A couple of conversations today prompted me to take a fresh look at the "mobile email problem", as I have come to think of it.  After reading our whitepaper "Email Marketing for the Third Screen" a client asked, "But I am still not sure exactly what to do!"  Yep, you are not alone.

There are a lot of ideas out there about how to solve the problem.  Some are better than others.  Some are simply poor and short-sided... but I digress.  Fact is, all of the proposed solutions are nothing more than workarounds to a complicated and baffling problem derived from the fact that no common coding standards exist.  Optimize for one scenario and you mess up performance for another.  There is no simple quick fix.

Now that I have rained on everyone's parade, the larger question really is "What is going to FIX the mobile email problem?"  This question was raised in a discussion this afternoon.  The following is an edited response I posted to that group.  Enjoy!

The right answer is for mobile devices to adopt standards for rendering email such that current coding standards work.  This is similar to the standardization efforts that helped unify the internet.  Remember when the internet was littered with images like this?  Thankfully they are gone now.



The initial thought was to muster the email troops and lobby for the adoption of standards that would better serve the consumer.  However, the market forces against getting manufacturers to standardize how they treat email are simply too strong at the moment.  Consider that iPhone recently leapfrogged the entire industry in their ability to render email and now RIM (Blackberry) has Apple pegged as enemy #1.  How well these devices support mobile email is a huge competitive advantage and when you are talking about selling cell phones, you are talking about big, big bucks.  In several attempts to engage with people who could influence the adoption of industry standards I was met with head shaking and laughing, as if to say, "How naive?"

Fortunately, Apple has done more for creating the necessary pressure than any lobby could ever hope to do.  Their move with the iPhone was a huge step toward "rendering email properly". The pressure they have applied to the market to handle email and the online experience well (no matter how much one may agree or disagree about "how well" thus far) is already accelerating changes in the market.  RIM knows they are in a fight as they enter the consumer smartphone market.  They will need to update their enterprise mail server capabilities and get with the times... or get their teeth kicked in.  All Apple needs to do is drop their price to $100 for a smartphone and RIM drops out of the consumer battle.  Since the consumer smartphone market is is where the big money is in the coming years, it is imperative for RIM to upgrade the way they handle email and the web.  I believe that B2B trends will follow quickly... or else RIM will go the way of Lotus Notes to be only used when IT has already invested too much to pull out.

My belief is that this problem will fix itself through market competition in the next 2-3 years, which is faster than a lobby would probably have an impact. We have not seen the long term solution yet, but it is coming--the competition is fierce, and that is a good thing for our cause.  After getting laughed at realizing the economic forces at work, we stopped trying to beat the "thy must standardize" drum.

For now, mobile email remains a big challenge.  Only a select few have figured out solutions that are even halfway decent.  Nothing stellar.  There is the trade-off between desktop appearance and mobile rendering.  Where mobile is highly likely (e.g., travel alerts) then go with simple single column, boring old email.  If simply trying to accommodate for a mobile audience where readership is more likely to happen on a desktop, then then trying to minimize the distortion of email on the mobile device by using tools like Pivotal Veracity eDesign Optimizer for mobile devices and then leverage a click to view solution (where the landing page determines the type of browser and then renders the page accordingly). Unfortunately, that is still the best I have come across. 

ExactTarget is committed to investigating other alternatives.  Moreover, this is a personal passion of mine and there are many others at ExactTarget passionate about finding better workarounds.  We are optimistic that a decent workaround is on the horizon, but not foolishly so--there will not be a perfect workaround until standards emerge.  If you have ideas that you would recommend or like to try, let us know, we would love to work with you.

I don't know anyone who likes moving. So either I have "half glass empty" friends, or the world has figured out that moving is a royal pain in the...anyway.

Here are some of my favorite things about moving:

1. Running out of packing bubbles and wadding 923 Kleenex together to cushion your box of dishes.
2. Calling utility companies, the BMV, and the U.S. Postal Service with your change of address.
3. Painting your old place back to "eggshell" (best practice: 5 coats).
4. Paying nearly a month's rent to hire movers to cart your Kleenex-Corelle, furniture, and clothes to avoid shamelessly abusing your friends who are unlucky enough to drive pick-up trucks.
5. Scouring apartment guides online, scheduling walk-throughs, and juggling 15 "in the works" living options.

