The latest report by ComScore revealed that the amount of digital media time spent using mobile devices reached 68% in the U.S. That leaves only 32% of digital media time for using desktop or laptop computers. The smartphone has now become the primary way of getting online and for many users it is the only way.
While we do live in a cross-platform world, smartphones have now become prevalent in terms of how much time we spend using them. This is understandable given that, according to Google’s Micro-moments study, 87% of people always have their smartphone at their side, day, and night. This is not the case when it comes to using laptops, tablets and smart TVs, which need much more effort to be used due to their size, weight, or input method.
Interestingly, up to 50% of digital media time is dedicated to using mobile apps. This certainly includes music, video, and, more importantly, games. Web browsing on the phone is estimated at 7% while for tablets it’s at 2%.
Of course mobile apps are capable of displaying any web content in web views similarly to web browsers. This means that although the user is in an app, he or she is effectively browsing the web which can make these findings somewhat inaccurate.
Source: ComScore
As a result of this trend, the importance of mobile optimization is now higher than ever mainly due to the fact that the time spent using desktop and laptop computers is dropping rapidly. As Greg Sterling put it in a recent MarketingLand article, “the smartphone experience must be considered the first and primary platform. Failure to deliver a good mobile experience will compromise brand perceptions.”
The latest statistics on mobile commerce released by Monetate show that there is something inherently wrong with the way businesses optimize their online presence for mobile users. A lot of users who start the buyer journey on mobile devices don’t complete the purchase on the same device. Conversion rate for mobile is nearly 3x lower than for desktop computers.
- When browsing starts on desktop, 99% of purchases occur on desktop
- When browsing starts on mobile, 64% of purchases occur on mobile (users switch to other platforms during the process)
- 3.89% was the average conversion rate for desktop, compared with 1.43% for mobile (Q1 2016)
- 11% was the add-to-cart rate for desktop, compared with 7.05% for mobile (Q1 2016)
Source: Monetate Ecommerce Quarterly Report for Q1 2016 (PDF)
If you’re looking for ideas on how to properly address visitors on mobile devices, just head over to Ruadhan O’Donoghue’s guide showing some excellent tips and examples of mobile optimization.
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