A report carried out by Neilson earlier this year highlighted that 68% of UK smartphone owners use their device to check email, proving more popular than mobile web at 66% and social networking at 63%. The email results are also just as impressive in the US reaching a whopping 75%.
According to eMarketer, this year also sees an increase in UK Smartphone users with 48.4% of UK residents using a smartphone and also smartphone owners representing 60.4% of UK mobile phone users.
But it’s not only mobile that’s on the rise, Gartner predicts worldwide tablet shipments to grow 53.4% this year, with shipments reaching 184 million units.
With the growing number of emails being viewed across mobile and tablets, creating a seamless customer experience can seem like a daunting task. However, responsive email design is one route that many brands are going down this year to deliver a multi-platform experience, creating an optimal experience regardless of whether a user is viewing on a PC, laptop, mobile or tablet.
Everyone else is going responsive so should I?
The answer is really about reviewing your own email audience and determining whether a responsive email strategy is relevant for you. Take a look at your email analytics and identify just how many viewers are opening on a mobile and tablet. Don’t just look at the last email you sent, review the whole year as this can change. For many brands, Christmas is the busiest time of year and a time when more people may be away from their desk and reading emails on the go. A survey carried out on 22 major brands last year found that even though 82% didn’t send out a responsive email over Christmas, over 41% were being opened on a mobile. If you calculate the number of email recipients getting a substandard experience because they’re viewing on a mobile or tablet, this could mean the difference between a sale or an unsubscribe.
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