75 Key Mobile Marketing Software Statistics: 2024 Data Analysis & Market Share

The explosion of mobile use provides marketers and advertisers with an avenue to explore different tactics to effectively promote their products. Traditional marketing concepts such as the four Ps —product, price, place, and promotion— will need to fit a new medium that is capable of marketing in-app, in-game, or through location-based ads. However, more than crafting a compelling plan, one would also need to leverage technologies such as mobile marketing software to implement these.

In this article, read up on the relevant mobile marketing software statistics and industry data for 2022 that will impact how businesses formulate their strategies. Various aspects of mobile marketing are covered, from general usage statistics to mobile search and ecommerce. Keeping abreast of the latest industry data will be helpful to marketers and advertisers in shaping a mobile strategy that is cost-effective and responsive to market trends and changes.

Smartphone Market Share Statistics

Mobile phones have become indispensable to modern-day living. According to the latest mobile usage statistics, smartphone ownership and use around the world is beyond the 90% mark. People use mobile phones for work and play. For starters, the number of email users is steadily growing every year, with almost half of email opens done on mobile and hours spent on mobile apps. In addition, Facebook and YouTube came out as the top apps on mobile globally. However, the younger generation in the United States tends to be more heavy users of Instagram while the British regard WhatsApp as the must-have app on their phone. Let’s take a look at mobile marketing statistics 2022.

• As of Q3 2021, 42.4% of emails opened were done through a mobile device, 41.2% were through webmail, and 16.4% were through desktops (Litmus, 2021).
• By 2023, 5G devices and connections will comprise over 10% of global mobile devices. Mobile devices from around the world will grow to 13.1 billion, 1.4 billion of which will be 5G-capable (Cisco, 2020).
• There are 5.22 billion unique mobile phone users, which make up 66% of the global population (We Are Social, 2021).
• There are a total of 4.32 billion mobile internet users who access the net using cellular and/or WiFi (We Are Social, 2021).
• 92.6% of internet users use mobile internet. Meanwhile, 91.5% of internet users are smartphone internet users (We Are Social, 2021).
• The number of unique mobile phone users increased by 1.8% or 93 million between January 2020 and January 2021 (We Are Social, 2021).
• 96.6% of internet users aged 16 to 64 own a smartphone while 9% own a non-smart mobile phone (We Are Social, 2021).
• On average, people spend 3 hours and 39 minutes daily using the internet on mobile devices (We Are Social, 2021).
• The top three countries with the highest time spent daily using the internet via mobile phones are the Philippines (5:54), Brazil (5:17), and Thailand (5:04) (We Are Social, 2021).
• In Q3 of 2020, internet users aged 16 to 64 spent 52.8% of their daily internet time browsing the net via mobile devices (We Are Social, 2021).
• Mobile gaming statistics show that 74.9% of global internet users aged 16 to 64 played video games on their smartphones (We Are Social, 2021).

Smartphone App Usage

• 39.4% of consumers in Latin America prefer to do their online shopping within an app (AdColony, 2021).
• There will be 299.1 billion mobile apps that will be downloaded globally by 2023 (Cisco, 2020).
• 34% of businesspeople in the travel and hospitality industry say that their organization has technology and apps that enable guests to manage experiences (Adobe, 2021).
• 31% of customers prefer to communicate with businesses over social messaging apps (Zendesk, 2021).
• Customer preference for in-app messaging for communicating customer service issues increased by 36% from 2020 to 2021 (Zendesk, 2021).
• 98.8% of social media users access it via mobile devices (We Are Social, 2021).
• Facebook was the top social media mobile app by global cumulative time spent in 2020, where users spent 19.5 hours each month (We Are Social, 2021).
• YouTube was the top video streaming mobile app by global cumulative time spent in 2020, where users spent 23.2 hours per month (We Are Social, 2021).
• 98.3% of Facebook users accessed the app through any kind of mobile phone (We Are Social, 2021).
• 80.7% of mobile Facebook users accessed it through apps on Android devices while 14.7% accessed it through apps on iOS devices (We Are Social, 2021).
• 70% of total YouTube watch time occurs on mobile devices (We Are Social, 2021).
• 90.7% of internet users aged 16 to 64 reported using messaging apps each month. 88.4% reported using social networking apps while 67.2% reported using entertainment and video apps (We Are Social, 2021).
• 27% of Americans aged 15 to 25 said Instagram is one of the three apps they can do without (AudienceProject, 2020).
• The most important apps for British mobile users are WhatsApp (24%), Facebook (15%), and Instagram (10%) (AudienceProject, 2020).

