Key takeaways
- Wearables are smart peripherals (e.g., Apple Watch, Google Glass) that connect to a smartphone or their own network and include smart versions of watches, bracelets and similar items.
- Wearable email behaviour is quick and hierarchical: users scan and prioritize on the device, read only prioritized messages, then switch to desktop/mobile to complete purchases or get more detail.
- For wearables the subject line and preheader text are the highest-value elements, they must fit small screens and convey priority immediately.
- Plain-text body content is generally preferable for wearable recipients, avoid Flash and heavy templates that don’t render well on these devices.
- Responsive mobile/desktop design is not the same as wearable design, wearables are still a largely untested design space and need separate consideration.
- Experiment with voice control and geolocation as advanced features for the ‘further interaction’ stage, but expect many wearable email best practices to remain unsettled.
Introduction
Even if you don’t consider yourself a tech-savvy member of the digital community, chances are you’ve noticed someone walking through your office, grocery store, or other public place with an Apple Watch, Pebble or other “wearable” piece of tech.
From this perspective, it makes sense for these wearables to seem like nothing more than trendy fad or passing infatuation within the consumer tech marketplace. However, this cursory understanding of the situation is far from an accurate outlook.
To make sure you don’t fall behind and miss a golden opportunity to tap into the fervour surrounding wearables, let’s break down this trend and find out what your brand needs to do to build winning offerings for this platform.
What Exactly is Wearable Technology?
If you’re not exactly familiar with what constitutes a wearable, then it’s probably a good idea to take a moment and review the particulars of these mobile offerings. Otherwise, trying to craft your email content with these devices in mind can end up being a lesson in futility.
The term “wearable” covers Google Glass, Apple Watch and any other peripheral device that connects to a tethered smartphone, or its own independent wireless or cellular Internet connection. In other words, if there’s a “smart” version of a classic wardrobe addition — think watches, bracelets, and — then it falls under the wearable designation.
A Look at the Wearable Trend
As far as the spread of wearables goes, Business 2 Community’s Liz Willits explains that 2016 looks to be a banner year for consumers to adopt these devices. Specifically, over 9% of all adults will have smartwatches and check their email accounts on these devices by the end of the year. Adding in the other types of wearables only serves to push this percentage to even more impressive heights.
Of course, this slice of your overarching email marketing audience won’t compare to the desktop and smartphone contingencies in terms of shear purchasing power — for the time being. However, the continued upward momentum and growth within the wearable movement isn’t something your brand can ignore if it wants to retain its spot as a major player in the inbox.
Making the Most of the Wearable Opportunity
Now that you’re an expert on the rise of wearables within your targeted demographics and consumer segments, it’s time to start talking about how best to shape and mold your marketed messages for these viewers.
According to Wynn Zhou of Memeburn, this process starts by understanding the tendencies of the average wearable contact list member. Zhou points to the following series of interactions as the baseline experience for consumers that rely upon smartwatches and other wearables:
- Scanning and prioritizing emails on the wearable comes first
- Reading and interacting with only the prioritized messages
- If further interaction is necessary to complete a purchase or gather more information, the wearer switches to his or her desktop, laptop or smartphone device
As far as successfully navigating the scanning and prioritizing phase goes, Zhou explains that your marketed email content must enact a functional “wearable email design.”
An email that fits into this design space relies upon an effective subject line and preheader text that takes advantage of the smaller dimensions of the device screen. Failing to do so can quickly relegate your offering to the lower positions on the consumer’s priority hierarchy.
Once your targeted customer is sent content with a concise and engaging headline and pre-header selections, following up plain text body content is almost always preferable to emails that rely upon Flash-based designs and other advanced templating.
It’s important to note that this isn’t the same as simply implementing a responsive design for mobile and desktop segments. Responsive emails have plenty of precedent from established testing and other research for these platforms, while wearable design is still firmly in the realm of virgin marketing territory.
If your brand is willing to explore this uncharted landscape and take on a cutting edge role, then Zhou suggests experimenting with inventive features as a way to differentiate your outreach efforts. Most notably, voice control functionality and geolocation services stand out as powerful inclusions in the “further interaction” portion of this outreach process.
At the end of the day, there’s still so much that we don’t know about this take on email marketing. From what will stand as wearable best practices, to just how much market share this trend will end up laying claim to, numerous questions remain unanswered as 2016 starts to get underway.
However, with the new understanding you’ve garnered here leading the way, your brand has all the tools it needs to maximize its potential as a major player in the emerging wearable email marketing arena.
FAQ
Wearables are peripheral devices (for example, Apple Watch, Pebble, Google Glass) that either tether to a smartphone or have their own wireless/cellular connection. In email marketing terms, they’re the ‘smart’ versions of watches, bracelets and similar items that display and prioritize messages on a much smaller screen.
Typical interaction flow is: scan and prioritize incoming emails on the wearable, read and act on only the prioritized messages, then switch to a desktop, laptop or smartphone if further interaction or purchase completion is required.
Subject line and preheader text matter most because they determine priority on a tiny screen. Those elements should be concise and compelling so the message appears high in the user’s on-device hierarchy.
No. Responsive design for mobile and desktop is not the same as wearable design. Wearables are a distinct, still-untested design space and need specific optimization beyond standard responsive templates.
Avoid Flash-based designs and other heavy templating that don’t render well on wearables. Plain-text body content is usually preferable for initial wearable interactions.
Try experimenting with voice control functionality and geolocation services for the ‘further interaction’ phase when a wearer switches to another device to complete an action.
It is a growing adoption, specifically, over 9% of all adults were projected to have smartwatches and check email on them by year‑end, but for the time being, wearable audiences don’t compare with desktop and smartphone segments in terms of sheer purchasing power.
