US Consumer Device Preference Report Q4 2015

Q4 2014: MOBILE HITS AN ALL-TIME HIGH
Movable Ink’s US Consumer Device Preference Report was first released in 2013 and provides deep insight into consumers’ adoption and use of smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers, and how they engage with email while using their preferred devices.

The Q4 2014 US Consumer Device Preference Report focuses on data from October 2014 -
December 2014. This edition shows that, together, smartphones and tablets have become a
dominating force in email marketing, now accounting for the majority of email opens in every state.

As email marketers think about how to create engaging, contextual emails in 2015, it’s clear that
creating responsive email campaigns should become a business-critical priority.

KEY FINDINGS

• Smartphone Email Opens Hit an All-Time High. In Q3 2014, smartphone opens rose to 48%. Now, that number is just about 50%, marking an all-time high for 2014.

• Apple Keeps the Crown.  Combined, iPads and iPhones accounted for 58% of email opens. Android smartphones and tablets accounted for 8% email opens. Meanwhile, Kindle Fire, Windows Phone and Blackberry devices accounted for 0.3% of email opens.

• More States Keep Going Mobile-First. Over the past year, we’ve watched as states have turned to smartphones as their go-to method for opening emails. In Q3 2014, there were still fourteen states that were teetering between smartphones and desktops as their favored technologies. In Q4 2014, that number dropped to an all-time low, with only nine states still preferring desktops over smartphones.

• Android Users Read, iPhone Users Glance. More than half (55%) of all Android users read an email for 15 seconds or more. Meanwhile, 40% of iPhone users looked at emails for 0-3 seconds and 35% looked at emails for 15 seconds or more.

• End of the Week for Mobile, Beginning of the Week for Desktop. Email open rates are polar opposites for mobile and desktop: the most opens happen at the beginning of week on desktop computers (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) and at the end of the week on mobile devices
(Friday, Saturday, Sunday).

• Smartphones are Early Risers, Tablets are Nocturnal. Our findings showed that the most popular time for email opens on smartphones is the early morning, from 6am to 9am. Tablet use, on the other hand, sees an uptick at night.