With the recent release of the iPhone 4, marketers are increasingly thinking about how to engage mobile users. One good strategy to reach smartphone users may be to boost marketing through another platform - email.

With the recent release of the iPhone 4, marketers are increasingly thinking about how to engage mobile users. One good strategy to reach smartphone users may be to boost marketing through another platform – email.

It’s well known that email marketing is a top way to reach consumers. Reports from Exact Target show that 58 percent of Americans start their online day by checking their email, and 93 percent of U.S. consumers actively subscribe to email marketing messages.

At the same time, the mobile platform is constantly gaining ground. Between the current iPhone 4 frenzy and data from comScore revealing that 45.4 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones even before the latest release from Apple, the potential to reach countless on-the-go consumers via mobile devices cannot be ignored.

Now, the results of a survey from Litmus suggest marketers may benefit from combining these two platforms instead of treating them as seperate channels. The study of more than 14 million email recipients shows that users of iPhones and Android-equipped devices are likely to spend 15 percent more time reading emails than people using Microsoft Outlook, relays Media Post.

To take advantage of mobile email marketing, remember that recipients are working with a much smaller screen that traditional email readers. With this in mind, it is important to keep messages brief and use simpler URLs.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.