The holiday rush has settled and the Q4 email performance results are in. Yesmail analyzed billions of emails sent in Q4 of 2014 and compared them to Q4 of 2013 to gauge how mobile trends have changed year-over-year. Read this edition of Yesmail’s Email Marketing Compass to learn how shifting consumer preferences have changed the email landscape and the way subscribers are interacting with their inbox. You will discover : -The growth in mobile adoption rates amongst marketers and how they affect the bottom line -How mobile and desktop metrics compare in terms of conversion rates and average order value (AOV) -The surprising effect of seasonal email volume increase on customer engagement

1. 1.877.937.6245 | sales@yesmail.com | www.yesmail.com
The Season of MobileQ4 ‘14 Recap:
Now that the dust has settled and the results of your Q4 email program are in, it’s time to look back and focus on
the big picture. With shifting consumer preferences, how has the email landscape changed over the last year and
what are subscribers doing more or less of when interacting with their inbox?
Yesmail Interactive analyzed data from Q4 2014 and Q4 2013 to gauge how mobile is trending in terms of
key metrics like click-to-open rate (CTO), desktop-to-mobile purchase ratio, average order value (AOV), and
conversion rate.
In addition, this quick overview dissects mobile further and examines how the use of smartphones and tablets for
purchasing has changed year-over-year (YoY.) To top it off, this rundown looks at how responsive design impacts
CTO on mobile devices.
Yesmail’s Email Marketing Compass
Q4 2014 Recap: the Season of Mobile

2. 1.877.937.6245 | sales@yesmail.com | www.yesmail.com
The Season of MobileQ4 ‘14 Recap:
Mobile Metrics:
Mobile has been the talk of the town for years and while consumers have been fast to adopt it, marketers have
lagged in optimizing their content for the mobile viewer. The data below demonstrates a shift in marketing
practices leading to healthier programs and higher customer engagement.
Mobile clicks now
account for almost
40% of all
email clicks,
a 10% increase YoY
Mobile CTO has
increased by over
20% YoY
Q4 2013
10.3%
Q4 2014
12.6%
Desktop CTO has
increased by over
6% YoY
Q4 2013
20.3%
Q4 2014
21.6%

3. 1.877.937.6245 | sales@yesmail.com | www.yesmail.com
The Season of MobileQ4 ‘14 Recap:
Mobile Metrics:
What do these metrics tell us?
As mobile devices have become indispensable, marketers have started to effectively adjust to the mobile
preference expressed by their consumers over the past few years. Be it by incorporating responsive design in their
emails, building adaptive landing pages, or optimizing the mobile path-to-purchase, the YoY data shows that, at
minimum, marketers have set an intention to truly cater to their mobile audience.
How do we know that? Thirty-seven percent of all emails deployed in Q4 were responsive, a 28% increase from
Q3. Marketers seem to have recognized that responsive design doesn’t just make email more accessible for mobile
readers; it also significantly affects the bottom line. And in Q4, this recognition and the stride towards optimizing
for mobile were amply rewarded – CTO for mobile emails jumped by 40% for marketers who use responsive design
in all of their mailings compared to those who use it in none of their campaigns.
Why it matters: Implementing responsive or mobile-friendly formatting is the bare minimum marketers can
do to cater to their mobile audience. To ensure continued engagement, brands need to think beyond content
formatting and develop specific strategies and call-to-actions for the mobile user. The mobile context should
change the email content and cater to the unique functionalities of the device it’s being viewed on. Consider
specific mobile subject lines, calls-to-action, and landing pages if you want to simplify conversion for your mobile
audience. An invitation to download your app may yield better results and larger interest than ‘Write a Review’
when it comes to mobile.
Q3
Number of
responsive emails:
29%
Q4
Number of
responsive emails:
37%
28%Increase
40%Increase
CTO of marketers deploying
EXCLUSIVELY
NON-RESPONSIVE
emails:
10.1%
CTO for brands deploying
EXCLUSIVELY
RESPONSIVE
emails:
14.1%

