NEW YORK, May 8, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ALM, a leading provider of news and business information to the legal and real estate industries, today announced that it has seen an impressive 60 percent jump in its "open rates" – the number of subscribers who receive an email from the company and take the time to open the message – since optimizing 20 of its electronic newsletters for viewing on mobile devices.
The launch of the mobile-optimized ALM e-newsletters began in early March and rolled out over the course of several weeks. The project included e-newsletters for national publications, such as The National Law Journal (http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/index.jsp), as well as regional publications, such as the Connecticut Law Tribune (http://www.ctlawtribune.com/) .
"Internet usage data indicates that the mobile future is here, with more people opening emails in mobile browsers than with any other platform," said Jeffrey S. Litvack, senior vice president of digital media at ALM. "It has become an imperative for media companies to make their content easy to read and interact with on mobile devices. Publishers like ALM need to get ahead of the consumer smartphone adoption curve and design emails that render differently on mobile devices. In doing so, advertisers and readers can realize tangible benefits from faster load times, easier to read formats and more visible ad messages."
According to the latest research studies, mobile-optimized communications are crucial for a number of reasons:
- Two out of three U.S. email users sort through emails on their mobile devices before reading them on their computers (BlueHornet Report: Consumer Views of Email Marketing)
- Mobile open share rate has increased 300 percent since 2010 (Return Path Analysis)
- 70 percent of people delete emails that do not format properly on their mobile devices (BlueHornet Report: Consumer Views of Email Marketing); and
- Nearly six in 10 companies (58 percent) are not yet formatting their content for optimal viewing on mobile devices. (MarketingSherpa: 2013 Email Marketing Benchmark Report)
The primary way that media companies measure the effectiveness of their e-newsletter distribution is by tracking email open rates. By that standard, ALM has seen its open rates increase by more than 60 percent in the past two months, and their results are nearly double the average open rate reported by the Direct Marketing Association in 2012 for media companies. Nearly 40 percent of ALM's readers opened their e-newsletter on their mobile devices, predominantly on Apple iOS devices.
"Electronic newsletters are one of the most effective means for b-to-b companies and marketers to drive traffic to their sites," said Litvack. "At ALM, we have seen click-through to ALM's mobile Web sites from these newsletters rise by more than 50 percent, compared to the previous 12 weeks since the launch of our newly mobile-optimized newsletters."
The process of optimizing content for reading on mobile devices requires sending HTML-formatted versions that will work on the unique software used to power mobile devices. When an email is opened and prepares to render, the device or browser on which it is being opened passes data from the "user agent" to the email, the email reads the user agent so it knows what sort of device and screen size it's dealing with, and then serves up the appropriate HTML that works for that device (e.g., desktop, mobile, etc.).
About ALM
ALM, an integrated media company, is a leading provider of specialized business news, research and information, focused primarily on the legal services industry and commercial real estate. ALM's market-leading brands include The American Lawyer (www.americanlawyer.com), Corporate Counsel (www.law.com/corporatecounsel), GlobeSt.com (www.globest.com/), Insight Conferences (www.insightinfo.com), Law.com (www.law.com), Law Journal Press (www.lawjournalpress.com), Law Technology News, LegalTech (www.legaltechshow.com), The National Law Journal (www.law.com/jsp/nlj/index.jsp) and Real Estate Forum. Headquartered in New York City, ALM was formed in 1997. For more information, visit www.alm.com.
ALM, The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, GlobeSt.com, Insight Conferences, Law.com, Law Journal Press, Law Technology News, LegalTech, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum are trademarks or registered trademarks of ALM Media Properties, LLC.