Was your inbox looking a little more green than usual this past St. Patrick’s Day? If so, you’re not alone. Many brands took advantage of the holiday to deliver limited-time St. Patrick’s Day email promotions.So how did those emails perform this year? We took a look at consumer device preferences for interacting with email on St. Patrick’s Day 2017 and compared them to 2016’s numbers. Keep reading to find out why St. Patrick’s Day might be an extra lucky day for email marketers.#### Smartphone opens increased on St. Patrick’s Day 2017Smartphone opens increased by 3% on St. Patrick’s Day 2017. The reason? Well, considering that the holiday fell on a Thursday in 2016 and a Friday in 2017, there’s a good chance that more folks were out and about to celebrate. A number of them may have taken off of work, which could account for the slightly lower desktop opens. That’s why it’s always important to take into consideration the day of the week that a holiday falls on when you’re delivering holiday-specific email campaigns.**2016 opens by device**Desktop: 30% Smartphone: 55% Tablet: 15%**2017 opens by device**Desktop: 27% Smartphone: 58% Tablet: 15%#### Read lengths rose nearly 7% on St. Patrick’s Day 2017This year, read lengths were higher than 2016, with an increase of nearly 7% of people reading emails for 15 seconds or more. It should also be noted that read lengths were higher on St. Patrick’s Day 2017 than any other day that weekend. In 2016, read lengths peaked on the Saturday after St. Patrick’s Day.**2016 read lengths**[](https://s3.amazonaws.com/movableink-blog-production/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/23190358/Screen-Shot-2017-03-23-at-1.58.19-PM.png)**2017 read lengths**[](https://s3.amazonaws.com/movableink-blog-production/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/23190407/Screen-Shot-2017-03-23-at-1.56.55-PM.png)#### Tablet opens approached desktop levels in 2017Here’s an unexpected twist: opens on tablets this year on St. Patrick’s Day were the same level as desktop several times, including early in the morning (5-6am) and later in the evening (9pm and beyond). Last year, open rates on tablets were close but never reached the same level as desktop.All the more reason for email marketers to optimize their emails for all devices, especially on weekends and holidays.**2016 opens by time of day**[](https://s3.amazonaws.com/movableink-blog-production/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/23190329/Screen-Shot-2017-03-23-at-1.34.20-PM.png)**2017 opens by time of day**[](https://s3.amazonaws.com/movableink-blog-production/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/23190331/Screen-Shot-2017-03-23-at-1.35.18-PM.png)#### Takeaways\-Like many “lesser” holidays, St. Patrick’s Day provides a great opportunity for marketers to reach out to customers via email. Limited-time promotions like free shipping or a sale can be a huge win.\-No matter what holidays you’re leveraging to send emails, always pay attention to the day of week it lands on. Weekend holidays can impact your campaign (potentially for the better) in a big way.\-It’s more important than ever to optimize for smartphones and tablets, as evidenced by the high open rates on both we saw this year on St. Patrick’s Day. Use device targeting to promote your mobile app and ensure a better overall experience on any mobile device.
St. Patrick’s Day 2017 Email Report: Read Rates on the Rise
