As of 2023, there are an estimated 6.92 billion smartphone users worldwide, according to Statista. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization reports that roughly 4.2 billion people globally own a toothbrush—a startling statistic that still holds true.
This fascinating contrast highlights the tech-driven era we live in, where the need to stay connected often surpasses more traditional necessities. For marketers, this represents a pivotal opportunity to engage with consumers in ways unimaginable a decade ago.
We live in the technology era where people have access to a variety of electronic devices that allow them to be constantly connected. Many electronic devices that we use every day have the ability to connect to the Internet. This includes our cars, gaming systems, and even televisions. Many restaurants offer complimentary wireless in their dining areas. It seems that our need to be online constantly has surpassed a lot of our other needs – even our need for personal hygiene.
While it may be gross to some, it is fascinating from a marketing perspective.
Smartphones and tablets have allowed us to shop in the convenience of our own homes. People are increasingly using their phones to do their shopping, instead of going to physical stores.
As a result, these devices have given marketers a brand new opportunity to reach potential customers. You need to make sure that the mobile experience for your audience is as good as possible so that they will continue to use your mobile service.
Website owners, advertisers, and people who optimize websites for search engines (SEOs) need to stay up to date on current mobile trends and make sure their mobile websites are set up to encourage mobile users to convert.
Mobile Trends
There is a lot of great research out there on mobile data and online consumer behavior that is thankfully available. I will cite the Pew Research Center, New York Times, eMarketer and Siteworx, but there are many other companies that analyze mobile statistics and trends. This knowledge will help you make better decisions to direct your mobile phone strategy.
The rapid adoption of smartphones and other mobile devices has dramatically shifted consumer behavior. As of 2023:
- –97% of Americans own a cell phone, and 85% own a smartphone (Pew Research Center).
- -Over 60% of the global population has internet access, with mobile devices accounting for over 59% of total web traffic (Statista, 2023).
- –41% of online shoppers say they use their smartphones as their primary shopping device (Insider Intelligence, 2023).
- -Global mobile e-commerce sales surpassed $4.4 trillion in 2023, accounting for nearly 60% of all e-commerce revenue (Statista).
These trends underscore how integral mobile devices have become for everyday tasks, from online shopping to social media engagement.
It seems like people NEED their smartphones. Cell phones are now seen as a necessity by 29% of people.
Cell phone owners use their phones for a variety of tasks, such as surfing the internet, making phone calls, sending text messages, checking their e-mail, and downloading apps. And, increasingly to shop.
Despite these statistics, mobile conversion rates still lag behind desktop rates. According to Insider Intelligence, the average mobile e-commerce conversion rate was 2.2% in 2023, compared to 3.6% for desktop.
Key reasons include:
Usability issues: Many mobile sites focus on quick purchases rather than providing a seamless browsing experience, leaving users feeling rushed.
Limited screen size: Smaller screens make it harder to compare products, view reviews, and access detailed information.
Slower browsing speeds: While 5G adoption is growing, many users still experience slower speeds than wired desktop connections, especially in rural areas.
Mobile shopping is most evident during Black Friday. According to Siteworx’s 2014 State of Mobile Features & Functionality Report, more and more people are choosing to do their holiday shopping from home instead of going to brick-and-mortar stores. In 2019, 40% of Black Friday traffic and 1/3 of Cyber Monday traffic will be online. That number has increased from 4% to 33% in just 3 years.
Mobile phones are obviously a big part of your consumers’ lives. People find, review, and purchase from mobile every day. Mobile devices need to be a big part of your outreach strategy.
Tips to Optimize Your Mobile Site
The most important thing for mobile devices is to provide a great experience for users.
The most important thing to remember is that mobile sites are designed for mobile users. Someone who is on the move is looking for a different experience than what a standard site offers.
Mobile visitors typically want easy access to key information like store directions, a clickable phone number, or store hours by day.
This means that potential customers are not interested in reading about the staff, the company’s mission, or recent news stories.
To stay competitive in this mobile-first world, businesses must prioritize creating a user-friendly mobile experience. Here are some updated best practices:
Test and Iterate
Regularly test your mobile site with real users to identify pain points and areas for improvement.
Simplify Navigation
Mobile users want quick access to essential information. Ensure your site has clear navigation menus, prominent search bars, and clickable phone numbers or directions.
Responsive Design
Invest in responsive web design to ensure your site looks great on any device, whether it’s a smartphone, tablet, or desktop.
Fast Loading Speeds
Optimize your site to load in under 2 seconds—every second of delay can reduce conversions by 7% (Google). Compress images, enable caching, and minimize code for better performance.
Streamlined Checkout
Simplify your checkout process with features like autofill, mobile payment options (e.g., Apple Pay, Google Pay), and minimal required fields.
