BlueHornet Whitepaper The Third Screen: What Email Marketers Need to Know About Mobile Rendering Part One: Your Marketing Message on the Third Screen Executive Summary The rapid rise in adoption of so-called smartphones means that more marketing emails are being viewed on mobile devices than ever before. This serialized whitepaper is divided into three parts to help email marketers educate themselves about the complexity of the smartphone landscape so that they can: Follow specific steps right now to improve email rendering across the largest number of mobile devices. Make educated decisions about the need for a mobile email strategy based on their email subscribers smartphone adoption rates and behaviors. Take advantage of new tools and services that can simplify smartphone rendering optimization. In Part One: Smartphones: Overview, Definitions and Usage Data Obstacles to Good Smartphone Email Rendering Email Rendering Engines and Operating Systems Six Steps to Improve Smartphone Rendering Now BlueHornet.com BlueHornet is a leading email service provider that specializes in delivering highly targeted email campaigns that evolve through the customer lifecycle. Our lifecycle email messaging tools and strategies make it easier to understand, predict, & respond to customers stated preferences and observed behaviors as they emerge and change over time. BlueHornet Division Headquarters 1.866.586.3755 Page Page 1 1 www.bluehornet.com 2355 Northside Dr. Suite B250 2009 BlueHornet Networks, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of Digital River, Inc. 2007 BlueHornet Networks, Inc. A wholly owned San subsidiary Diego, CA of 92108 Digital River, Inc. (619) 295-1856 www.bluehornet.com
Smartphones: Overview and Definitions Do more people check email on their smartphones than on their PCs? Not yet, but that could be the case in the near future. According to a study by RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky, smartphone sales will surpass PC sales by the end of 2011 with over 400 million shipments. Why should you care? Being a marketer, you already know how important it is to be everywhere your customers are with a message that is on brand and on target. However, with such a rise in the number of media options currently available, you have less control over the medium your message is ultimately viewed on. Enter the third screen...the smartphone. Advances in smartphone technology now make it possible for more people to turn to the third screen to listen to music, check the news, watch TV, and more than ever, check email. Due to differentiators between smartphone manufacturers, models, and operating systems, HTML email rendering across mobile devices has become an important consideration when it comes to marketers ability to maximize the results from their email campaigns. And regardless of whether a large or small portion of your existing email database views your emails on their smartphone today, you ll want to do everything you can to make sure your message follows basic email rendering best practices for the third screen. What is a Smartphone Anyway? Smartphone Actually, there is no industry standard definition of a smartphone. For the purpose of this article we will define it as a mobile phone that offers advanced PC-like functionality, can run software, play media, connect to the Internet, and includes a QWERTY keyboard. Operating System (OS) An operating system is a computer program that manages the resources and processes of a computer and provides an interactive graphic interface between the computer and the user. For smartphones, the OS controls the functions of calling, texting, web browsing, using applications and rendering emails. Each OS has a different graphic interface and handles its processes in a unique manner. Major Smartphone Operating Systems We expect the mobile-phone email market will increase at an average annual rate of 68% over the next four years, totaling more than 1 billion mailboxes by the end of 2013. - Radicati Group The operating system of a smartphone depends on its make and model. Below is a list of the major smartphone operating systems and some of the phones that use them: iphone OS - Apple iphone Android OS - Google Nexus One, HTC Dream, T-Mobile G1, Nook, 18+ others Blackberry OS - RIM Blackberry Symbian OS - Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson Windows Mobile OS - Samsung, HP, Motorola Palm webos - Palm Pre, Palm Pixi
U.S. and Global Smartphone Usage According to a December 2009 report by Gartner, smartphone sales were up 23.6% in 2009. While smartphone usage is shifting from purely business use to both personal and business use, owners are still more than two times as likely to own a smartphone for business usage only. Smartphone owners are predominantly male, are 65% more likely than the average mobile subscriber to be between the ages of 25 and 34, and nearly two times as likely to make more than $100,000 a year. Nokia is the clear leader in global sales with its Symbian OS. Android represented only 4% of worldwide sales in Q3 2009, but Gartner predicts that by 2012 it will be the #2 operating system at 18%, coming in only behind the Symbian OS. Symbian OS, while dominating the global market, has not been a big player in the US, where the market share is dominated by the iphone and Blackberry. It s also important to note that Windows Mobile is the only OS that is losing market share in the US. For this report, we will be concentrating on the U.S. market. According to the U.S. market share, the top operating systems are: Blackberry OS Apple OS Android OS Page 3 2009 BlueHornet Networks, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of Digital River, Inc. BlueHornet.com
