How to Avoid Broken Links, Broken Layouts, and Unhappy Subscribers

My talk for Digital Marketing Day 2015, going over the usual stuff - the importance of email, what can break, and how to avoid it all.

Transcript

1. How to Avoid Broken
   Links, Broken Layouts
   and Unhappy Subscribers
   

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2. tl;dr
   TEST ALL THE THINGS!
   

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3. #DMDay15
   Jason Rodriguez
   Community Manager, Litmus
   @rodriguezcommaj
   

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4. #DMDay15
   EMAIL IS DEAD
   

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5. #DMDay15
   2.4 Billion
   email users in 2013
   

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6. #DMDay15
   182 Billion
   emails sent per day
   

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7. #DMDay15
   ROI by Channel
   EMAIL $44.25
   SEARCH $22.24
   DISPLAY $19.72
   SOCIAL $12.90
   CATALOG $7.30
   

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8. What needs testing?
   

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9. #DMDay15
   WHAT MOST PEOPLE FEAR
   

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10. #DMDay15
    WHAT EMAIL MARKETERS FEAR
    

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11. #DMDay15
    

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12. #DMDay15
    TOP 10 EMAIL CLIENTS
    #1 Apple iPhone
    #2 Gmail
    #3 Apple iPad
    #4 Outlook
    #5 Apple Mail
    #6 Google Android
    #7 Outlook.com
    #8 Yahoo! Mail
    #9 Windows Live Mail
    #10 AOL Mail
    emailclientmarketshare.com
    

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13. #DMDay15
    Rendering Engines
    

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14. Common
    Rendering Issues
    

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15. Broken Layouts
    

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16. #DMDay15
    

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17. #DMDay15
    The Usual Suspects
    Desktop
    Lotus Notes
    Outlook 2007-2013
    Gmail
    Mobile
    Gmail App
    Android Clients
    Windows Phone
    

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18. #DMDay15
    The Fix:
    Use modular, table-based designs
    Ask questions on litmus.com/community
    Test constantly
    

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19. Missing Images
    

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20. #DMDay15
    

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21. #DMDay15
    43%
    of Gmail users have images disabled
    

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22. #DMDay15
    The Fix:
    Use absolute paths for images
    Use ALT text
    Have some fun
    

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23. #DMDay15
    

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24. #DMDay15
    

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25. Blue Links
    

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26. #DMDay15
    Blue Links and Design
    

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27. #DMDay15
    Blue Links and Usability
    

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28. #DMDay15
    The Fix:
    Wrap text in a class and
    override with CSS
    123  Main  St.  Anywhere,  MA  01234  
     
     
    .apple-­‐footer  a  {  color:  #333333;  text-­‐decoration:  none;  }  
    

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29. Functionality
    

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30. Broken Links
    

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31. #DMDay15
    Ever type one of these?
    goole.com
    faceboook.com
    twitter.om
    

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32. #DMDay15
    Imagine sending those links
    to 2 million subscribers…
    

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33. #DMDay15
    The Fix:
    Always check your links
    Use automated link checks
    

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34. Manual Link Checking
    =
    Lots of Clicking
    

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35. Link Validation
    =
    Lots of Saved Time
    

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36. Color Blindness
    & Contrast
    

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37. #DMDay15
    5%
    of the population is color blind
    

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38. #DMDay15
    campaignmonitor.com/blog/post/4267/color-blindness-accessibility-and-the-vision-impaired-in-email-design
    

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39. #DMDay15
    vs.
    

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40. #DMDay15
    The Fix:
    Check for contrast & color blindness
    Tools
    Color Oracle (Mac & PC)
    Color Contrast Check (Web)
    Colorblind Web Page Filter (Web)
    

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41. So how do we avoid all of
    these problems?
    

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42. Make Email Testing a Part
    of Every Campaign
    

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43. New Content Can Affect
    Even the Best Templates
    

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44. Email Clients are in a
    State of Constant Change
    (and they never tell us about it)
    

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45. It’s Dangerous to Go Alone
    

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46. Try Litmus Free
    Visit litmus.com/giftcard and use
    coupon code DMDay15
    

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