Non-urgent email messages ignored on mobile devices

A mobile email study has discovered that, contrary to popular belief, most mobile users don’t read or react to commercial email messages received on their mobile devices.

by Helen Leggatt

ExactTarget surveyed over 4,000 mobile phone users and discovered that behavior towards email received on mobile devices differs greatly from when it is received on a PC or laptop.

Only around half of mobile email users bother clicking on links in mobile emails, according to the email marketing firm's findings, with 46 percent of those surveyed having never clicked on a link in an email received on their mobile phone. Even less, 20 percent, had made an online purchase via their mobile phone.

What is evident from ExactTarget’s research, is that mobile phone users respond mostly to urgent and non-commercial emails. Eighty-eight percent of survey respondents said that they waited until they had access to a laptop or desktop before reviewing non-urgent or commercial emails.

Marketers should consider sending short, text emails that encourage the recipient to flag the content for review at a later date.

"By sending brief text messages intended to generate follow up on laptops and desktops, marketers can alleviate some of the challenges to mobile email," said Morgan Stewart, director of strategic services at ExactTarget.