Nonprofit marketers should take note of a recently released report that looks at how readers interact with email campaigns on mobile devices versus desktops.

The new report, from Campaign Monitor, shows how readers access email campaigns using the traditional desktop computer contrasted with the modern mobile device. The data reveals benchmarks on open rates across different clients, data on the relationship between opens and clicks by environment, and an overview of behaviors that increase the likelihood of a reader engaging with your content.

 Key findings from the report include the following:

• Opening email on mobile devices is more common than opening on desktop or webmail clients. 41 per cent of opens now happen on mobile devices.
• Readers are less likely to click through from mobile devices. 87 per cent of clicks will happen when a desktop reader opens an email for the first time, but only 78 per cent of clicks on mobile devices happen on the first open.
• If a mobile reader opens an email again from a desktop device, more clicks happen. Mobile readers who open emails a second time from their computer are 65 per cent more likely to click through.

The first finding would suggest that screen size does matter to the average reader. The data indicates that it’s still more common for a second open to occur on a mobile device, rather than something different: 70% will stick with their mobile device and 30% will go elsewhere. That’s certainly powerful enough to warrant creating eye-catching email campaigns—ones that will grab the attention of readers as they busily browse their mobiles.  

All that to say, mobile devices are not the be all and the end all for marketers when it comes to designing email campaigns. The report compares clicks as a percentage of opens and it’s clear that an open on a mobile device doesn’t hold the same relationship to a click that it does elsewhere. In fact, the percentage of clicks relative to opens on mobiles is decreasing, even as it stays fairly steady for webmail and desktop clients.

Though mobile devices are growing in popularity for first time opens, the trend suggests it’s becoming more difficult to turn those opens into clicks. In addition to creating compelling content, marketers need to focus on optimizing their campaigns for both mobile and desktop environments.

Michelle Jondreau is a communications professional with an avid interest in all things HR. On top of that, she hails from the nonprofit world and as such has a keen understanding of sector trends and issues. Follow her @majondreau.