15 facts on the current state of mobile marketing

1. According to a study J&C recently conducted, we found that 1/3 of marketers admitted to not having a defined strategy for mobile. I believe a large part of this challenge stems from marketers not knowing how to define “mobile marketing.” Is it mobile optimizing email and landing pages? Developing an app? Moving toward increasing mobile transactions and creation of mobile commerce? Creating an SMS subscriber database and campaign?

2. Adobe reports that 79% of users use their smartphones for reading email, a higher percentage than those who use it for making calls, in its 2013 Digital Publishing Report: Retail Apps & Buying Habits. Wow, that really underscores the importance of ensuring your email is mobile optimized.

3. On average, it takes 90 minutes to respond to an email, but 90 seconds to respond to a text message. It is clear that SMS messaging is effective at getting users’ attention. SMS messaging is becoming an effective component of the marketing mix.

4. More email is read on a mobile device than on a desktop email client or via webmail. Specifically, 42% of email is now opened on a mobile device, according to the Litmus Email Analytics Report, Jan. 2013. This demonstrates again the importance of ensuring your email is mobile optimized.

5. With 38% of consumers, an interesting subject line is the most important reason for opening email on a mobile device. Saving time comes in as the least important with 23%, according to STEEL’s report, Are your emails ready for mobile devices? Check out our email marketing ebook for suggestions on how to improve your subject lines to increase open rates.

6. According to eMarketer, 10 times as many coupons are redeemed through mobile as through traditional channels.

7. According to Google Think Insights, 74% of mobile users rely on their mobile devices to check email. This number is likely to continue to grow, demonstrating the growing need for mobile- optimized emails.

8. Mobile open rate on emails is up 138% in the last 18 months, according to Google Think Insights.

9. Almost half of mobile users feel frustrated and annoyed when they visit a site that’s not mobile-friendly, according to Google Think Insights. Ensure your emails and landing pages are leveraging responsive design. Check out our blog to learn more.

10. You probably buy into the importance of mobile-optimized email, but just in case, 56% of mobile purchases motivated by marketing were inspired by email.

11. According to Nielsen, 64% of mobile phone time is spent on apps. Turns out apps aren’t dead. Many thought HTML5 would make apps extinct. Apps are a useful mechanism to deliver push notifications and allow people to interact with your product and brands.

12. Users expect mobile sites to work quickly and efficiently. According to Google, 58% of mobile users expect mobile sites to load as quickly as or faster than desktop sites. And 38% of mobile users are willing to wait 30 seconds or less for a transaction.

13. According to IBM, 24% of consumers accessed an online shopping site using mobile during Black Friday in 2012.

14. According to Mobile Marketer, 15 percent of all e-commerce in 2013 will be conducted via mobile, and tablet commerce is growing faster than mobile did.

15. According to Juniper Research, mobile payments are expected to quadruple to $630 billion by 2014.