Three years ago, Jeremie Leroyer, who was then the CEO of AIRTAG, told Loyalty360 that smartphones would revolutionize the future of mobile shopping.
“We think smartphones will change drastically the way people shop in the future,” Leroyer told Loyalty360 in November 2013. “Our vision is more about changing the way people shop in stores. We think it will drive more loyalty and provide new services and new experiences.”
Leroyer’s prescience regarding customer engagement via smartphones was spot on.
According to a new report from Yesmail Interactive, smartphones now drive 70 percent of mobile email revenue, leaving tablets at only 30 percent.
“This growing gap does not mean that marketers should consider the tablet dead, however,” the report says. “Smartphones have grown in size and capability over the past three years, which can explain the spike in smartphone orders. Consumers will continue to use tablets, but likely differently than they do smartphones today.”
Tablets should generally not be grouped with smartphones, the report notes, and instead, should be treated as their own channel.
“Unlike smartphones, consumers do not cling to their tablets 24 hours a day,” the report says. “But they are used regularly for more leisurely activities like social media browsing, online shopping, travel, and entertainment. So instead of using tablets to target on-the-go shoppers, marketers should consider initiatives such as social media advertising or in-app advertising with games or streaming services.”
Mobile clicks have risen 56 percent over three years and 17 percent year-over-year while desktop CTO is on a steep decline; only 4.4 percent higher than mobile CTO.
Consider that, according to the report, in the third quarter of last year, desktop CTO was 31 percent higher than mobile CTO and in Q3 of 2014, the difference was 80 percent.
“With desktop CTO just 4.4 percent higher than mobile, the rate at which this gap is shrinking is astonishing,” the report says.
Although desktop CTO still holds a slight lead over mobile CTO, there are industries that have closed the gap completely. Entertainment and travel, for example, lend themselves better to mobile, but for others (financial services or B2B), the use of mobile is not quite as obvious. Marketers must understand the needs of their subscribers and tailor email marketing content accordingly to drive mobile engagement, the report notes.
Retail has closed the gap between mobile and desktop CTO.
“The industry has made a conscious effort over the past several years to improve the overall mobile experience – from responsive emails to user-friendly mobile e-commerce sites,” the report says. “As a result, consumers are more easily making purchases after they open a marketing email on their mobile devices.”
The report offers a few examples of retailers that offer a great mobile customer experience.
One is Lands’ End.
“The clothing brand sends emails with personalized promotions that include bar codes that subscribers can scan in-store for the deal, along with easy-to-navigate buttons to direct users to the brand’s mobile site,” the report notes. “Once they’re on the site, they’re logged into their account and are given personalized deals. The emails (and subsequent conversion process) are so easy to navigate that consumers have no need to switch to desktop to convert.”
Amazon is another great example.
“The retail giant sends emails with links to specific items users have viewed on the site, but not yet purchased,” the report notes. “Amazon also saves all payment information so users can easily make additional purchases with just a few clicks directly from the email.”
With regards to entertainment, many of these brands are working with mobile-friendly audiences.
“From gamers to concert goers, these subscribers are likely to use mobile devices due to the nature of the purchase they’ve made,” the report says. “Still, these brands can offer compelling and relevant content (i.e. in-game tricks or music suggestions given recent concert ticket purchases) to motivate consumers to engage with emails for more than just a download.”
While almost all industries have seen an increase in mobile engagement over the past several years, there is plenty of work to do.
“The next step is for marketers to ensure that the desktop and mobile experiences are seamless, should a subscriber switch from one to the other throughout the process,” the report says. “If a user searches for an item on a desktop, she should be able to complete the purchase through an email on her smartphone. Marketers can no longer treat mobile as an afterthought. Tactics like responsive design or mobile-based offerings must be a key part of all brands’ holiday campaign plans. Consumers are not only comfortable browsing on mobile devices, but they’re also clicking through emails on their smartphones and converting. Take advantage of this trend with tactics designed specifically to make the mobile shopping experience seamless.”