What do you picture when you think about where your customers/prospects are reading the marketing emails they receive from you?  Do you imagine them behind their desks, with the warm glow of a 24” monitor illuminating their faces as your company’s content displays full screen in all of its carefully crafted glory?

If this is the scene you’re painting, the statistics say by the end of 2013 you would be wrong more than half of the time.  According to a recent study by Knotice, 41% of all emails were opened by a mobile device by the end of 2012 and that number is expected to top 50% by the end of this year.

You may be thinking, “So what, as long as my open rates are still good, what does it matter?” It all comes down to real estate (how much screen size you have to communicate your message) and time (none of us have lots of it.)  Now more than ever, your communications with your customers/prospects must be concise, impactful and have a clear purpose.

Cut the clutter

When you’re communicating with a mobile audience you’re not just competing with other messages in their inbox, you’re also competing with whatever they’re doing on the go, whether it’s picking up the dry cleaning, grocery shopping, or visiting a job site.  Don’t make them hunt for your core message on the smaller mobile screen.  Cut everything that’s unnecessary, and focus on the sole action or message you want them to take away.

Make it easy

Mobile users don’t have time to take multi-step actions. Don’t make customers jump through hoops to redeem coupons, make contact, or find your business.  Make it easier for them even if it requires up front preparation or more work on the back end of the transaction for you.

Keep it relevant

A simple swipe of the finger relegates your painstakingly built email to the dreaded unread archive.  You need to be monitoring your email statistics to make sure that not only are you engaging your customers/prospects with content they’re interested in (open rates, and click through rates) but making sure that you’re developing desired end-results as well (conversions and tracking offline interactions).

The good news is all of these core email marketing principles will benefit your desktop users as well (keeping it simple, focusing or your core message, relevancy).  So if you haven’t already taken the time to sharpen your email campaign, focusing on mobile will allow you to improve your messaging across the board.