Blackberry: email design and strategy

Latest posts | Feed | By Mark Brownlow on July 26, 2007

blackberryYou know a topic is coming of age when MarketingSherpa get their teeth into it. This special report has a heap of advice on how to tackle the problems associated with mobile email users, specifically those using a Blackberry.

Covering both design and strategy, a lot of the advice hangs on knowing who exactly among your readership is using a Blackberry.

That might be your first task; to find out if you have any such users in your audience. Which is easier said than done.

Then there are two further problems...

The Blackberry may be the dominant device at the moment. But there are dozens of others looking to become the next Blackberry. This is a very dynamic market. With a whopping big hole in terms of mobile email display standards.

And if you want to send emails optimized for the Blackberry user, then you need to define a Blackberry user. How? Is it someone who always checks email first on the Blackberry? What if they only use mobile email out of office hours? Do you send them email optimized for the mobile experience or the PC/laptop experience?

There is still much to figure out here. I wish I had more answers.

The Sherpa report also has useful links to Blackberry simulators and other resources.

More on mobile email design | Tags: , , ,

[This post brought to you by Campaigner Email Marketing]
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2 Comments:

I think something that is overlooked when considering mobile devices is that they will almost always be used as a secondary email client. I use a Blackberry but only have emails coming when Outlook's not open (like you said) and when I do receive an email on this, I'll only read it if I can see it as being urgent.

My point being - I'd never actually read a marketing message on my Blackberry.

However - if the first couple of words interested me or the subject line got me hooked, I would actively seek out the message when opening Outlook back up the next day or on Monday Morning.
By Anonymous Joel, on 27 July, 2007  
 

Thanks Joel. Great point. This reinforces the idea that designing for Blackberry-only would be a mistake. Instead, can we design "traditional" emails that also have that early hook if it's seen first on a mobile device?
By Blogger Mark Brownlow - Email Marketing Reports, on 27 July, 2007  
 

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