• by daniel.c , Melinda Krueger , January 2, 2007

Many thanks to helpful readers Lance Hooper and Geene Rees who provided more information on PDA usage and gave the E-mail Diva some extra time to watch the Wisconsin-Arkansas game on New Year's Day. Happy 2007 to all!

Dear E-mail Diva,

Here are some stats for you:

Penetration of Smartphones in Europe and the U. S. Among Recent Phone Buyers

Western Europe 8.8%
Italy 19.2%
Spain 9.5%
U.K. 7.5%
Germany 4.9%
Sweden 3.6%
France 3.5%
USA 3.8%

Per Ken Schacter in Red Herring:

"On-the-go Americans, aided by the proliferation of smartphones, have doubled their usage of mobile e-mail usage in six months, according to data released Monday. By the end of September, 6 percent of U.S. consumers were checking e-mail on mobile phones versus 3 percent in March, according to consumer and retail researcher The NPD Group. Bill Choi, an analyst at Jeffries & Co., said the increase in shipments of smartphones has prompted users to explore new services. Manufacturers like Nokia and Motorola are expected to ship about 80 million smartphones worldwide this year, he said. Though smartphones represent only about 8 percent of the total, that still represents year-over-year growth of almost 50 percent."

Lance Hooper
Senior Product Development Manager
Echoworx Corp.

Dear E-mail Diva,

Because of the lack of information regarding PDA and e-mail usage, we put together a survey for 100 "family and friends" and found the following:

ISP usage breakdown

41% Blackberry Messages

22% Outlook

17% Yahoo

16% Gmail

5% Treo

Describe how you choose to open?

49% from specific people

22% open all

17% based on subject line

11% based on preview

If you decide not to open, what do you do?

37% never open

25% save and open w/in 24 hours

24% save and sometimes open

14% open w/in 48 hours

What do you do with e-mails that render badly?

54% save and read on laptop or desk top

27% delete them

19% ignore them

Geene Rees
Marketing Strategy Director
Acxiom Digital

Whether 1% or 100% of your audience is reading your e-mail on the small screen, the principles of good marketing still apply: collect preferences, be relevant, provide value.

Good Luck!

The E-mail Diva

Send your questions or submit your e-mail for critique to Melinda Krueger, the E-mail Diva, at emaildiva@kd-i.com. All submissions may be published; please indicate if you would like your name or company name withheld.