43. This implies
that the
reader is
going to get
more
information.
Monday, October 28, 13

44. Templates also provide us with
responsive email patterns.
Monday, October 28, 13

45. Image
Copy
Monday, October 28, 13

46. Monday, October 28, 13

47. Test. Test. And test again!
Monday, October 28, 13

48. Monday, October 28, 13

49. This is how we have to think about
emails now.
Monday, October 28, 13

50. Our target audience is mobile. We have
to be as well.
Monday, October 28, 13

51. Thank you!
zurb.com/ink
Follow me for more email (and sci-fi) debauchery.
@ryantriddle
Monday, October 28, 13