2The Email Client Experiencereturnpath
Introduction
Where Are People Reading Emails
Global monthly email opens by environment
Monthly email opens by environment: Country breakdown
Breakdown of mobile email opens
Breakdown of webmail email opens
Breakdown of desktop email opens
When Are People Opening Email
Opens by environment and day of the week
How Much Time Do Subscribers Spend Reading Email
How to Apply This to Your Own Program
Methodology
Table of Contents468111316
3The Email Client Experiencereturnpath
Introduction
In 2017, email is projectedto surpass 3.7 billion users, which is almost half
the world’s population. No other marketing platform comes close to the
unprecedented reach of email. This enormous audience presents a unique
opportunity, but marketers must pay atention to how subscribers are consuming
their messages if they want to maximize email’s efectiveness.
Since our last email client study back in 2012, the way users interact with email
has changed signifcantly. The widespread adoption of smartphones has
increased our ability to access email, with 44 percent of the world’s population
owning a smartphone in 2017. Mobile clients give users constant access to their
emails, allowing them to quickly interact with incoming messages.
The ever changing email landscape makes it more important than ever to
understand where, when, and how subscribers are interacting with email,
allowing you to optimize your program in response.
In this report, we look at how subscribers interact with email, analyzing:
Which email clients subscribers are using to read email.
How much email is opened each day of the week on each email client.
How long subscribers spend viewing email on each email client.
The Email Client Experience
Where Are People Reading Emails
In this section, we compare the breakdown of email opens between mobile, webmail, and desktop.
4returnpath
Mobile includes any smartphone, tablet, or e-reader that allows users to access their email. Over the period analyzed, mobile was the
preferred method of opening email. On average, 55 percent of email opens were made on a mobile client. Summer and fall saw the most
opens on mobile clients, with the highest percentage of mobile opens occurring in July (58 percent). Mobile opens dropped slightly in
the winter and spring, with a low of 52 percent in February.
Webmail includes any email opened on an internet browser, such as Gmail or Yahoo. Webmail retained a signifcant share
of opens with an average of 28 percent over the period analyzed. Unlike mobile, webmail saw the most opens in the winter and spring
months, with the highest percentage of opens (32 percent) occurring in February and April. Webmail had its lowest share of opens in
May at 25 percent.
Desktop includes any email opened or viewed on sofware that is installed on a laptop or desktop, such as Outlook or Apple Mail.
While the vast majority of opens occurred on mobile clients, many people still rely on desktop clients to view their email. On average, 16
percent of email is opened using a desktop client. Unlike mobile and webmail, the percent of desktop opens remained relatively steady
throughout the year.
The Email Client Experience。