You guessed it -- I'm moving. And I'm super excited!!! Not.

At least I wasn't until I found some apartments doing their part to make my life easier. How? They let me set preferences through their websites (# bedrooms, move-in date, price...) and sign up for SMS or email alerts.

Here's one pitch:

"No need to constantly check back to see if an apartment you want has become available. Be notified automatically by email and/or cell phone text alerts when there are new matches based on your apartment criteria."

Now instead of trying to juggle everything on my own, the most relevant information can be delivered to my figurative doorstep through the channel I prefer. Love it.

And the result? I'm signed, sealed, and delivered in under two months.

Welcome Home.

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

Thanks to the Writers’ Guild strike, my TV remote has been wandering into uncharted cable territory of late.  I can’t say that it has made for great viewing, but it did reintroduce me to the 1997 sci-fi/horror film “Event Horizon” and the seemingly unassailable notion that black holes are bad and to be avoided at all costs.
 
A black hole, as you might recall from Physics class or Jeopardy reruns, is an area in space with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing can escape once inside—not even light. 
 
The marketing equivalent that continues to be used by too many reputable marketers is the black hole email subscriber center — a place where subscribers get in, but they can’t get out (i.e., unsubscribe) without a great deal of frustration. 
 
The best practice, of course, is to make it just as easy for visitors to subscribe as it is to unsubscribe.  Too often, though, the unsubscribe process is given short shrift.  Think about your own email subscription center.  When’s the last time that you audited it—actually going through step-by-step to subscribe, unsubscribe, and change your preferences in all of the various ways it permits?  My guess is that it’s been a while…if ever.
 
If that’s the case, I encourage you to dig into your email subscriber center with fresh eyes: enlist new or non-marketing resources if you have to, and walk-through every page, instruction, and process documenting those opportunities to:

• Clarify on-screen instructions
• Verify that all subscription-related links (via website or email) work as intended and land on the desired page
• Simplify the effort needed to subscribe, unsubscribe or change personal information
• Give subscribers the ability to offer & edit more personal data
• Capture other means of contact that may be used in the future (secondary email address, home phone, cell phone for SMS)
• Optimize both subscription and unsubscribe confirmation email content
• Make everything faster & easier

With fresh eyes and a little bit of effort, you can not only rid your email subscription center of any black holes that are damaging subscriber relations, you can also build trust with your subscribers—trust that will be imperative if you plan to expand into SMS and other forms of one-to-one messaging in the future.

The hoopla has started to calm down, but the impact of the iPhone is becoming crystal clear now. The battle between Apple and RIM is shaping up. B2B marketers hoping that business users are only using Blackberries need to take note. Optimizing your email for mobile rendering on the Blackberry is not going to be the long term answer.

Furthermore, other smartphone manufacturers continue to release phones that seem to be a direct response to the iPhone. Samsung's F700 and the LG Voyager are just a couple of the more notable recent releases.

It seems that iPhone’s full support of HTML on the web and email has fundamentally changed the definition of “mobile internet.”  Where users had grown accustomed to having limited functionality on their mobile devices, the iPhone responds with a clear message, “you don’t need to settle.” iPhone delivered a user-friendly experience that makes huge strides (however imperfect) toward providing a web and email experience that mimics a traditional computer.

Whether or not Apple caught the other manufacturers off-guard or not is a moot point now.  Fact is, that many of the leading mobile manufactures, such as Nokia, Samsung, and Ericsson had joined the dotMobi bandwagon prior to the iPhone release. The folks at Apple recognized error of the dotMobi approach, which essentially creates two distinct online worlds--simultaneously creating both a fractured marketing experience and administrative nightmares associated with running parallel sites. Instead, Apple developers facilitated access of the traditional web and email on a mobile device... and by doing so, set a new standard.

