KITBAG.COM

Case Study: iPhone Optimisation

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Objective

To find out if optimising Kitbag.com’s emails for mobile devices results in higher open, click through and conversion

rates.

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Kitbag.com

Kitbag.com is Europe's leading online sports retailer

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Why are mobile devices important to email marketers?

Morgan Stanley predicted that the population of mobile users will exceed desktop internet users within five years.

Mobile e-commerce is ramping up faster than online e-commerce, now making up 4% of total retail sales

Research by Nielsen shows that Email accounts for 42 percent of mobile internet time (compared to just 10.5 percent using social media, for example).

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What are the main issues?

What does your email look like on a small screen?

Is it hard to click on links?

Do your subscribers have to zoom in to read the content?

If you have optimised the email for a mobile device, what does it look like on a large screen?

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Testing method

Litmus email analytics tags added to Kitbag emails from December 2011 – February 2012

Top email clients analysed – Apple iPhone was used by 22.49% of recipients making it the most popular email client among Kitbag subscribers

Apple iPhone subscribers flagged within Lyris HQ

Lyris and Kitbag develop iPhone optimised email templates which are 400 pixels wide rather than 750 pixels wide

50% of flagged iPhone users are sent a regular sized version of the Kitbag newsletter and 50% are sent the iPhone optimised version

KEY STATS

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Popularity of reading environments among Kitbag.com subscribers

35% of opens from Kitbag.com subscribers come from a mobile device

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Top email clients used by Kitbag.com subscribers

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Top mobile email clients used byKitbag.com subscribers

66% of Kitbag’s mobile opens come from the Apple iPhone

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Top email clients used by iPhone users

98% of iPhone users view their emails with the built-in mail client

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Engagement across email clients

Desktop Mobile Webmail

OPTIONS FOR OPTIMISING

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Option 1 – Removing fixed width tables

One of the most widely used solutions to this issue is having a table that is equal to 100%. This means the email will automatically fill 100% of the screen it is being viewed on.

Pros• Easy to do• Usually looks good on

mobile devices

Cons• Not appropriate for image

only emails• Can look very bad on

larger screens• Doesn’t always look good on a

mobile device, especially if there are images

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Example of an email with 100% table fully open in Outlook

Option 1 – Removing fixed width tables

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Option 2 – Add a view on mobile link to your email

Add a link to the top of an email which points to a mobile friendly version of the email.

Pros• Easy to do• Looks good on mobile devices

Cons• Requires subscriber to click on a

link to view• Takes longer to code the email• Often gets overlooked because the

link is usually quite small on a mobile device

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Option 3 – Intelligent CSS

Use CSS media queries to remove unnecessary elements of your email when viewed on a small screen.

Pros Cons• Allows you to change the look of the

email depending on screen size• Looks good on large and small

screens• Gives you the ability to remove

unnecessary parts of your email

• Requires a coder to implement• Not effective for image only emails• Can take longer to code• Adds weight to email due to extra

code• Doesn’t work in Gmail’s Android app

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Option 3 – Intelligent CSS

Outlook iPhonewith CSS

iPhonewithout CSS

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Option 4 – Design your email for mobile users

Reduce the width of your current email to between 300 – 500 pixels and use a single column layout. Ensure the email text is large enough to read on a mobile and the call to action is easy to click.

Pros• Not hard to do• Easy to read on a mobile without

having to zoom in• Links are easy to tap

Cons• Could look slightly strange when

viewed on a large screen

HOW DID WE OPTIMISE KITBAG’S EMAILS

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Regular email design – Within iPhone

750 pixels wide Very small pre-header text Small navigation buttons Multi-column layout Unreadable text Small calls to action – can be

hard to click through on desired link

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iPhone optimised email design

400 pixels wide No pre-header text No navigation buttons Single column layout Larger text Large calls to action that are

easy to tap Unnecessary content has been

removed Main message is clearly visible

at the top of the email

TEST RESULTS

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Non-iPhone users

Key Metrics Results

Average unique open rate 12.3%

Average unique click rate 2.3%

Average click to open rate 19.11%

Full size emails sent to all non-iPhone users

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iPhone users sent full size email

Key Metrics Results

Average unique open rate 39.8%

Average unique click rate 5.3%

Average click to open rate 13.31%

Full size emails sent to 50% of iPhone users

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iPhone users sent optimised email

Key Metrics Results

Average unique open rate 43.4%

Average unique click rate 4.9%

Average click to open rate 11.37%

Optimised email sent to 50% of iPhone users

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Average unique open rates

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Higher open rates for mobile optimised emails?

Why would the mobile optimised emails consistently have a higher open rate?

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Size matters!

Average Email weight

Average open rate

Full size version of email 17.42 KB 39.84%

iPhone optimised version of email

9.35 KB 43.38%

Light weight emails = Higher open rates on mobile devicesInternet download speeds can vary greatly on mobile devices so it makes sense that the faster downloading email would have a higher open rate on a mobile.

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How about conversions?

Although we received great open rates from our iPhone segment we did not see an increase in conversion rates. There could be several reasons for this:

Kitbag.com does not have a mobile optimised version of their website

Subscribers are most probably not in a position to purchase when viewing your emails on their mobile

Kitbag.com on an iPhone

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Why bother?

We believe that it’s still important to optimise for mobile devices because:

Open rates from mobiles are much higher than other email clients Having a clear mobile optimised email design will encourage these subscribers

to return directly to your website or shop at a later date – via their desktop or tablet

Why bother optimising for mobile devices if conversion rates are not higher?

THANK YOU