Demographics of Mobile Users

• By 2023, North America will have 329 million mobile users. On the other hand, Western Europe will have 364 million mobile users, Latin America will have 520 million mobile users, and the Asia Pacific will have 3.1 billion mobile users (Cisco, 2020).
• By 2023, mobile subscribers in North America will comprise 92% of the regional population. Those in Western Europe will comprise 87% while those in Central Europe will make up 78% (Cisco, 2020).
• 52% of mobile connections in the Asia Pacific will be through 4G connections. Meanwhile, 50% of mobile connections in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America will be through 4G (Cisco, 2020).
• 85% of US adults who say they own a smartphone are women while 85% are men (Pew Research Center, 2021).
• 96% of US adults who own a smartphone are between the ages of 18 to 29. Ninety-five percent are between the ages of 30 to 49 while 83% are between 50 to 64 (Pew Research Center, 2021).
• 85% of US adults who own a smartphone are white, while another 85% are Hispanic. 83% who said the same were black (Pew Research Center, 2021).
• 93% of US adults who own a smartphone are college graduates. Eighty-nine percent who did so have some college while 75% said they attended high school or less (Pew Research Center, 2021).
• 89% of US adults who own a smartphone live in urban areas while 84% live in suburban areas. Those who live in rural areas comprise 80% (Pew Research Center, 2021).
• Female users aged 16 to 24 spent 58.5% of their internet time accessing the internet via mobile devices, while 55% of males in the said age bracket did the same (We Are Social, 2021).

Mobile User Behavior Data

• The top email clients according to market share were Apple iPhone (40.3%), Gmail (29.8%), and Apple Mail (11.3%) (Litmus, 2021).
• As of Q3 2021, 85.8% of email opens were done through Gmail. On the other hand, 10.9% of email opens were done through Yahoo Mail while 2.9% were done through Outlook.com (Litmus, 2021).
• The most popular mobile email client is the Apple iPhone, which garnered 90.5% of email opens in Q3 2021. This is followed by Google Android (5%) and Apple iPad (2.8%) (Litmus, 2021).
• Apple Mail is the most popular desktop client, garnering 61.7% of emails opened during Q3 of 2021. This is followed by Outlook (37.3%) and Windows Live Mail (0.8%) (Litmus, 2021).
• 74.2% of email subscribers are using the light mode to open emails, while only 25.8% are using the dark mode (Litmus, 2021).
• In the US, 21.2% of emails are opened between 9 AM and noon local time while 7.4% are opened at 10 AM (Litmus, 2021).
• On average, consumers spent 10 seconds reading an email in 2021 (Litmus, 2021).
• Meanwhile, the average time spent reading an email on mobile was 12.6 seconds in Q3 of 2020 (Litmus, 2021).
• In a survey, 17% of respondents in the US said that they access the internet at home using a mobile connection via a smartphone or tablet. On the other hand, 57% use broadband or DSL (Statista, 2022).
• On average, adults in the US aged 18 and above spent 3 hours and 46 minutes per day on an app or on the web on a smartphone (Nielsen, 2020).

Mobile Marketing Statistics

At a time when an omnichannel experience has become the norm, it is imperative for businesses to adopt a mobile marketing strategy. The market is showing huge potential, posting billions in revenue in recent years, which is expected to be sustained in the next few years at double-digit growth rates. Mobile marketing software statistics and industry data also show that organizations are increasing their budgets for mobile marketing, even though they view optimizing for mobile as challenging.

• The global mobile marketing size was worth $11 billion in 2020 and is poised to reach $57.85 billion by 2030. It is expected to post a CAGR of 18.3% during this time (Allied Market Research).
• 22% of marketers said that optimizing for mobile is one of the most difficult objectives to achieve in their email marketing strategy (Ascend2, 2020).
• 69% of marketing organizations use mobile channels (Salesforce, 2021).
• Marketers in the US. said that 18.5% of their marketing budget was devoted to mobile, which will increase to 23.3% in 12 months and to 35.7% in five years (CMO Survey, 2021).
• US marketers say that their company’s contribution to mobile marketing changed by 9.4% in the last year (CMO Survey, 2021).
• Mobile apps comprised 8% of owned-media platforms that marketers use in B2B digital marketing to distribute content in the last 12 months (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
• 71% of marketing organizations tracked web/mobile analytics as part of their KPIs (Salesforce, 2021).
• In a survey, 3% of respondents said that reaching and understanding mobile customers is one of the most exciting opportunities for their organizations in 2020 (Adobe, 2020).
• Meanwhile, 20% of respondents from the travel and hospitality industry said that mobile engagement and optimization was one of the top priorities of their organization for 2020 (Adobe, 2020).

Most Popular Mobile Marketing Software

• SharpSpring. Mobile marketing tool that makes marketing automation powerful yet affordable for businesses, small and mid-sized. Learn more in our SharpSpring review.
• Textedly. A truly functional and flexible text message marketing tool with a beautiful interface. Take a more in-depth look at our Textedly review.
• PushEngage. Created to help sales and marketing teams segment and send web push messages automatically. You can have a better look at this solution’s capabilities in our PushEngage review.
• Mention. An online platform that specializes in business monitoring on the web, providing intelligent and insightful information for businesses in their brand awareness. We discuss its key features and benefits in our Mention review.
• Adobe Marketing Cloud. Adobe Marketing Cloud is a popular product that helps businesses to organize, optimize, and measure their campaigns, and the results of their marketing performance. Let’s walk you through its capabilities in our Adobe Marketing Cloud review.