In bypassing the dotMobi movement, Apple has done a service to all online and email marketers by creating demand for mobile devices that have full internet functionality, and by showing that it is possible. Email marketing professionals should praise this accomplishment. I believe it is a critical first step toward a solution to the current challenges associated with mobile email rendering.

1. The make and model of my car.  Okay, so how does Sprint know that? And how is it relevant really to my cell phone usage?
2. The address I live on when I purchased my car.  Even a bit more freaky... again, how does Sprint know that?  Moreover, this appears to be evidence that cell rates are too high.  If they have money to build databases that store that information, then they definitely have too much money.
3. Select from a list of properties "Which of the following properties have you PREVIOUSLY OR CURRENTLY owned?"  Maybe I understand this one, I have been a customer of Sprint for a while, tracking historical addresses makes some sense... I guess?
4. What month and year I purchased the aforementioned home? I have no idea... that was three houses ago!! I just went back and checked my tax records from 2000 and for some reason I can't find the month I purchased the home.  It was summer, I think.  I remember it was a really hot day when I moved.  In fact, I remember vowing never to ever to move again that day. Oh my, I broke that vow, how can I be so dishonest with myself? Okay, you got me there... I don't know when I bought that house and I am getting depressed thinking about it. If all else fails, go with option C.
5. Pick from a list of streets I never lived on.  Apparently C was incorrent because they have more questions for me. All of these street names look familiar. One of the streets listed was from an appartment I rented in college in 1993! Some great memories from that apartment. Gee Sprint, thanks for taking me down memory lane. It is clear you know me better than I know myself.
6. The name of the seller of a home I purchased 7 years ago.  Am I really expected to know this? It was just some guy, I dunno his name, I never even met the person.  I dealt through an agent.  You are asking me questions I don't even know the answer to.  From memory lane to flashbacks of my calculus final.
7. The names of people that have lived with me.  You have got to be kidding me. You track my roommates??  Roommates? I hated some of those people. They weren't even Sprint customers. How (and why) are you doing this to me?

In April 2007 a gunman opened fire on the Virginia Tech campus killing thirty-three people and injuring another fifteen before turning the gun on himself.

Shocked parents, students, and university staff reported the first campus-wide email alert was sent over two hours after the shooting began. By that time, the shooter’s second shooting spree was already underway in a classroom halfway across campus. Though advising students and faculty to exercise caution, the original email message did not instruct them to avoid class and seek shelter. In addition, many students were away from their computers and never saw the message.

The tragedy underscored the need for instant, reliable, emergency alert systems. Sirens, public addresses, and website postings aren’t enough anymore, and campuses - and other institutions - are investigating new and improved ways of alerting people of impending dangers.

Many universities are launching multi-channel alert systems that combine triggered email, SMS text messages, and voice messages (even Facebook). In fact, St. John’s University in NY installed such a system just three weeks before they needed to use it to alert students of a gunman on campus. “In the St. John's incident, [university safety alert] text messages were sent so quickly that a student who helped subdue the suspect felt his cell phone vibrate with the information while he was restraining the gunman.” Another MSNBC article notes: "In every tabletop exercise, drill or real-life crisis scenario...the No. 1 glitch is always around communications."

Indiana University, my alma mater,  has developed a broadcast emergency contact system called “IU-Notify.” Campus officials use the system to instantly trigger email, SMS, and voice safety alerts. Students and faculty are encouraged to keep contact information up-to-date and can submit multiple email addresses and phone numbers that are automatically updated in the system hourly. Safety information is also posted on a dedicated emergency preparedness website that encourages students to “Be Ready for Anything.”

After enrolling in grad classes part-time, I was thrilled to see the university looking out for my safety using the latest digital one-to-one technologies. I actually just updated my account with four separate contact points to ensure I can be reached in an emergency.

I’d encourage all schools and organizations to launch an alert broadcast system. ExactTarget’s new Integrated One-to-One Platform (Fall 2007 Release) allows users to quickly trigger email, SMS, and voice messages. Email, SMS, and voice messaging is useful to any marketer - but they are vitally important when emergencies arise.

It’s public safety. And it’s worth it.

Nicole

Marketing Communications Associate