The Future of Email in an Age of Mobility

Methodology: Data is from an August 2011 Polaris Marketing Research survey for which 1,000 US internet users were surveyed online during the week of July 18, 2011 (via eMarketer).

Is email suffering from a classic case of fatigue?  Email has long proven challenging as a means for affordable customer acquisition, but even its reliability as a retention vehicle is under duress:  open rates, click-throughs and other response metrics are showing signs of “maturity,” if not fatigue.

On the consumer side, there are signs of “daily deal” weariness, while consumer and business email recipients are increasingly using their mobile and tablet devices as a form of email triage, sorting and deleting many emails
based on sender, subject lines, and previews.  PC sales worldwide are expected to rise only 3.8 percent this coming year, reports Gartner – while smartphones will continue to post more robust growth (IDC reports smartphones outsold PCs for the first time in February 2011, with comScore reporting 13-percent growth in the first quarter this year) and tablets’ growth the most rapid of all (Gartner says tablet sales will triple this year).

Smartphones’ and tablets’ popularity reflect how we’re becoming an on-the-go society.  The latest research from Pew Internet and American Life Project shows texting is a downright addiction among those age 18 and 24, sending and receiving nearly 110 messages a day.  Fully 73 percent of U.S. adults now text on their cellphones, and use them to send and receive more than 40 messages a day (about the same as they did in 2010).  Texting’s short-form communication is perhaps conditioning us to demand brevity in our electronic communications – thus heightening the absolute necessity of to-the-point email subject lines, purposeful opening sentences, and readily apparent calls to action. Inspecting incoming texts alongside incoming emails compounds the
need.

More consumers and businesspersons, too, are using search functions on their mobile devices.  When you scan a search results page, you understand how information is delivered short form, with a brief description, and a direct connection.  Do we need to design our email (and my blog) with the same spirit of brevity?  Even Google now reports that 10 percent of all YouTube downloads now come from mobile devices.

Great content and calls to action cannot afford to be hidden.  The less engagement with an inbound email, the less the reputation score assigned by an Internet service provider or corporate spam screen over time.  This has real implications – since email is so important to us as an accessible medium for brands, consumers and businesses alike.   We need to protect email’s utility in this age of mobility.

The lessons I believe for marketers here:  use of a “view on mobile device” email pre-header; greater use of email segmentation (no spray-and-pray) not just for market segments but for device rendering as well; design of email for mobile devices first in mind; continuous testing of offers and content on mobile platforms; and “front-loading” a compelling purpose so that email recipients can establish relevancy early and often – no matter what screen they use.   If your brand targets younger adults in particular, then these types of best practices can’t happen soon enough.

By the way, isn’t it interesting how an email address has emerged as an individual’s near-universal digital identifier on mobile, social media and Web site accounts – all the more reason to keep our email communication on point for the recipient.

Resources:

• Pew Internet & American Life Project: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2110274/text-messaging-levels-adults
• comScore & Pew on Cell Phone Usage:  http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=158823
•  The Washington Post on “Daily Deals”:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/big-businesses-still-shying-away-from-daily-deals/2011/09/22/gIQA784AxK_story.html
• Mobile Marketing Watch:  Mobile Devices Claim 10% of All YouTube Downloads, Says Google
• Return Path Briefing:  “Email on the Move:  The Future of Mobile Messaging”  – request a copy here:  rpinfo@returnpath.net
• ClickZ, “Optimize Your Email for Mobile” (May 18, 2011):  http://www.clickz.com/print_article/clickz/column/2071289/optimize-email-mobile

Quote:

“The death of email? OK this might be a bit drastic… but I do think that email will become much more of a selective tool vs. a batch-and-blast mechanism.  Email conversion rates are dying.  Thus, I believe that as marketers we need to look for different ways to give customers options to connect…  Most younger executives prefer mobile, text and social as a way to connect.  Thus, earned media and inbound marketing will become the primary vehicles for B2B marketers and, I believe, that email will become a second-class citizen.”

–         Kevin Kerner, Managing Director, Mason Zimbler US (a Harte-Hanks Company)