Today 16% of all email messages are opened on mobile devices like smartphones or tablets.  Successful email marketers should follow not only these 20 tips for successful email newsletter delivery, but adapt to the new reading environments. All modern email newsletters should be optimized for mobile email clients.

People who read their email on mobile devices usually do this early in the morning, while they are at lunch or in the evening. This knowledge is important for you as an email marketer because you need to understand how and when you will be reaching your target audience. For example, if you send text emails that should be read carefully, it is better to send them when your recipients are more likely to be using their desktops. If you send lighter content that can be scanned and acted on quickly or that otherwise takes advantage of mobile features, aim for those times when users are out and about.

Remember that, when using their mobile devices, your subscribers will behave differently than when they use their desktops. It may be hard to purchase something from the smartphone. The aim of your email messages may be to call the readers to add your product to a wish list, to save and use a promo-code or to get more information about your company. It may also make sense to engage mobile-specific capabilities. For example, you might offer a 10 percent off coupon for checking in on Foursquare or to Facebook Place… something that can be easily done via a mobile phone.

It’s very important to test how the content of your landing pages renders on mobile devices. Remember that Adobe Flash video is absolutely OK for Android-based smartphones, but will not work with iOS. The success of your email marketing campaigns depends on the possibility for your readers to immediately follow your call to action.

Low download speeds and the rather small screens of mobile devices make mobile email readers impatient. Keep this in mind and give your users the most interesting and engaging content. Not having an email preview in the mobile email clients decreases the chances of your emails being read. Your best way to cause the recipient to read your message is to intrigue him or her with a great subject line and the “From” field, explaining who is the author of the email.

You should also remember that most of your recipients will use their mobile email clients to perform “triage” to decide what emails to delete and what to save for further reading on the desktops. Your email newsletter will have just one chance to impress, so use all possible tactics to make your recipients read it and take the desired action, either now or, at least, later on their desktops.

Consider asking your subscribers to install EmailTray – a smart email client for Windows and Android smartphones – to be sure they always receive your emails. The EmailTray email client saves all good messages that might otherwise get trapped in the Spam folder by mistake and it specifically notifies users about important emails as opposed to “Low Priority” and “No Priority” emails.

1. Use EMAIL only when it works better than any other communication channel

Email is a great time-saver when it comes to contacting a person who is located far away from you. You can always fit emailing into your work schedule, as you can send and read emails whenever you have some spare time. Email is good to share links and business information, but it is not good enough to build partnerships, especially at the last stage before signing agreements – a personal meeting or video phone call is necessary for this. Ask yourself simple questions to understand whether email will fit your needs in your situation.

Want to get acquainted with your future partner, and plan to discuss important things, face to face? –> Arrange a meeting.
Need to share urgent news or resolve an urgent matter? –> Use a phone call.
Need technical support on the software issue? –> Use email.
Plan on discussing an upcoming event with your friends? –> Use a chat room.
Benchmarking the steps taken on a large project with your colleagues? –> Use wiki.
Want to set and track tasks on a large project? –> Use a task management system.

2. Follow business email etiquette rules when composing a new message

Do you use short and precise email subject lines – to focus the reader attention on what’s important? Do you provide an email signature with your contact details? Do you use the “CC” and the “Reply to All” option with caution?

These and other rules were created to increase email productivity for you and your email recipients. Using business email etiquette rules is a matter of politeness and a sign of respect towards an email recipient, so make sure to follow these rules.

3. Comply with the CAN-SPAM rules if you send bulk mail

To protect the privacy of email recipients, the US Federal Trade Commission issued the CAN-SPAM Act which covers numerous examples of fraudulent or inappropriate use of email as a means of communication.

The following principles are outlined in this act:

• Don’t use false or misleading header information.
• Don’t use deceptive subject lines.
• Identify the message as an ad.
• Tell recipients where you’re located.
• Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you.
• Honor opt-out requests promptly.
• Monitor what others are doing on your behalf.

The CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business

4. Follow the email sender guidelines posted by the most popular Webmail providers

If you are an authorized email sender, Gmail, Hotmail and other Webmail providers make it easier for you to reach your customers Inbox by providing you with email sender guidelines. The most obvious things for senders to follow are offering an opt-in feature and easy unsubscribe, using sender authentication and managing the reputation of your outbound IPs. Use the links below to refer to the email sender guidelines of the popular Webmail providers:

Email sending policies, practices, and guidelines from Microsoft
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-office-365/external-senders-policies-practices-guidelines

Improving E-mail Deliverability into Windows Live Hotmail, PDF
https://download.microsoft.com/download/e/3/3/e3397e7c-17a6-497d-9693-78f80be272fb/enhance_deliver.pdf

Best practices for bulk mail senders and postmasters when sending to Yahoo! Mail
https://senders.yahooinc.com/best-practices/

Bulk Senders Guidelines from Gmail
https://support.google.com/a/answer/81126

5. Ensure that your email address is on the whitelists of your recipients

If you don’t want your messages to get blocked by spam filters and the email service providers of your recipients, have your most important sending email addresses whitelisted. You can also publish information on your site asking your subscribers to add your email address to their list of trusted contacts.

Hope these pieces of advice and reference links help you build your email campaigns efficiently and avoid email deliverability issues. Email CAN be a great helper unless you misuse it