Abandoned basket emails... one thing I forgot

Isn't it always the way? You write a nice long posting on a specific subject, giving some useful tips along the way.... and then once it's written and published you remember something else that will be obvious to your readers.

Well, it's happened to me (again) with my latest opinion piece on optimising Abandoned basket emails. As it was only after I listed out my 6 suggestions for improving these emails and committed it to publish last night, that I realised I'd missed and obvious one.

So as well as: Experiment with subject lines, Experiment with the time of sending, Send more than one email, Use your email service provider, Experiment with layout, imagery & palette and Track links... I forgot to include "make sure your email is mobile compatible".

You see that although a lot of people just shop on their PC's and tablets, with mobile eCommerce lagging a little way behind.... they still carry their mobile with them. So if you're going to send an email reminder to them several hours later, to let them know they have left an item or two in their online shopping basket, there's a good chance they are out and about, or at least not in front of their main terminal. So if you want them to read that email and then go on to buy the product(s) you need to make it as compatible as possible for all devices.

BT tablet email does work on iPad - sort of

You've gotta laugh. I got an email from BT Broadband recently with the subject title "Get your tablet connected for free with BT Wi-fi".
I assume this would have been a useful newsletter telling tablet users how to connect their device to their home connection to save on mobile data usage.

However, the irony is that when opening and viewing this email on my iPad... I get the view you see. No content and no imagery. Oops!

For me this highlights the need to test any emails you send out across a range of devices and different email clients. Especially the one you want to target.

Note: I am using a first generation iPad which has (purposely) yet to be upgraded to the very latest version of iOS.