Study: Consumer E-mail Behavior Varies by Industry

To optimize consumer e-mail response, marketers must adjust strategy for consumer behavior that differs by market vertical and device use. So they'll find valuable guidance in Movable Ink’s "US Consumer Device Preference Report: Q1 2017" report on how opens, conversions, engagement and even order values are affected by market vertical and device preferences. For all industries studied—retail, travel and hospitality, financial services, and media/publishing and entertainment—the report found most e-mails are opened on a smartphone as opposed to a tablet or desktop. Smartphone e-mail opens have especially jumped for financial services, up 7% from the fourth quarter of 2016 to reach 70% of opens in the first quarter of this year. However, retail is not far behind, with 61% smartphone opens for apparel and 57% for non-apparel e-mails. While smartphones still led opens, the more content-heavy media, publishing and entertainment vertical also has a good portion of desktop e-mail opens at 32%, followed by travel and hospitality with 29% desktop opens. Tablet opens are also stronger for media and publishing at 18%, higher than any other industry.Mobile optimization is clearly key for open rates, but retailers should not neglect desktop design because that's where the orders are racked up. Non-apparel retailer e-mails attribute 73% of conversions to desktop use, for example, with 51% of conversions on desktop for apparel retailing. Desktops also deliver the highest average order value for retailers: $171.04 for apparel and $138.57 for non-apparel sales. When it comes to e-mail reading time, the study generally found that iPhones are able to capture more attention than Android mobile phones, Android tablets, desktop computers, or iPads. The finance industry had the longest read lengths on iPhones, with 68% of subscribers spending 15 or more seconds reading their e-mail thanks to the Apple devices. Media, publishing and entertainment e-mails also garnered high iPhone read time, with 61% reading e-mail for 15 seconds or more. For more, see http://www.acculistusa.com/study-how-consumer-e-mail-behavior-varies-by-market-vertical/

U.S. Hispanic Market More Likely to Buy Via Mobile

U.S. Hispanic mobile users are more likely to make a mobile purchase than non-Hispanics, according to recent research reported by eMarketer. Nearly half of U.S. Internet users (48%) have never used their mobile device to make a purchase, per a 2014 survey by cloud commerce provider Avangate, but, of the 52% who are comfortable making mobile purchases, U.S. Hispanic consumers are more likely than their non-Hispanic counterparts to buy via smartphone or tablet. According to 2014 data from ThinkNow Research and Zpryme Research & Consulting, approximately half of U.S. Hispanic mobile buyers had purchased clothes, electronics, music or movie tickets within the past month. Non-Hispanic mobile buyers were significantly less likely to have made any of these purchases within the past 30 days. U.S. Hispanic mobile buyers also were more inclined to use their devices to research products; 53% of Hispanic mobile buyers looked for online product reviews on their smartphones and tablets, compared with 44% of non-Hispanics. And expert opinion counted more with Hispanic buyers. Overall, product ratings by experts are the second-most-utilized source when conducting research via smartphones and tablets. Some 36% of U.S. Hispanic mobile buyers searched for experts' advice, compared with 26% of non-Hispanics. For the complete eMarketer story, go to http://www.emarketer.com/Article/US-Hispanic-Mobile-Buyers-More-Inclined-Buy-Research-on-Device/1011528

Is Your Marketing Ready for Generation Z?

Much has been said about marketing to Millennials, but what about the next "Generation Z" of 16- to 19-year-olds just entering the marketplace? Even if you aren't in the youth market, it's time to plan for a new approach to these current and future consumers. Why? First, the so-called Generation Z makes up the largest percentage (25.9%) of the U.S. population. Second, they are different from their consumer predecessors on key marketing parameters. An infographic from Marketo, passed along by MarketingProfs, shows how. As Marketo sums up, "This generation knows the ins and outs of the Internet, shops online, and is ambitious about work." So if you want to inform Gen Z, go digital: 52% do research assignments via social media or YouTube, 33% watch lessons online, and 20% read textbooks on tablets. This is a resourceful DIY group (76% wish their hobbies would turn into full-time jobs, compared with just 50% of Millennials) characterized by self-directed, ambitious work aspirations (72% want to start their own businesses). Good news for nonprofits: Gen Z is also a cohort of do-gooders, with 76% concerned about humanity's overall impact on the planet and 60% wanting their jobs to positively affect their world. If you want to communicate with them, you'll have lots of options: Gen Z prefers to multitask with up to five screens (mobile, TV, laptop, iPod, etc.), compared with Millennials' two-screen world. But that multitasking means short attention spans, so focus on quick-read, attention-grabbing visuals since Gen Z prefers to communicate with images instead of text. Just got your Facebook marketing down pat? You'll miss the boat with many 16- to 19-year-olds: Only 23% used Facebook in 2014, down from 42% in 2012. Many have migrated to image-heavy Instagram and more privacy-oriented platforms like snapchat. For more on Gen Z consumers, go to http://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2014/26050/get-to-know-generation-z-marketings-next-big-audience-infographic

65% of E-mail Opened First on Mobile Devices

More than half of all e-mail — a full 65% — is now being accessed via mobile devices, according to the "U.S.  Consumer Device Preference Report: Q4 2013" from Movable Ink. Of the 65% of e-mail opened on mobile gadgets, smartphones took the lion’s share of messages. Around 16% of messages get opened on tablets. Although data shows these messages don’t get more than a few seconds of readers’ attention, iPhone users are more likely to devote at least 15 seconds; about 38% of iPhone users spent 15 seconds or more viewing each message, compared with 35% of Android smartphone owners who report spending 15 seconds or longer per message. The latest data inspired Movable Ink Cofounder and CEO Vivek Sharma to declate that "we are in the midst of a mobile takeover." For more data from the report, check the VentureBeat story at http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/22/65-of-all-email-gets-opened-first-on-a-mobile-device-and-thats-great-news-for-marketers/

Over Half of Mobile E-mail Sales Come From iPads

E-mail marketers' mobile campaigns rely on iPad owners for success. More than half of mobile online sales originating from an e-mail take place on an iPad, according to Infogroup's Yesmail Interactive. More precisely, 56% of mobile online sales originating from an e-mail take place on a tablet, and 99% of those tablet sales take place on an iPad. Overall, 82% of all e-mail opens and clicks occurred on Apple devices, per the Yesmail report, which was based on data from more than 5 billion marketing e-mails sent by Yesmail in the third quarter of 2013. Only 0.3% of e-mail subscribers made purchases on Android tablets, though 41% of smartphone purchases were made on an Android device. See the btobonline report at http://www.btobonline.com/article/20131112/EMAIL13/311129996/more-than-half-of-mobile-email-sales-made-on-ipad