Report: Climbing To 48%, Mobile Email Open Rates Nearly Overtake Desktop in 2013

After evaluating mobile activity for permission-based email marketing campaigns during 2013, digital marketing provider Knotice claims the number of emails opened on mobile devices reached 48 percent by the end of last year. Dividing its findings per the first half and second half of 2013, the Knotice Mobile Email Opens Report is based on a […]

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mobile-email-600After evaluating mobile activity for permission-based email marketing campaigns during 2013, digital marketing provider Knotice claims the number of emails opened on mobile devices reached 48 percent by the end of last year.

Dividing its findings per the first half and second half of 2013, the Knotice Mobile Email Opens Report is based on a sampling of 500 million emails sent across 11 industry segments, auditing email opens and engagement rates on phones, tablets and desktops.

Going back to 2010, Knotice has tracked mobile email activity for the past four years now. As the data proves, mobile email open rates continue to climb steadily, representing nearly half of all email opens last year.

Mobile Email Opens 2010 – 2013:

Knotice mobile email opens since 2010

Knotice reported an increase of 9.59 percent from the first half of 2013 compared to the second half. Compared to 2012, last year’s mobile open rates were up 6.35 percent, and climbed more than 20 percent since 2011.

2011 – 2013 Mobile & Desktop Email Opens Rates:

Knotice mobile email opens vs desktopAccording to the report, more emails are opened on phones versus tablets:

Email opens occurring on phones continue to outpace those occurring on tablets by narrowing margins of roughly 2 to 1, with phones representing 30.88% of all email opens, and tablets at 17% in the last half of 2013.

Knotice noted the total percentage of email opens on phones climbed only slightly between 2012 and 2013, while tablet email opens climbed 40.5 percent during the same time.

Knotice also broke down its data by industry, citing consumer services, financial services and hospitality all experiencing significant growth, with all three industries seeing over 50 percent email open rates.

Consumer services and the hospitality industry each have mobile email open rates above 54 percent for the second half of 2013.

Email Open Rates by Industry for 2nd Half of 2013:

Knotice mobile email open rates by industry

Going beyond open rates, the report gathered click and click-to-open rates by industry for both the first and second half of 2013. According to the data, tablet CTO rates have surpassed engagement rates of email on phones, while desktop CTO rates saw little change throughout the year.

Email Opens, Clicks & CTO by Device for 2nd Half of 2013:

Knotice mobile open, clicks, CTO by industry

Other findings from the report include iOS as the dominant operating system for mobile email activity during 2013, accounting for 41.36 percent of total mobile email opens compared to Androids 6.16 percent of email opens. Apple’s iPhone also ranked No. 1 as the top phone for reading mobile email, representing 82.51 percent of emails opened on a phone during 2013.


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About the author

Amy Gesenhues
Contributor
Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land, Search Engine Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.

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