Conclusion
Mobile shopping is a new trend that seems like it will stick around. There is an increasing trend of people choosing to shop from home instead of going to brick-and-mortar stores. This is due to the convenience it offers. shoppers are using their phones to check customer reviews, product ratings, price matches, and other important information that influences their purchasing decisions.
If you don’t want to be left behind, you need to start using mobile devices. You will lose customers if you do not have a mobile-friendly website.
Although optimizing your website for mobile devices can seem like a lot of work, it doesn’t have to be overly complicated. If you want to create a mobile site that will make your customers happy and increase your conversions, you should familiarize yourself with current market trends and best practices for mobile.
Why doesn’t mobile convert?
There is no one clear reason why conversions are lower on mobile devices, though most people agree that this is the case.
This phenomena can be explained by the fact that “smartphones are more of a browse or research platform rather than a buy platform.” In other words, people tend to use their phones to look up information or kill time rather than make purchases.
A different explanation for why tablets have a higher conversion rate is that people who can afford to buy them also tend to spend more money in general.
In the past, tablets, smartphones, and personal computers were not common in developed countries, but now they are.
The third explanation is that people use their smartphones when they are busy and don’t have time to shop around. Despite the fact that people are increasingly shopping on mobile, there is still no web traffic from smartphones to ecommerce sites.
More than half of all traffic to major websites comes from mobile phones. People seem to use their devices at all times, not just when they’re on the go.
People are less likely to convert on mobile devices than on desktop devices.
At UserTesting, we’ve been analyzing this problem for years. In thousands of user tests by e-tailers big and small, we see two recurring conversion problems:
- Some of the problem is inherent to mobile. Some features of mobile devices, especially smartphones, discourage purchasing. But that’s not the dominant factor.
- The purchasing experience on mobile devices is poor. As an industry, we haven’t adapted our sites to the needs of mobile.
We should discuss the reasons these things happen and how we can remedy them.
Issue 1: Some smartphone features hurt conversions.
There are two limitations to mobile device hardware that affects purchase conversions. One is obvious, but the other isn’t.
Screen size isn’t optimal for shopping
This is the obvious difference. Desktop displays have significantly more space to display information than other devices, which is extremely beneficial for ecommerce. Product comparisons are easier to view when they are side-by-side on a desktop.
Visitors to e-commerce sites can see information that supports their purchase decisions more easily, such as background information, reviews, and multiple images of products. Find tools that help you navigate, like filter buttons, they are usually easy to find.
While desktop computer screens are large enough to display a lot of information all at once, mobile device screens are much smaller and can’t show as much information at one time. It is more difficult for users to compare products, they often lack supplemental information, and the filtering tools available are not very good.
Users sometimes feel like they lack the information needed to make a purchase when they only see a limited amount of data. It is common for people to get partway through the purchasing process on a smartphone and then stop and say they will make the final purchase on desktop, where more information is available.
Network speed makes for (uncomfortably) slow shopping experiences
This is another characteristic of mobile devices that prevents people from completing an action or task. Most desktop computers are connected to high-speed network connections through cables or WiFi. Most smartphones connect through the cellular data network, but some connect through other means.
The speeds of cellular networks have increased a lot in recent years, but they’re not as fast as most wired connections. The speed at which your website loads is a significant factor in conversion rate optimization.
Issue 2: Mobile ecommerce sites have poor usability.
The biggest mistake that companies make when designing for mobile ecommerce is that they try to get customers to buy things instead of just browse and shop.
Shopping on a desktop computer can be very appealing for many people when done correctly. There are usually a lot of products available, it’s easy to look around, and a lot of design work has gone into making a smooth, seamless experience.
The process on mobile is broken down and sabotaged by the vendor. Companies often adapt their mobile shopping experience to smaller screens and slower connections by simplifying it. Our focus is on making it so you can buy something with as few taps as possible.
There’s no question that reducing the number of times a customer has to tap is a good idea—after the customer has decided what to buy. Many companies attempt to make the entire shopping process require fewer taps.
The goal is to create a mobile app or website that encourages users to make quick purchasing decisions, rather than providing a great shopping experience. From the user’s perspective, the website’s content changes from being appealing to feeling like an order.
According to our research, the best results happen when a site or app adapts to where the user is in the decision process. After someone has decided what they want to purchase, they should be able to complete the transaction with a minimal amount of effort. If someone is undecided, they should feel free to explore and compare options.
Conclusion
Every site, and every market, is different. There are a limitless number of small usability issues that need to be identified and refined.
The process of change will take a long time on both mobile and desktop devices. In order to gain a clear understanding of where users are experiencing difficulty, you must be patient and test extensively.
The importance of testing is especially relevant if you’re developing a mobile ecommerce application. If an app isn’t excellent when it first comes out, people will write bad reviews of it in the app store. You will have more success if you launch something that is great instead of something that is just adequate and then try to improve it later.
The only way to ensure your product is successful is to test it thoroughly before you release it. The saying in web development is to “release early and iterate” while in mobile development it is to “test and iterate before you release.”
