Done right, Mobile Email Ads pique interest.

Emails may lack flashiness, but they are well received by customers and remain an effective marketing channel. In a February 2012 survey of US consumers, enterprise email service provider BlueHornet found that customers overwhelmingly viewed marketing emails as a way to save money.

The poll found that 95% of US email users joined email lists to receive discounts, suggesting that customers don’t mind sharing information with retailers when the benefit is lower prices.

However, retailers should tread carefully once they have acquired contact information. About three-quarters of those polled said it was unacceptable for companies to send them unsolicited emails after they had made a purchase. Retailers can ease concerns by allowing customers to opt in to email lists during the checkout process, and by giving them control over the frequency and type of messages they receive.

BlueHornet found that mobile devices affected the way a majority of users were browsing their inboxes. About seven out of 10 respondents viewed emails on a mobile device before using a desktop, underscoring the importance of mobile message formatting for smart devices. In fact, 70% of mobile device users deleted emails that displayed improperly. And messages that were not designed with mobile in mind left 75% of respondents with a negative impression of the brand.

More than half of those polled said they were at least somewhat likely to make a purchase from an email read on a mobile phone, indicating that messages received via mobile help lead customers along the mcommerce funnel.

Also, the study found that 37% of respondents had shared emails on social networks, meaning that well-crafted messages can benefit from a bump in views on social media.

eMarketer estimates that email ad spending in the US will total $140 million in 2012, with annual growth rates hovering between 3% and 4% through 2016.

For more information at http://emarketer.com