Whether we have the latest smartphone or a second generation tablet, we are all using them to shop! A recent study by AOL showed that the conversion rate for mobile purchases grew 28%. What does that mean? Well, it means that people actually made a purchase while on their mobile device. A whopping 31% of conversions across four verticals occurred while using a mobile device. And the industries with the highest conversion rates were telecom, retail, auto and travel.
Mobile Device Share of Online Conversions (% on Smartphone and Tablet; August 2013) The findings are based on analytics from more than 500 billion online ad impressions and 100M conversion events across all devices, such as mobile phones, desktop computer and tablets.
Telecom – Purchase of a new plan or device – 37%
Retail – Make a purchase – 35%
Auto – Find dealer, request info, configure, travel – 22%
Travel – Book hotel, flight or car reservation – 20%
There has been a misconception that mobile really means only mobile – that we are using devices only on the go. But actually 25% of our digital is spent at home and that is where we are viewing and purchasing many things. And 75% of all mobile ad impressions were viewed within the home. A lot of that has to do with the amazing adoption of tablets, iPads in particular.“What we’re learning is that consumers are increasingly using their mobile devices in much the same way they do with their computers when they’re at home,” said Chad Gallagher, director of mobile for AOL networks. “Looking at holistic impression volume, 25 percent of all digital impressions are consumed on a mobile device at home – which speaks to why users are performing complex functionality on their mobile devices. The data means that companies must understand mobile tracking and enable technology that can run across all platforms to account for the massive business opportunity on mobile devices. Net-net, we need to re-think how we market through the tablet. Marketers are realizing that they can’t afford to run desktop-only campaigns anymore.”
Historically, advertisers focus on branding or driving the purchase of mobile-centric offerings. The AOL points to an opportunity to drive conversions for a much wider array of products and services through mobile.
