Highlights from Completely Email Conference 2014

Last week we went to the inaugural Completely Email conference in Central London. Speakers included Becs Rivett, Kirsty Trainer, Alex Ilhan, Mark Robbins and Tim Watson.

Here’s some of the take aways:

On advanced coding techniques

My in email game from #completelyemail http://t.co/DfGYWz7RqR have a play. It don't work in Outlook

— Mark Robbins (@M_J_Robbins) June 5, 2014

Here is the SVG fallback code I mentioned earlier #completelyemail – http://t.co/cyUqu4E7dP

— Mark Robbins (@M_J_Robbins) June 5, 2014

Great argument for progressive enhancement: make modern emails, email clients will catch up @M_J_Robbins #completelyemail
— ActionRocket (@ActionRocket) June 5, 2014

this is why the email community is awesome – group code experiments #completelyemail @M_J_Robbins pic.twitter.com/9UDbnX6beU — ActionRocket (@ActionRocket) June 5, 2014

#completelyemail failing: the more you fail at email code, the better you get at it

— ActionRocket (@ActionRocket) June 5, 2014

yes! "get over coding like it's 1998, code like it's 2014" @M_J_Robbins #completelyemail

— ActionRocket (@ActionRocket) June 5, 2014

On testing and QA

RT @iamacyborg: Always send internally, always too easy to make mistakes. Bad when those mistakes get sent to millions. #completelyemail
— tfma_event (@tfma_event) June 6, 2014

#completelyemail testing: sign up for live accounts, get a few devices (here's ours http://t.co/GSKpeG7mjw), get @litmusapp and @EmailonAcid

— ActionRocket (@ActionRocket) June 5, 2014

#completelyemail when you write copy (and design tbh) leave it for a while, come back to it fresh and imagine being a recipient – @HennekeD

— ActionRocket (@ActionRocket) June 5, 2014

On automation

#completelyemail automation of your email systems can help scale things like segmentation and personalisation. Triggers help relevance — Simon Dunant (@NewRiseDigital) June 5, 2014

On images-off

After hearing yesterday at #completelyemail that 45% of recipients don’t turn on images I receive this email… pic.twitter.com/Qe3P41LbB8
— Kirsty Trainer (@KirstyTrainer) June 6, 2014

On web fonts in email

Paul Airy thanks for making fonts sound sexy they are the main reason I have glasses for screen work. #completelyemail

— Tom (@TomEd_Standing) June 5, 2014

I don't know where I heard it but if you have more than three fonts on a page you've got too many. Keep it neat and simple #completelyemail

— Natalie Corner (@corner_natalie) June 5, 2014

Places to get web fonts for email: http://t.co/VmLtQXWUZH http://t.co/xA1pSnd2Sm https://t.co/gnLeRumf3J (free) #completelyemail

— ActionRocket (@ActionRocket) June 5, 2014

#completelyemail cheers @becskr – here's a bit more about web fonts in email from us http://t.co/oFD1bKyGsY

— ActionRocket (@ActionRocket) June 5, 2014

On Acquisition

#completelyemail grow your list growth everywhere not just your website. Form partnerships for leverage — Simon Dunant (@NewRiseDigital) June 5, 2014

Make sure your popups don’t annoy people, otherwise the data you gather will be worthless. #completelyemail pic.twitter.com/71ZkYEW5zK
— Jacques Corby-Tuech (@iamacyborg) June 5, 2014

Wait until your site visitor is actually engaged before you hit them with the pop up & grow that list #completelyemail — Mike Ragan (@Mike_Ragan) June 5, 2014

People know their email address is valuable, on signup give people something back (like an offer) #completelyemail
— ActionRocket (@ActionRocket) June 5, 2014

#completelyemail putting subscribe link in emails for people that get forwarded the email. Simple but brilliant advice from @KirstyTrainer

— Matthew Lawrence (@mattjlawrence) June 5, 2014

"a huge signup form is like talking about baby names on the first date" awesome from Al @omgitsonlyalex #completelyemail

— ActionRocket (@ActionRocket) June 5, 2014

On Mobile email

Great to hear some realistic comments on responsive design. It isn’t a necessity it’s a possibility depending on audience. #completelyemail — Chris Goldson (@Chrisgoldson90) June 5, 2014

Surprised by the lack of love for responsive mobile emails today #IStillThinkItsAwesome #completelyemail
— Sadie Arnold (@SadieAtGenie) June 5, 2014

Most people will browse on smartphone and then continue the process cross-device by purchasing on tablet and desktop #completelyemail

— Russell Dawson (@rutdawson) June 5, 2014

"Responsive design/build is not the be all and end all." *sharpens the pitchfork of context* #completelyemail

— Mike Ragan (@Mike_Ragan) June 5, 2014

On content

“If content is king, then data builds the kingdom.” Brilliant. #CompletelyEmail @tawatson — Natalie Rockall (@natrock) June 5, 2014

Avoid saying 'to those of you' in an email, like you're emailing a crowd. Emails should be personal #completelyemail

— Amish Patel (@amish_patel06) June 5, 2014

Write for one person, not for a vague group #completelyemail

— Jacques Corby-Tuech (@iamacyborg) June 5, 2014

On Social media

Be careful with Facebook comps, lots of people spend their whole day applying to these, data won’t be worth anything #completelyemail
— Jacques Corby-Tuech (@iamacyborg) June 5, 2014

Interesting – you can share your email list with facebook(!) and then target/untarget fb ads based on that #completelyemail @tawatson

— ActionRocket (@ActionRocket) June 5, 2014

On email being everywhere

#completelyemail pic.twitter.com/NKS8i8MJ8v — Mark Robbins (@M_J_Robbins) June 5, 2014

At the pub

Collated #completelyemail photos https://t.co/sgU0MNEzzu #click
— Email Chic Geek (@EmailChicGeek) June 6, 2014