1 in 5 emails read on mobile - are your comms compatible?

New data released by Campaign Monitor show a phenomenal rise in mobile email over the last two years. Today one in five emails is read on a mobile device and that can only continue to rise as more people pack the power of a smartphone in their pockets.

Has this up-tick in mobile email use had an effect on the use of desktop client email such as Outlook and Apple Mail? Oh yes. All told they've lost 11% in the last two years. Web-based market share, however, has remained stable over the same period losing just 4% of the market.

The question for marketers is, are you ensuring your emails are designed to render well across not only desktop clients and web-based platforms but also on a variety of mobile devices? Do you know which mobile operating systems block images or support preview text? Does your design work on a small screen? Have you accommodated fat fingers?

"For the last five or so years, email design has really been all about "close enough". With email clients like Lotus Notes and Outlook 2007, pixel perfection has been more or less a pipe dream. You get your template looking close enough across all the big email clients, and walk away somewhat satisfied (satisfied, but with a bad taste in your mouth)," writes Campaign Monitor's David Greiner on the company blog.

"The good news is that all smartphone email clients have great CSS support, far superior to many desktop clients. Your design will work in them. The question you have to ask yourself--is that good enough? "

Email analytics firm Litmus have recently posted a nifty quick reference chart to help ascertain mobile email compatibility.

Tags: desktop client, email, mobile compatibility, mobile email, operating system, smartphone, web-based email