I was chatting with a customer of ours at the recent eTail show in Palm Desert. We were talking about best practices for formatting emails to render on PDA’s. When asked this question, I generally recommend that the marketer make one minor improvement to their subscription form. Basically, instead of merely asking whether the subscriber prefers plain-text or HTML messages (or just trusting your program to Multipart MIME), ask them a clearer question:

How do you normally read your emails? We will suit our formatting to your preference:

• On my computer in HTML (with images, links and color)
• On my computer in plain-text (no images or formatting)
• On my wireless PDA / smart-phone

It’s a simple question that takes the subscriber five extra seconds to answer. But, in exchange for those five seconds, you are able to tailor your messages to their preferences. Of course, if you really cared you would offer a fourth option: “I don’t like receiving emails…I’d rather collect this information in my RSS reader.”

A common follow-up question to this answer is “So, should we send a plain-text message to the PDA users?” The answer is an unqualified "yes." I say unqualified because not every PDA is limited to plain-text emails. The Blackberry Pearl, for example, is limited. I learned this unfortunate limitation when I recently switched from the Treo, which could properly render HTML messages. Nowadays, there are so many choices for consumers, and I don’t have a run-down of the rendering capabilities of the Blackjack, Nokia E62, Chocolate, etc. So, to be on the safe side, a shorter plain-text version of your message is your best bet for PDA addicts.

Is this strategy foolproof? Of course not…are there any foolproof marketing strategies? Subscription preferences should always be followed up with a subscription management link in every message. Your subscribers’ preferences will change over time, and you want to give them the option of updating you on their desired formatting, record data, frequency expectations, etc.

This small investment in time and energy is a worthwhile one. Amongst your subscribers, my un-researched assumption is that there is a direct correlation between PDA use and RFM score.  That person who you tease for being permanently attached to his/her Crackberry is probably a big fan of online shopping.