Obstacles to Good Smartphone Email Rendering The main obstacles to good smartphone email rendering are the wide range of device models, operating systems, and mobile email rendering engines. Combine these obstacles with the challenges that already exist when it comes to creating HTML that also renders well across multiple desktop and web browsers for PCs, and you ll see why the ability to find a common ground for email rendering is difficult. Device Models and Screen Size Ultimately, the screen size and resolution determine how a user sees an email message. Below is a breakdown of the top selling U.S. smartphone s screen sizes (in pixels): RIM Blackberry Curve: 320 x 240 Apple iphone 3G: 480 x 320 RIM Blackberry Storm: 480 x 360 RIM Blackberry Pearl: 240 x 260 G1 by HTC: 320 x 480 BlueHornet s email best practice guidelines recommend that all emails are designed for a width of 600 pixels. This assures that all PCs render the email without the need for horizontal scrolling. With the smartphone s widest screen resolution of 480 pixels, horizontal scrolling cannot be avoided, but some models, including the iphone, allow the user to zoom out to display the entire message before zooming in on a specific section.
Email Rendering Tests We sent a test email to a number of smartphones to see how they rendered HTML email. Below are screenshots of the results. BB OS with No HTML Email BB OS with HTML Email iphone OS Android OS Symbian OS Windows Mobile OS ver 6.0 Page 5 2009 BlueHornet Networks, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of Digital River, Inc. BlueHornet.com
Operating Systems and Mobile Email Rendering Engines Blackberry OS Blackberry OS phones are notorious for their trouble with rendering HTML emails, and there are several components that determine whether or not an email will render at all. Users can access email with two different services: Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) or Blackberry Enterprise Service (BES). BIS is the out of the box solution that comes with the phone, and BES is usually installed by the user s company with added security and intranet access. The newest version of the Blackberry OS that renders HTML email is 5.0, but Blackberry has been able to render HTML email since the release of OS 4.5. However, this is entirely dependent on which version of either the BIS or BES the smartphone is using for its mail service. Older versions of the two services do not render HTML emails, and the upgrading process is entirely dependent on either the carrier that the smartphone is using (with BIS), or the IT department that is managing the user s network (with BES). To make up for the Blackberry s email rendering problems, some 3rd party applications have become available, including BBSmart and Empower Email Viewer, that can add HTML support to the different BB OS s. However, the BIS and BES versions still affect the outcome because they ultimately control what content gets delivered. If HTML email access is allowed, rendering can suffer due to problems with the OS attempting to fit the entire email within the constraints of the screen being used. Therefore images are re-sized, and multiple columns of information are collapsed, affecting layout elements such as tables and bullet lists. Needless to say, viewing well-rendered emails on any of the Blackberry devices has proven to be a challenge. iphone OS The Apple iphone uses its own Apple OS to display content, and was the first smartphone to deliver full-color, beautifullyrendered HTML emails since its inception. The emails are automatically scaled down to fit the width of the display, and users are able to easily zoom in and out to view the desired content. Additionally, the images are shown by default. The main disadvantage is that the screen resolution is small, and emails built to render with a screen resolution of 600 pixels are difficult to read requiring a lot of scrolling and zooming to view comfortably. Android OS The newest member in the mobile OS market is Google s Android OS. Built to compete head-to-head with Apple s iphone, the Android OS does a great job of rendering HTML email. A smartphone using the Android OS has two unique applications that handle the way email is received, viewed, and organized. The built-in Gmail app renders HTML emails with the same accuracy as the PC s web version, although images are not loaded by default, and zooming is not available. However, if a user wants to add any other accounts, such as Hotmail or Yahoo, he/she must configure it with Android s separate email reader. There have been reports with users experiencing problems with this email reader, and rendering is not as robust as the Gmail app. Other Operating Systems In addition to our top three U.S. smartphone operating systems, there are a number of other systems to consider, including Symbian and Windows Mobile OS. Older versions of the Symbian OS do not render HTML emails at all. However, there is an option to view the HTML as an attachment which will open the content in the built-in web browser. Newer versions of the Symbian OS on Nokia smartphones are known to render HTML email, but actual tests were not performed. Windows Mobile OS 6.0 can render HTML emails, but the results are affected by the email service provider the user is running. If a Microsoft Exchange server is used, HTML emails may not render at all. When HTML email is rendered, it can suffer from the same problems as the Blackberry OS in terms of re-scaling of images and content that fits within the size of the screen.
