Mobile Email Opens End Desktop Reign [Study]

Mobile trumps desktop. It’s been proven.

New research by Return Path has found that people check their email more often on mobile devices when compared to webmail and desktop.

According to the study data, 51% of email opens worldwide happen on mobile devices. In comparison, only 22% and 27% of emails are opened through webmail and desktop respectively. Going by Return Path’s predictions, if this dominance continues, mobile devices will have a 60% share of all emails opened.

However, email opens on mobile devices declines during off days, that is, weekends and holidays. This indicates that though people do check their email a lot on mobile devices and also during their time off, they may not be as inclined to do so as they would be during the work week.

It appears that mobile is overtaking desktops in almost every area. Display ads viewership on mobile devices is moving up rapidly along with a high score on videos watched. About 40% of YouTube’s traffic is from mobile devices.

Though email opens saw a reduction on Christmas day, the extent of influence of mobile devices can be seen even during the holiday season. A recent Adobe study also confirmed this by reporting that online sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday was spurred by mobile devices.

Mobile devices are also delivering great ROI for marketers. Analysis by Yesmail during Q3 2013 found that revenues derived per click on mobile devices were $7.14. This was more than double that of the desktop revenue-per-click of $3.26, showing just how powerful an impact mobile can have on revenues!

Seeing these encouraging figures, it looks like mobile is going to play a larger role in marketing budgets and fortunes in the days to come. Marketers need to hone their mobile marketing skills to get a lead early in the game.

B2B Industry and Mobile Email

As per the Yesmail study, at 48%, almost half of B2B executives prefer to view emails on their mobile devices while 49% prefer to access their email from their desktop with 3%, being hybrid viewers, access mail across devices. This is interesting because it adds a new dimension to understanding email effectiveness – the recipients’ method of doing business, on the move or at the desk. However, with soaring smartphone sales and the greater integration of smartphones into people’s lifestyle, it is likely that there will be a greater percentage of hybrid viewers of emails in the near future.

As more and more consumers use mobile devices for diverse purposes, it looks to be the new future of digital marketing. Understandably, the role of mobile marketing is likely to keep growing. Marketers need to find the best ways of using mobile to meet their different marketing objectives.

What new heights will mobile scale next? How should marketers take advantage of its growing ascendancy? Let us know.