Which Email client are people using?

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Which Email client are people using?

MrSpeed

12:18 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

Does anybody have stats on what the most popular email clients are?
I would imagine the most popular are
Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora still around?

We want to send out html email and want to set up our browser lab to do some testing. If anybody has tips on canvas size etc that would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rich

Mardi_Gras

12:34 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

Rich - keep a few things in mind:

1) At best, most viewers will see your message in the preview pane of an 800 X 600 window. Make sure there is enough information in that small space to catch their attention.

2)For those who don't use a preview, your subject is the only hook you have. Give it some real thought.

3) Many users may have HTML turned off - an easy option in Outlook Express and coming soon in Outlook 2003. A small number of users can't view HTML mail under any conditions. Make sure you send a comprehensive text component as part of a multi-part message. That means using a dedicated mailer like Group Mail (highly recommended).

4) Watch out for copy that triggers spam filters (that goes for any mail, not just HTML).

Good luck.

4eyes

1:08 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

I use 'the Bat' and I don't accept html e-mails.

If your target market includes a significant number of web savvy customers, you may be better sending plain txt which links to an html page with the full html content.

NeedScripts

1:13 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

Outlook XP.. .. it rocks..

mole

2:47 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

There's still a lot of Pegasus users out there (me included).

Don't forget Lotus Notes either.

MrSpeed

5:43 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

Don't forget Lotus Notes either.

hehe.. I did forget and that's what we use.

Ally_Cat

6:47 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

If my employer didn't require all staff computers be using Outlook 2000, then I would definitely be using Eudora. Not sure what the market penetration on that program is though.

mivox

6:50 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

I think Eudora might have more users in the Mac community than among Windows folk... that's what I use anyhow.

I have html rendering turned off on my home computer (due to connection speed), and I will not sign up for any newsletter that does not offer a "text only" version.

grnidone

6:53 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

Something else to keep in mind: people might not have an email client at all. Some surfers (I am thinking AOL and MSN butterfly users) might simply use a web interface for their mail.

Also, there are a lot of people who believe that 'Yahoo' is 'the internet' and might use Yahoo mail for everything they do.

I have no idea where to even look for a statistic like that.

MrSpeed

7:39 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

My original question included those that use web based email.

Personally I use web based email for all my email, even my pop accounts.

Gibble

7:44 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

I use Mail.com for webbased email, and also Netscapes webmail and exchange webmail to look at some normal accounts when I'm away from work/home.

For standalone desktop stuff, I use Outlook at work, and Opera at home,

g1smd

8:52 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

laptop: Win 98 SE + Eudora 1.44 + Norton AV + Mozilla 1.2 + FTPX 1.010 + Netdate3 + PingPlotter

chiyo

9:01 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

We use eudora with all formatting and HTML turned off.

drbrain

9:38 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

I use procmail + mutt.

rossH

10:00 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

MrSpeed

run a search for Silverpop, they had a fairly recent study showing html email is rendered dysfunctionally in Lotus Notes and AOL, that's a combined user base of 77 million people - and in several other browsers too - I don't know if they give technical details

ClickThrough I think says html email CTR is 10%, text only is 7%

I always advise starting with text and linking to a webpage, and giving the opt-in for html email (with feedback for how it renders), but you know your target

jbinbpt

10:35 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

There is so much spam in HTML format, that is is easy to delete the good messages with the bad.

Make it as plain as possible up front that you are one of the good guys.

olwen

10:37 pm on Jul 17, 2003 (gmt 0)

I use Mozilla. I started with Netscape in Windows 3.11 and have just upgraded ever since.

hartlandcat

6:32 am on Jul 18, 2003 (gmt 0)

At best, most viewers will see your message in the preview pane of an 800 X 600 window.

Actually, these days about 50% of people use 1024x768.

Something else to keep in mind: people might not have an email client at all. Some surfers (I am thinking AOL and MSN butterfly users) might simply use a web interface for their mail.

I'm not too sure what MSN users use, but if they use MSN Explorer (which I suspect most of them do) then they will use a web-based interface simular to Hotmail.
AOL and CompuServe users have a rather simplistic email client that doesn't have a preview pane, and doesn't support HTML other than for links.

Imaster

7:32 am on Jul 18, 2003 (gmt 0)

outlook for me :) But nowadays I use webmail

dillonstars

10:59 am on Jul 18, 2003 (gmt 0)

>> Actually, these days about 50% of people use 1024x768.

In outlook, i only ever read emails in the preview pane, (at 1024x768) but as i have my folders in a pane to the left of this, then that takes up about 33% of the width of my screen. This gives a viewing area of about 640px width...

I'm not sure how common this setup is, but i guess i'm not the only one who does this.

Mardi_Gras

12:03 pm on Jul 18, 2003 (gmt 0)

Actually, these days about 50% of people use 1024x768.

Well, if you would like to design your mailers with 1024 X 768 in mind, that's up to you - I'm not willing to hide details from the high percentage of users who are stuck at 800 X 600. :)

That issue aside, my main point was to think about how your recipient will see your mail. Don't look at a full page HTML mailer and say "Wow, that looks great" - look at it the way the recipient is likely to first see it. And no matter what the resolution, that first view won't be full screen. It will be "Subject Only" or in the preview pane.

We test with a preview pane at 800 X 600 resolution, which really gives a VERY small action area to catch your reader's attention.

MrSpeed

12:59 pm on Jul 18, 2003 (gmt 0)

If a user's screen is set to 800X600 and they have their folders displayed on the left hand side that leaves what after scrollbars?

Maybe 475 pixels to design the html email right?

Mardi_Gras

1:10 pm on Jul 18, 2003 (gmt 0)

Close to that, but I think we go a little larger - I would have to measure - don't forget the vertical component is limited as well.

dillonstars

3:46 pm on Jul 18, 2003 (gmt 0)

>> don't forget the vertical component is limited as well.

only to make an initial impact, you can have more information below the fold...

Mardi_Gras

3:48 pm on Jul 18, 2003 (gmt 0)

only to make an initial impact, you can have more information below the fold

I certainly didn't mean to imply that the entire mailer should be limited to the preview pane's size - only that the designer should focus on that area to grab attention :)

Mardi_Gras

4:04 pm on Jul 18, 2003 (gmt 0)

AOL and CompuServe users have a rather simplistic email client that doesn't have a preview pane, and doesn't support HTML other than for links.

Actually, AOL supports HTML mail and has since Version 6.

hartlandcat

4:22 pm on Jul 18, 2003 (gmt 0)

It does sparingly (and I should know because *hangs head in shame* I have to connect to the internet via AOL because I'm only 14 and my parents don't want to change ISP).

Anyhow... the popular belief is that AOL doesn't support HTML emails. It is possible to get it too work now, but it doesn't work too well.