Data on Mobile Search

We live in a world where data is always available at your fingertips, fueled by the use of mobile search. Data shows that more than half of searches are done through mobile. Moreover, the mobile search market is dominated by Google in terms of organic site visits from mobile and paid search clicks. Such strong performance has led marketers to increase mobile Google search spending even as the cost per click increased on the platform.

• 32.9% of internet users aged 16 to 64 use image recognition tools on mobile devices (We Are Social, 2021).
• Mobile devices accounted for 61% of organic search engine visits during Q2 of 2021 (Statista, 2021).
• Google cost-per-click on mobile phones grew by 43% in Q3 of 2021 while clicks declined by 9% during the same period (Merkle, 2021).
• Google search spend for mobile phones increased by 30% in Q3 of 2021 compared to Q2 of 2021 (Merkle, 2021).
• Mobile phones captured 69% of paid search clicks in Q3 of 2021. They also captured 53% of paid search ad spend during the same period (Merkle, 2021).
• 76% of paid search clicks were done on Google during Q3 of 2021. Only 26% was done through Microsoft Advertising (Merkle, 2021).
• Organic site visits from phones and tablets hit 64% in Q3 of 2021 (Merkle, 2021).

Mobile eCommerce Statistics

Mobile marketing growth has changed the way people shop and has led to a thriving ecommerce industry. Thus, it’s not surprising that more than half of global internet users use a shopping app or have purchased an item online. Their main reason for doing so is finding great deals. To capture consumer interest, marketers and developers should prioritize ease of use as per recent mobile app trends.

• The top priorities of Latin American consumers when shopping via mobile were a simple and easy-to-use app or webpage (53%), access to exclusive coupons/offers (35.1%), and an easy payment process (32.9%) (AdColony, 2021).
• 61.5% of Latin American consumers prefer shopping online versus in-store because of finding better deals online. (AdColony, 2021).
• 75.1% of Latin American consumers said that they will definitely or likely shop on Black Friday, while 60% said the same for Cyber Monday (Statista, 2021).
• 24% of respondents from the global travel and hospitality industry said that 50% to 74% of the total sales come from mobile and digital sales (Statista, 2021).
• 2% of respondents from the travel and hospitality industry said that catering to mobile shoppers will be their competitive differentiator (Adobe, 2020).
• 69.4% of internet users aged 16 to 64 used a shopping app on a mobile phone or tablet (We Are Social, 2021).
• 55.4% of internet users aged 16 to 64 purchased a product online via mobile phone (We Are Social, 2021).
• In Indonesia, 79.1% of internet users aged 16 to 64 bought something online via a mobile device in the past month (We Are Social, 2021).
• 63% of females aged 16 to 24 bought something online via a mobile device in the past month while 58.1% of males aged 25 to 34 did the same (We Are Social, 2021).

Statistics on Mobile Advertising

Mobile usage statistics indicate that there will be huge gains in this market. In fact, in recent years, mobile ad spending has already reached billions and has successfully posted double-digit growth. As more and more people spend their hours glued to their phones, opportunities are rife for advertisers to capture a chunk of consumer mobile spend. To do so, they must meet consumer expectations around mobile advertising, such as being shown relevant ads and being provided with discounts or coupon codes.

• Mobile ad spending reached $240 billion in 2020, hitting a year-on-year growth of 26% (App Annie, 2021).
• Digital banner advertising spending is projected to reach $63.38 billion in 2025 (Statista, 2021).
• The entertainment industry had the highest projected change in mobile ad spend at 37.5%. This was followed by retail (35.6%), consumer packaged goods (32.4%), and computing products and consumer electronics (29.6%) (Statista, 2021).
• 37.5% of consumers in Latin America said that they discover Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals through ads online on apps. On the other hand, 12% said they discover them through ads on mobile gaming apps (AdColony, 2021).
• 54.4% of consumers in Latin America said they made a purchase after they saw an ad on their mobile devices during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday period (AdColony, 2021).
• 51.8% of consumers in Latin America said that they expected mobile ads to provide them with a coupon code or discount during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday period (AdColony, 2021).
• 58% of consumers in Latin America said that they are somewhat likely to purchase a product directly from the ad if it was relevant to them (AdColony, 2021).

The Move Towards Mobile

Today, mobile phones and smartphones have become so ubiquitous. In fact, mobile marketing software statistics show that ownership of these devices is nearing the 100% mark globally. This massive move towards mobile is driven by consumer desire to score awesome deals, as long as their expectations of a great mobile experience are met. As such, marketers and advertisers are ramping up their mobile budget despite challenges, such as rising costs and the difficulty of optimizing for this platform.

Such change in the digital landscape requires a shift in user experience design and planning. Businesses that don’t put a premium on a mobile-first experience risk being left behind by their competitors. Investing in the top mobile marketing software prepares them to ensure customer satisfaction around their mobile experience.

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By Louie Andre

B2B & SaaS market analyst and senior writer for FinancesOnline. He is most interested in project management solutions, believing all businesses are a work in progress. From pitch deck to exit strategy, he is no stranger to project business hiccups and essentials. He has been involved in a few internet startups including a digital route planner for a triple A affiliate. His advice to vendors and users alike? "Think of benefits, not features."