Get your subscribers’ fingerprints
19 Jun 2008 | Angie H
Email newsletter designers / developers, and probably some of their clients, know how difficult it can be to design an HTML email and have it look correct across so many email clients. Microsoft Outlook, not being different from other MS products, is notoriously difficult, as is Gmail.
Unlike web design though (assuming your site isn't brand new), it's difficult to gauge which email client your subscribers are using the most. That's where Fingerprint comes in.
Fingerprint is a new web app that "shows you which email clients your readers are using." All you / your email designer needs to do is add some HTML code in your newsletter template(s) and you'll start tracking as soon as you send out your next campaign. It's a lot like Google Analytics in the simplicity of getting it setup - at least from what I can tell. We haven't had the opportunity to use it just yet, but we're pretty excited about it.
Fingerprint does cost some dough. It's $39 for a 2-week "snapshot" and $99 for 12 months. Given what Fingerprint does I'd say it's probably well worth the $99. I would, however, like to see a more extended "snapshot". Two weeks is hardly enough time, in my opinion, to get a good gauge on what your subscribers are using to read you emails.
As I mentioned though, we haven't had the opportunity to use Fingerprint yet. However, I do plan on testing it out and I'll report back when we have more info.
