Surprising Mobile Email Market Statistics

Mobile email market statistics can be quite fascinating (and surprising)…
Did you know that there are 91.4 million smartphone users in the U.S. alone?! And of those millions, 97% of 18-29 year olds and 92% of 30-49 year olds use a smartphone to send texts and open emails. You may even be reading this blog on a mobile device, as 30% of blog visits came from mobile devices in 2013 and even more in Q1 2014. 

There’s no getting around it, more emails are now opened on mobile devices than are opened on desktop devices now, and these astounding numbers deserve attention, especially if you’re a marketer.

Mobile email is the top mobile activity — based on our updated mobile email market statistics, 61% of smartphone users check email daily and 80% check email weekly. Users don’t just check email, they open them as well! For example, emails opened on a mobile device has grown 300% over the past 2 years.  

Email Open Rates on Mobile Devices – Upward Trend

1. 41% of marketing emails were opened on mobile devices in second half of 2012. That was up from 36% in the first half of 2012.
2. Mobile opens represent 43% of all e-mail opens.
3. By the end of 2013, 50% of email opens will be on mobile devices.

Some of this activity and interest in mobile email has to do with the popularity of tablets.  According to another mobile email market statistics source, McKinsey & Company, more than 30% of households own at least one tablet and that will grow to more than half of the population using tablets by 2016.  With the use of tablets, activities can vary greatly, but here’s a look at the top four activities.

Top 4 Tablet Activities – Mobile Email Market Statistics

So what do people do on their mobile devices? As our mobile email market statistics infographic shows, it turns out that most of them… read email and surf the 'net!  They also play games and watch videos – here's a breakdown on the top tablet / mobile device activities:

1. 87% check email
2. 84% surf the net
3. 72% play games
4. 52% watch videos

> Check out more ‘mind-blowing stats about tablets.

As a marketer, you know that in order to reach this massive ‘mobile’ audience, you must make your email messages mobile friendly. Here are a few more reasons a mobile email strategy can improve your business and help you reach those millions of consumers…

Top 4 Reasons to Be Mobile Friendly

Given that more than 50% of all emails are now opened on mobile devices and one in 3 households owns at least one tablet – as a marketer that should be enough incentive to optimize your email marketing design for mobile devices, but here are 4 more good reasons:

1. Mobile email creates twice as many conversations as social and search.
2. Mobile emails are convenient and accessible. It’s much easier to take along your smartphone than to lug around your laptop.
3. Mobile emails create greater responsiveness. Being in front of your consumers at any time and in any place really improves the rate of their engagement with you.
4. Mobile emails increase productivity and ultimately save dollars. Companies are investing in their mobile strategy in order to increase their ROI.

Even once you decide to make your email designs mobile, keep in mind that smartphone users glance and skim over emails more than desktop users do. This is all the more reason to make your emails short and sweet. If you can scan the email and be drawn to a call-to-action, you will be more successful in your mobile strategy.  Here is more information about how mobile device growth has impacted email design.

Need to optimize your email marketing campaigns for mobile devices? Pinpointe includes hundreds of mobile friendly email templates so you can get started with mobile-friendly campaigns quickly.