“…my understanding that [how the large mail services identify Spam emails] was based primarily on keywords, number of links and bulk traits is really out of date.  While every mail service has their own methods, the large ones, like GMail and Yahoo!, are doing big data analysis and establishing sender reputations based on how often their emails are actually opened and/or read. You probably have a sender score, and you want it to be a good one.”

What if you found out that one-quarter of your subscribers were reading your emails on their mobile phones? There’s a good chance they already are. (And if they’re not, they will be soon!)

Click through above for some tips on making email mobile-friendly.

Brett Schenker over at Salsa Labs posted this interesting nugget today — you can’t currently embed video in an email blast, but what about small animated GIFs? (Hint: the answer is yes, mostly, and it degrades into a static image nicely for Outlook).

I agree, lots of potential here!

Click through above to read his post.

The study finds an explosive 81% growth in mobile email viewership. While mobile email viewership is expected to continue to increase, webmail and desktop viewership isn’t going away. People are consuming email anywhere and everywhere they are – at home, in the office and on the road. The leading platform for viewing email is webmail with 48% of the total. Desktop use is a little more than 36% of views with mobile access coming in around 16%. When it comes to desktop access, Outlook (with all versions of that platform combined) owns 63% of the views. The 81% growth in the accessing of email via a mobile device comes at the expense of webmail access, with desktop use remaining steady.
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What is critical for marketers to know is that with the introduction of the tablet, the definition of mobile changed permanently. As tablet use becomes more common, new kinds of email experiences in new places and times are now available to consumers. Marketers need to adapt to the ways consumers are viewing content as an important part of staying ahead of the curve.

A lot of the requirements of great HTML emails fly right in the face of what makes great website designs. Until you understand the nuances of HTML email design, it can be a frustrating and fruitless experience. But once you understand and accept that HTML email is a fickle, inconsistent, and bug-prone medium, it’s possible to use it to great effect in marketing both for yourself and your clients.

Below is a gathering of some tried-and-true wisdom from the world of HTML email design that should make diving in just a bit easier. Throughout, interspersed in the narrative, we’ve also included examples of fantastic HTML email designs to give you a taste of what others are doing…