• 64% of key decision makers are viewing your carefully crafted email on their BlackBerrys and other mobile devices, according to new data.
• 39% of handheld email users are less likely to read commercial email such as newsletters and promotions on a mobile device. That’s about 2.3 out of five users.
• 69% of at-work email users usually view emails in their preview panes (which does not download images).

Several email marketing experts I’ve seen lately are standing by their claim that that html emails are still the way to go (versus text). They say forget the mobile users–they’re just a small percentage of readers. And many programs let the subscriber choose html or text anyway. So what’s the point?

The point is the number of mobile users in your target market may not be so small (see above). Also, you usually have to actually go into subscriber settings to choose text because html is the default. Plus I admit, I prefer html when I’m on my desktop even without the images. But then I end up with an html version I can’t read on my crackberry.

AND…many other people aren’t seeing the graphics anyway if they’re looking at the emails in Outlook or some other reader that doesn’t automatically download images.

Which must really stink for the dimwits who are still sending out emails that are all one image–so if you select the text version, you get empty emails (gee thanks JB Pet!). And if your email software doesn’t automatically download images, then you don’t see anything until you click to download them or hit reply. Why should I bother if I don’t even know if I’m interested in what you’re offering?!

For the moment, I’m following the experts advice to serve up both for my Compelling Marketing ezine until I can find a way to better accommodate mobile users. But it’s an imperfect solution and I think the industry needs to get its head out of the sand and start really looking at what can be done to create affordable, mobile-friendly email options. What do you think?