eMedia Daily

eMail and Blackberries

Many marketers have been seeing a steady decline in open rates, which seem to have peaked in 2004. According to the Email Marketing Metrics Report from MailerMailer, this can be correlated to the increase of image blocking by email programs.

In order to register an “open” of an HTML email, a 1px by 1px invisible image embedded in the HTML must be displayed. When images are blocked by default, that image is not displayed, and thus the open is not registered by the tracking server.

The number of hidden opens increases even more when you consider the growth of email on handheld devices, such as Blackberries and Treos. Some handheld devices, such as older model Blackberries do not render HTML at all, rather either displaying the raw code, or displaying the text-only version (if available). Other models, like the Treo, will block images by default to increase rendering time.

How to overcome these obstacles to open rates? First, do not use open rates as a defining benchmark of the success of a campaign. While still an important metric, click rates and conversions are much more important.

MailerMailer also recommends these steps for dealing with handheld devices:

1. Create a mobile-phone version of your newsletter optimized for a phone’s screen. Include only a small version of your logo for images. The rest of the content should be easy-to-read text that can be scanned quickly.
2. In the mobile-phone version, include a link to the full edition of your newsletter so readers can peruse it on their desktops.
3. When users sign up to your newsletter, give them the option to receive the mobile-phone edition.