4. 1.877.937.6245 | sales@yesmail.com | www.yesmail.com
The Season of MobileQ4 ‘14 Recap:
Purchase Behavior Metrics:
Since both the share of mobile clicks as well as mobile CTO have registered double-digit increases YoY, the higher
number of clicks has translated into an increase in mobile conversion rates. To provide an apples-to-apples
comparison between 2013 and 2014, this report analyzed the same set of marketers in Q4 2013 and Q4 2014.
Within a calendar year:
Mobile conversion rate (purchase resulting
from an email click) grew by 70% while
desktop conversion rate declined by 4%
Mobile revenue share grew by a
third and made up 20% of all
email-generated revenue
Share of orders completed on mobile
devices grew by 21% almost a quarter
of all email-generated orders
Average order value (AOV) for mobile
grew by 28%, doubling the annual
growth of desktop AOV
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5. 1.877.937.6245 | sales@yesmail.com | www.yesmail.com
The Season of MobileQ4 ‘14 Recap:
The Composition of Mobile Usage
There was an interesting YoY shift in the way consumers used tablets and smartphones for purchasing. The use
of smartphones for completing orders went up almost at the exact same rate that purchases completed on tablets
went down. Most of this increase stemmed from the growth in Android smartphone use. According to our data,
the email-generated purchases placed on an Android smartphone grew by almost 50% YoY for the same set of
brands.
Complete Purchase?
Down 7% on tablets
Complete Purchase?
Up 8% on Smartphones
Q4 2013
Android
Smartphone
Purchases
Q4 2014
Android
Smartphone
Purchases
17%
26%
All statistics apply to the same
set of clients, measured YoY
Nearly a 50%
Increase!
Percent of all purchases
completed on a mobile device

6. 1.877.937.6245 | sales@yesmail.com | www.yesmail.com
The Season of MobileQ4 ‘14 Recap:
Why?
Consumers use smartphones and tablets in very different ways. This difference stems from two factors –
portability and connectivity. Consumers use smartphones truly on-the-go because these devices tend to be better
connected and more portable. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), 79% of smartphone users
have their device on them for all but two hours every waking day.
Tablets seem to have a different nature – they are widely employed as a more convenient alternative to laptop
computers and are typically used at home. According to Forrester Research, almost three quarters of consumers
access the internet on their tablet mostly in their living room. According to Quartz digital news, 66% of US tablet
owners are surfing the net while watching TV. In comparison, three quarters of consumers use their smartphones’
internet on-the-go: on their daily commute, on public transit, or in their cars.
The YoY growth demonstrated by mobile, and especially smartphones, in terms of CTO, AOV, and conversion is
another indication of marketers’ awareness of the importance of the platform, but moreover, their better-late-
than-never dedication to providing an optimal mobile experience to their consumers. Brands’ efforts to optimize
should go beyond email design; they should include the development of mobile sites and apps to simplify and
enhance the user experience and drive conversion.
Another factor in the growth of smartphone conversion and purchases is the considerable increase of emails
employing responsive design. While helpful on tablets, responsive design is crucial for the user experience on
smartphones, which typically have three times smaller screen size.
Why it matters: If smartphone conversions are outpacing tablet conversions for your business, consider
analyzing your audience by their preferred purchase device, key demographics such as age and location, as well as
major items they purchase on each device – desktop, tablet, and smartphone. This may uncover some behavioral
patterns unique to your audience, help define key target segments and identify improvement opportunities along
the path-to-purchase.
79%of smartphone users have their
device on them for all but two
hours every waking day.

7. 1.877.937.6245 | sales@yesmail.com | www.yesmail.com
The Season of MobileQ4 ‘14 Recap:
Standard Metrics:
While it comes as no surprise that email volume increased significantly from Q3 2014 to Q4 2014, it also jumped by
5.5% YoY, a great indication of marketers’ continuous reliance on the channel and its return on investment. In fact,
the average revenue per mobile email click was 40 cents, double that of desktop at 19.
What does come as a surprise is the increase in response rate. Typically in Q4, the increase in mailing volume and
frequency tends to drive response rates down. The final quarter of 2014 bucked the trend with a 3% increase in
both open and unique click rates over Q3.
What happened?
Standard email metrics, just like Mobile and Purchase Behavior ones, suggest the same thing – marketers have
advanced to a point where they are able to deliver a consistent mobile experience and customers are taking note
by utilizing mobile along the entire path-to-purchase. Since mobile-friendly design impacts smartphones to an
even larger degree than tablets, it results in faster growth of smartphone conversion. While there is still a lot of
room for improvement, the progress brands have made over the last year, while slow, is notable.
Why it matters: This outcome is dictated by a number of factors – the recovering economy, the growing mobile
ecosystem, the continuous technological innovation. To a smaller degree, it also reflects a smarter, more strategic
approach taken by marketers who focus on applying best practices to improve their game. In the fast-changing
landscape of email marketing, adapting to new trends and evolving consumer preferences will remain the key
winning strategy for smart marketers.
Click
Average revenue per
mobile email click
40 cents
Average revenue per
desktop email click
19 cents
Click