The email marketing service, Constant Contact, recently released a study they did concerning mobile email behavior. The survey covered a variety of different aspects of email marketing, with a specific focus on the growing importance of mobile. The study took a survey of 1497 consumers and found that the vast majority, 80%, of those with a smartphone said it is “extremely important” to be able to easily read emails on their mobile devices.
Some of the most significant information learned from this study includes the following:
- 75% of respondents said they are “highly likely” to delete any emails they can’t read on their smartphone.
- 75% of respondents said they were “highly likely” to reopen an email on their computer even if they originally read it on their smartphone.
- 49% of respondents said they are likely to click on hyperlinks in mobile emails.
- 88% of respondents who were between 18 and 30 years old said the read email on their smartphone.
- 52% of the 18-30 year old respondents said that their smartphone is the primary way they read and respond to email.
- 66% of consumers over the age of 60 are opening email on mobile devices.
These key statistics illustrate just how important it is to optimize any email marketing for the mobile screen sizes. This may mean more compact, or fewer images, shorter email copy and better use of spacing throughout the message. Marketers who do not take mobile optimization into account are going to lose a significant amount of readers, and that number is only likely to grow.
With 52% of the younger generation already using their smartphone as the primary way of reading and responding to email, it is clear that mobile is essential. Another encouraging fact from the study is that older generations are also continuing to adopt mobile technology at a quick rate. Gone are the days where marketers would have to have different formatting for different demographics. Today, virtually everyone uses mobile technology, and to a growing extent it is becoming the standard.
While this study certainly provides a lot of very important information, there weren’t any major surprises. I think all marketers today recognize that mobile is a huge percentage all internet browsing and email reading. It does, however, illustrate the fact that even the older generations are rapidly moving to mobile. It also shows that an increasing percentage of people won’t even look at an email which is not properly formatted for mobile devices.
You can see the full study HERE.
