A Look at Our Clients’ Mobile Website Traffic Stats
Did you know that in 2012 more people bought a Smartphone than a PC?
This means that moving into 2013 there will be a lot more people using their mobile device to search for new products, services and information. As an online company, you need to focus in on capturing this “mobile traffic” and making sure that your website is properly optimized for an amazing user experience from a mobile device.
In this blog post I want to share with you some statistics about how mobile usage and mobile site traffic is increasing at alarming rates. In looking at a number of our clients we can see that their mobile visitors are growing fast. To wrap it up I’ll tell you how to see mobile traffic in Google Analytics.
What is “Mobile Traffic”?
Your mobile traffic consists of website visitors who visit your site using their mobile device. This includes their Smartphone (which makes up 64.4% of all mobile traffic), Tablet (28.1% of mobile traffic) and other portable internet devices (7.5% of mobile traffic).
Mobile Traffic Projections for 2013 to 2015
So just how far will mobile traffic go? According to GoGlobe in just the next three years we will see mobile traffic account for 60% of all traffic.
Why Do Consumers Prefer Mobile?
When consumers were asked by GoGlobe why they prefer to use “M-Commerce” (Mobile Commerce) the responses were as follows:
[bulleted_list style=”check”]- 63% said “On the go convenience”
- 52% said “Special discounts and coupons available through mobile”
- 48% said “Easy to compare prices”
Be Mobile or Fall Behind
As HubSpot so eloquently puts it in their 2013 Marketing Trends publication, “Be mobile or fall behind.”
The company predicts that “Not only will there be continued investment in mobile-optimized websites and email, but we’ll see mobile take a more important role when integrating with marketing campaigns.” Is it time consider mobile website design for your business?
Some of our Clients’ Mobile Website Visitors
We have recently looked at some of our clients’ breakdown of mobile vs. non-mobile website traffic. While we knew that mobile devices are becoming more popular (the only ‘computer’ device I use at home for instance, is my iPad tablet) we had yet to sat down to see exactly how popular … until now.
Here are three clients who received substantial traffic to their sites with various demographics and target markets. The results are similar: there is a steady increase in mobile traffic as a percentage of total traffic.
What does your mobile traffic volume look like?
How to Find Out How Much Mobile Traffic Your Site Gets
So does your website agree with these mobile website stats? Here’s how you can tell using Google Analytics…
1. Log into your Google Analytics account.
2. On the left panel under Audience select Mobile and then Overview
3. Choose your date range. You can view current mobile vs. non mobile traffic and you can view previous periods to see how mobile traffic is growing on your site.
4. Look at total Visits for “No” (non-mobile) and “Yes” (mobile).
What to look for in Google Analytics Mobile Overview:
- Percentage of traffic from mobile devices: “Yes” visits divided by Total Traffic
- Do mobile or non-mobile visitors view more pages?
- Do mobile or non-mobile visitors stay longer?
- Is there a difference in bounce rate?
The latter three can be used as measurements of user experience.
For instance, if your mobile visitors:
- Look at fewer pages
- Spend less time on your site
- And leave after viewing only one page
This may be a good indication that your main website fails to render properly on mobile devices and something that should be addressed right away. The time to focus on mobile development is now.
An IBM study published in June 2012 suggested that 30% of global markets plan on launching mobile versions of their websites within the following 12 months.
So what’s on your mobile agenda for 2013?
