Results of a new study issued by EmailLabs, a high-performance email marketing technology company, revealed the majority of subscribers to business-to-business email newsletters use the preview pane function of their email client and nearly half do not enable images. The results of this study are expected to drive many publishers and B2B marketers to rethink the design of their email newsletters to better accommodate the significant adoption of preview panes and the image blocking function.
In a survey sent to EmailLabs’ Intevation Report newsletter subscribers, 90 percent of email newsletter subscribers have access to a preview pane, and 69 percent say they frequently or always use it. Nearly 53 percent of respondents’ email clients or Internet Service Providers automatically block images in some or all email messages, and 45 percent of email readers rarely or never download images within their preview pane. Furthermore, 50 percent of subscribers rarely or never place an email address on their email client’s safe-sender list.
Survey data indicate 49 percent of email readers only look at the first few lines in the preview pane to decide if they want to continue reading the message. Whether targeting respondents who use the horizontal format (75 percent) or the vertical format (25 percent), survey results suggest it is critical that marketers design emails that will maximize the preview pane’s limited real estate—which is typically set by users at a depth of two to five inches. If insufficient information is displayed in the preview pane due to blocked images, advertisements, or poor design, nearly 19 percent of respondents will delete the message.
“This survey confirms our suspicions that a large percentage of B2B email subscribers do not download images and prefer to scan or read their emails within the preview pane and never fully open the email,” said Loren McDonald, EmailLabs vice president of marketing. “Moving forward, we advise marketers to re-evaluate and, if necessary, redesign their emails to better address how their subscribers are actually interacting with their email newsletters.”
To help alleviate the impact that preview panes and disabled images have on email performance, EmailLabs is recommending the following best practices:
–Redesign the top of emails to include a two- to three-inch preview pane header area that is HTML and text only (no images). This “header” area should include only copy such as article teasers, key offers and “In This Issue” information that enables subscribers to determine whether to read further or open the email. Publishers may want to test using HTML/text-based ads in this area and consider charging a premium to advertisers based on the increase in impressions.
–Redesign email templates so that both content blocks and advertisements can be viewed entirely within a two- to three-inch window as readers scroll through an email.
–Minimize the use of images unless necessary, as in e-commerce-oriented emails that display multiple product photos. Avoid using images that are more than two- to three-inches tall. Instead, use HTML fonts, colors, and backgrounds when possible to liven up the email.
–Publishers should consider eliminating use of skyscraper ads and move to more HTML/text-based ads; ads with images should be limited to the horizontal banner format.
–Examine the preview pane area for extraneous or administrative information that can be relocated elsewhere, such as an administrative footer at the bottom of the email. Do, however, consider including text links for key actions such as “view Web version” and “update profile” at the bottom of the preview pane area.
Additional key findings include:
–The sender's name and/or email address remains the most important factor readers look for in the preview pane when deciding whether to read further or open the email (60 percent). Subject lines, headlines, and teaser copy follow at 54.3 percent, 53 percent, and 30.3 percent, respectively.
–Only 31 percent of email users report that they always or frequently add the B2B newsletters they asked to receive to their safe-senders list or address books in order to avoid having them routed to their bulk or junk folders.
–Sixty percent of survey respondents read messages in either Outlook 2003 or Lotus Notes, the two clients that block images by default. The number rises to 86 percent when considering those who use all versions of Outlook, Outlook Express, and Lotus Notes.
“Email marketers and publishers need to be aware of these factors that are greatly affecting their email performance. While this latest study focuses on business-to-business marketers, we expect this issue to increasingly affect business-to-consumer marketers, driven by developments such as the Yahoo Mail preview pane currently in Beta,” said McDonald.
Conducted in September 2005, 498 EmailLabs’ Intevation Report subscribers responded to the 13-question survey. Respondents were primarily marketing professionals from companies of all sizes and a broad range of industries.