Six Steps to Improve Your Smartphone Email Rendering Now We ve talked quite a bit about how your email can render badly on a smartphone, but you re probably wondering how you can make it better. Below are some recommendations you can apply to your email campaigns now to get better results: 1. Create a web hosted mobile version While many smartphone email clients do a poor job of rendering emails, their web browsers often provide better support for HTML, default image viewing, and zooming. To take advantage of this, we recommend creating a mobile browser version of your email and providing a link to that version in the preheader. By using link tracking reports, this can provide you with some rudimentary data about who is viewing their emails on a mobile device. A hosted version of your email also has the ability to provide powerful analysis with the use of a 3rd party reporting service such as Google Analytics. When creating a hosted mobile version, keep the width to 320 pixels. This will ensure that all content will be viewable without the need for scrolling and zooming, images will load by default, text will be displayed at the desired size, and load time will be faster. You also have the option of using a 100% width so the content automatically resizes to the user s screen. Just keep in mind that the average screen size is around 320 pixels, and to re-size your images accordingly. 2. Use your space wisely Due to limited viewing space on smartphones, we recommend that you slim down subject lines and pre-header text, and place your branding and call-to-action at the top-left portion of your email. Both subject lines and pre-header text display above the email in most smartphones and can push the rest of your pertinent content below the fold. Keep your subject lines down to a few words, and if you use pre-headers, try not to duplicate the subject line text. Display a short call-to-action instead. Original HTML Email Hosted Mobile Version of Email 3. Use alt tags for your images Most smartphones, excluding the iphone, will not load the images by default in your email, so it is imperative that you have alt tags associated with each image to preserve your marketing message and company branding. 4. Avoid nested tables and multiple columns Some smartphones, including Blackberry, don t like nested tables and multiple columns of content. To make sure your text and images render without problematic results, stick to single columns with multiple rows. 5. Validate your code Make sure your HTML code is W3C compliant and contains no trailing or open tags. An email may appear to render fine in a web browser, but smartphones can be picky with their code and may not render an email at all if the code is not valid. W3C provides a free online validation service to check your HTML. Visit http://validator.w3.org for more information. Page 7 2009 BlueHornet Networks, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of Digital River, Inc. BlueHornet.com
6. Test your campaigns Smartphones can produce very unpredictable results when it comes to email, so it is highly recommended that you test your emails in a number of web-based, desktop, and smartphone email clients. Unless you have a drawer full of smartphones, this task can be a difficult to do on your own. Instead, partner with an email service provider who offers the ability to show you how your emails render across top desktop, web, and mobile operating systems.
Conclusion and Next Steps There are no indications that adoption of smartphone device usage will decrease anytime soon. That means that marketers should expect that in the future, more email subscribers will use smartphones to view HTML emails. But what does that mean for marketers today? First and foremost, make sure you re following the six steps outlined above. That s the best way to ensure that you re everywhere your customers are with a message that is on brand and on target. As for next steps, you ll need to dig deeper to better understand mobile device adoption and behavior for your unique subscribers no two brands customer base will be the same. In part two of this document, we ll talk about how to use empirical data to identify smartphone usage and distribution across your subscriber base. This will help you make an educated decision about whether a customized mobile email strategy is appropriate for your needs. We ll also provide more solutions to ensure your emails will render properly over a majority of smartphone email clients, to help you deliver a message that is optimized to each subscriber depending on how they view your email. Page 9 2009 BlueHornet Networks, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of Digital River, Inc. BlueHornet.com