Emails are becoming increasingly active, with the use of animation, scrolling, and video more than doubling from 2012 to 2013, according to a recent report from Experian Marketing Services.
The use of animated GIFs, in particular, has spiked significantly, with 74% of marketers saying they have experimented with including them in emails. Other popular active features include responsive mobile design (33% have used), movable ink (27%), video (26%), and horizontal or multi-directional scroll (26%).
Below, additional insights from the 2014 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report, which summarizes key findings from previous Experian studies.
Customer Data and Preferences
- Only 35% of marketers ask customers how often they would like to be emailed.
- 60% of marketers do not give customers the option to select the types of emails they want to receive.
- In 2013, 18% more marketers collected the birth date of customers than in 2012, and 16% more collected ZIP Codes.
Platform Trends
- Half of all unique email opens now occur on a mobile device. Webmail and desktop are tied as the second most popular devices/platforms for opening email, each with 23% of opens.
- Mobile also leads in click rates (39%), though webmail is close behind (35%).
- However, the largest number of transactions triggered by email still comes from webmail (48%), followed by desktop (25%).
- The iPhone is the most commonly used mobile device for email opens and clicks. Android phones are third for opens and transactions, but second for clicks.
- The iPad garners the most transactions from emails of any mobile device.
About the research: The 2014 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report was based on data from previous Experian studies.
