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Mobile is huge opportunity for B2B marketers: Study

A new study by Osterman Research shows that working Americans are increasingly dependent on their employer-provided mobile devices.

In fact, 79 percent claim to take their work-related devices on vacation. This has several implications for B2B marketers.

?Today?s on-the-go workforce depends on their mobile devices to access email and to make crucial business decisions ? even while on vacation,? said Andrew Barnes, senior vice president of corporate development for Neverfail, Austin, TX.

In an on-demand, constantly connected culture, it has become the norm for some workers to receive hundreds or even thousands of emails per day.

Forty-one percent of survey respondents admit to being email ?packrats,? so it comes as no surprise that many workers are packing their email to come along with them on vacation.

Survey respondents said this ensures that they will not return to an overwhelming pile of email upon their return to the office.

More than one-third of respondents admit to hiding from friends and family in order to check email on vacation.

Nearly half of survey respondents admitted to traveling up to 10 miles just to check email during a vacation.

More than one-third of respondents admit to checking mobile email even during such vacation activities as skiing, horseback riding and biking.

Respondents report spending an average of 147 minutes using email per day, and just 54 minutes on the telephone.

This almost obsessive behavior is a big opportunity for B2B marketers and they need to take note.

The fact that consumers are still thinking about work while on vacation means that mobile is a great way to reach these business decision makers, wherever they may be and whatever they are doing.

Gone are the days of being able to reach decision makers only Monday through Friday 9-5.

?Mobile devices are the lifeline that connects today?s on-the-go consumer to personal and work-related communications and this is an important, growing, channel for mobile marketers,? Mr. Barnes said.

?This survey speaks to the level of attachment to mobile devices as an always on channel to consumers,? he said.