iPhones and Email Marketing: Tips & Tools

I was just browsing through Globe’s new 3G iPhone subscription plans yesterday, and it occurred to me… With more and more Filipinos jumping on the iPhone bandwagon, it might be a good idea to consider how well your emails (and websites, for that matter) display on an iPhone. 

• Consider internet speed. Remember, this is the Philippines. If the iPhone user’s internet connection is slow, images and HTML will take longer to show up, so keep your email file size as small as possible. 
• Make your links and buttons finger-friendly.  iPhone users aren’t using a mouse, and fingers come in different sizes, so try to position your links and size your buttons accordingly.  Links are best placed at the end of a line or paragraph - or better yet, on a line of their own with some white space around.
• Forget Flash.  This doesn’t apply as much to your emails as to the webpages your email will direct readers to.  The iPhone doesn’t support Flash (they say it’s to save on battery), so make sure your webpage has an alternative image for iPhone viewers (or other people who don’t have the Flash plug-in) to see.
• Test!  Add the iPhone (and other mobile devices) to your list of pre-campaign email environment tests, just to be sure. 

Some testing tools you might find handy:

IPhone Tester - This is a pretty cool website with an iPhone simulator. Just type in your web address (or the archive link of your email) to see how it will display on an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Mailchimp - Mailchimp has an Inbox Inspector add-on (3 tests for $39) which tests your email design (and content) across 34 major email environments (including mobile).