There has been a lot written about how many people now access most of their emails via mobile phones and how that number seems to steadily increase as time goes on. 

I say ‘steadily’ but it appears to be happening at a much faster rate than at first thought. According to a survey by Return Path, the share of emails accessed via mobile devices increased by 81% from October 2010 to March 2011.

“I think what really surprised us is the very rapid growth in mobile as a proportion of all platforms,” said Bryan Dreller, senior product manager at Return Path, an email certification and security company. “I don’t think we expected to see that in just a six-month period; mobile viewership relative to its peers would nearly double,”

Dreller did add that the survey only measured emails containing images, but either way it’s an impressive figure.

Weekend

Perhaps the most interesting discovery though was that open rates on mobiles actually peaked over the weekend; something that should give email marketers food for thought with regards to the best days to send, because up until now, sending email marketing campaigns on a weekend has generally been considered as pretty much a waste of time; however, could the survey’s findings suggest that all this could change?

Email marketers obviously know which days of the week produce their highest open rates and positive responses and are satisfied with the results, but it’s just conceivable that if the trend grows, sending emails at the weekend could become the norm.     

Secret?

It’s likely that not all email marketers currently sending at weekends are experiencing similar levels of opens on mobiles or have perhaps already tested weekend sending and found little difference either way. It’s also possible that some have already discovered that the weekend is a profitable time to send but are understandably keeping the secret to themselves.

Another Go?

The ever increasing use and popularity of mobile devices and more importantly, the vast amount of time consumers actually spend on them means it could be a good time for email marketers to give weekend sending a shot, but as always, testing is the key to discovering whether or not it will work for you.

Until next time.

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