Mobile and Desktop Email Click-to-Open Rates Approach Parity

December 1, 2016

yesmail-mobile-v-desktop-email-cto-rates-in-q3-dec2016It’s been a while coming, but click-to-open (CTO) rates on mobile devices look to be finally matching those on desktops, according to the latest quarterly report [download page] from Yesmail Interactive. The convergence owes more to plummeting rates on desktops than big increases on mobiles, though.

The 13.3% CTO rate on desktops in Q3 was down markedly from the year-earlier period (18%), which had in turn been down from Q3 2014 (21.8%). By contrast, the mobile CTO rate has remained relatively steady, with the Q3 2016 mark of 12.7% being squarely in the range set in the prior two third-quarter periods.

Part of the reason why mobile CTO rates haven’t improved quickly seems to be slow adoption of responsive design. Only about 1 in 5 brands used responsive design in all of the emails they sent during the quarter, though an additional 47% sent the majority of their emails this way. Making it easy for subscribers to read and click on marketing emails is paramount, given research indicating that 51% of consumers have unsubscribed from a brand due to its emails or website not displaying or working well on their smartphone, and that 43% have marked a brand’s email as spam for the same reason.

[lab_subscriber_download_form download_id=2]

    Returning to the discussion of click-to-open rates, the analysis shows that mobile CTO rates have actually surpassed desktop CTO rates in some industries, namely entertainment, hospitality/travel and technology. Retail/wholesale is on the cusp, with mobile and desktop CTOs reaching parity this past quarter.

    In other results from the report:

    • – Click rates have continued to decline on a year-over-year basis even as open rates mostly hold steady, a trend consistent with other research into email engagement;
    • – Friday was the best day for email engagement across several metrics including open rate, click rate and click-to-open rate, while conversion rates were highest on Saturdays (as they were in Q2); and
    • – Mobile devices grew to account for almost half (48%) of email-driven orders and one-third of email-driven revenue, driven chiefly by smartphones (40% and 24%, respectively).

    Head over here to download your copy of the report.

    About the Data: The Yesmail report is based on data from almost 7 billion emails sent in Q3 2016 using its platform.

    Chart-Library-Ad-1

    Explore More Articles.

    Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

    Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

    9 in 10 RevOps professionals view data analysis skills as being important, a high percentage also don’t believe they need this skill for their job.

    Marketing Charts Logo

    Stay on the cutting edge of marketing.

    Sign up for our free newsletter.

    You have Successfully Subscribed!

    Pin It on Pinterest

    Share This