• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, December 13, 2011

According to new release from Knotice, the "Mobile Email Opens Report," featuring email opens and click activity via mobile device across 11 industry segments, mobile email opens climbed by 51% in the first half of 2011. The share of all email opens occurring on mobile devices in the first half of this year was 20.24%, compared to 13.36% for Q4 of 2010. This increase in mobile open rates in just a few months lends evidence to the accelerating rate of mobile adoption, says the report.

As in the previous Mobile Email Opens Report, the mobile email open rate is a measurement of email opens occurring on mobile devices (including tablets) compared to the opens occurring on desktop computers (including laptops).

Based on a composite cross sampling of approximately 701 million emails sent across 11 industry segments in the first 6 months of 2011, this chart shows the percentage of all email opens occurring on a mobile device, by mobile operating system (OS) or device

Breaking down the mobile email opens data by industry segment provides some interesting insights, says the report. Categories such as B2B (6.77%, up from 3.03%), Cable & Telco (20.42%, up from 12.03%), Consumer Services (30.49%, up from 15.61%) and Entertainment (21.41%, up from 7.63%) saw significant increases in mobile open rates, some with more than 100% increase in mobile opens when compared to the last quarter of 2010.

Conversely, the mobile open rate within the Retail segment is essentially unchanged moving into 2011 (20.07% in early 2011 compared to 20.08% in Q4 2010). This may be seen as surprising considering the rising tide phenomenon, which would lead to the conclusion that Retail mobile open rates would be higher in the first half of 2011. However, concludes the report, when considering mobile use within context, it makes more sense. With the assumed spike in mobile open rates during the busy holiday shopping season, the fact that the numbers have remained steady post-holiday and into traditionally slower retail months may in fact reflect the same trends we see in other segments.

The mobile email open rate study is not just a measurement of mobile email opens compared to all emails delivered. The Report for the first half of 2011 has been updated to document not only the rate of email opens occurring on mobile devices in the U.S., but also includes mobile click-rate metrics.

Supplementing the open metrics with click data offers a clearer picture of how mobile users are truly engaging with email from the initial decision to open the email, to the very important decision to take action on the message or not.

The mobile click rate introduced in this report is a measurement of email clicks occurring on mobile devices compared to the email opens occurring on mobile devices. This equates to the click-to-open (CTO) rate with which email marketers are well versed. The data reveals that while more and more users are opening emails with mobile devices, the number of users who take action by clicking on links within the email from mobile devices is far lower than the click rates seen for desktop users.

Only in the Financial Services industry segment do the mobile CTO rates approach parity with those seen with desktop users. In most cases, the mobile CTO rate languishes far behind the desktop rates.

Factors at play here, says the report, influencing this difference include:

• The use case for mobile email openers can be far different than for desktop users. These users may simply be quickly reviewing or even purging an inbox on their mobile device with no intent or time to act.
• Poor email experiences for mobile users. Optimizing email for mobile viewing remain few and far between. Even if a mobile user is interested in taking action, an email designed only with desktop users in mind may make it extremely challenging to do so.

The report concludes by noting that...

• Rationalizing that a poor mobile email experience can be reopened once the recipient is at their desk, the data clearly shows that is not happening. Only 3.09% of the 701 million emails sampled were opened on both mobile devices and desktop (same email opened on each). And of that 3.09%, only one-third are opening on mobile device first, viewing the same email on desktop later.
• This reinforces that the concept of “they can read it later on a desktop version that renders better” just isn’t happening with consumers. Conversely, this means that 97% of the time emails not properly optimized for mobile are likely being ignored or deleted during “inbox triage.”

The rate of adoption of mobile devices in the U.S., coupled with user’s increasing reliance on and comfort with completing simple to complex tasks on those mobile devices, is quickly creating a more fragmented marketing landscape for digital marketing professionals, says the report. Recognizing the importance of holiday retailing season, there are some meaningful insights for marketers to be applied from the conclusions of the report:

• Email is a mobile marketing tactic
• Lagging mobile click rates suggest room for improvement of email content
• Adapt to the needs of mobile users
• Email may be a marketer’s largest source of mobile impressions and mobile leads generated to their web site

An exercise with numbers by the report author offers a possible way to support the conclusion that email may be the single most significant source of mobile impressions:

• If a retailer has 1MM email addresses on its list and sends to each address 4 times between Thanksgiving and Christmas, with a 25% overall open rate and a 20% mobile email open rate (20% of all opens occurring on a mobile device) this represents 200,000 mobile impressions during the course of the month. A 10% mobile click-to-open rate may provide 20,000 mobile visits to the brand’s web site. Marketers not prepared for mobile users risk turning away significant business opportunities.

For more information and PDF file download, please visit Knotice here.