Few new technologies have been embraced as rapidly and as globally as mobile phones, particularly since smartphones came to market a decade ago.
Though Wikipedia may say home computers “became common” during the 1980s, it took 25 years for the computer industry to ship one billion PCs. In contrast, there were 1.5 billion smartphones shipped just from 2007 to 2016.
Even today, less than three-quarters (73%) of U.S. homes have a PC with Internet access; but more than 90% of U.S. adults now have a cell phone, and for people under the age of 44, that number is closer to 97%. Worldwide, the gap is even larger.
There are also about 1.3 billion tablets in use today. Roughly one-third of those are Apple iPads.
Though the small form factor of the devices is a challenge, marketers have embraced mobile marketing, particularly for local B2C businesses. A decade ago, local firms still fought the first spot in the (print) Yellow Pages; now it’s about capturing the top spot on Google.
Here are four core findings from 14 stats and facts about mobile use and marketing from recent research.
It’s hard to overstate the impact of mobile technology.
1. Mobile devices now account for nearly two of every three minutes spent online. (Red Website Design Blog)
2. 44% of millennials check email on their smartphones first thing in the morning. (Jeff Bullas)
3. Nearly two-thirds of millennial and GenZers say they spend at least six hours per day on their cell phones. (MediaPost)
4. But it’s not just millennial consumers: 40% of smartphone and tablet owners search for B2B products on those devices. (Red Website Design Blog)
Search is as important for mobile as for the desktop—but searcher behavior is different.
5. 87% of smartphone owners use a search engine at least once per day. (GO-Globe)
6. 40% of people (at least) will choose a different search result if the first is not mobile friendly. And 48% say if they arrive on a site that doesn’t work well on their mobile device, they will take it as “an indication of the business simply not caring.” (Red Website Design Blog)
7. 61% of mobile searchers (again, at least) are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly site. (Junto)
8. For mobile devices, 40.9% of Google searches result in an organic click, 2% in a paid click, and 57.1% in no click at all. For desktop devices, 62.2% of Google searches result in an organic click, 2.8% in a paid click, and 35% in no click. (Moz)
Mobile users love video (ads, not so much).
9. More than half of all YouTube views are on mobile devices. (WordStream)
10. By 2020, 75% of mobile traffic will be video. (HubSpot)
11. But ads are 45% more disliked by mobile users than desktop viewers. (HubSpot)
Mobile marketing is more than search and video.
12. Mobile advertising revenue grew 22% in 2016, eclipsing desktop ad revenue. (AdAge)
13. 56% of email is now opened on a mobile device. But B2C emails get 57% more opens on mobile devices than B2B email. (Jeff Bullas)
14. More than 40% of views on Reddit occur via mobile app. (CMSWire)
Among the key takeaways for B2B marketers are:
- Optimize for mobile search. Google is planning to move to mobile-first indexing later this year. Is your website ready? Responsive design and fast page-load speeds are essential of course, but also keep in mind the differences between searcher behavior on mobile vs. desktop searches as noted above.
- Use video strategically. Video is mobile-friendly, extremely popular, and grabs attention on your website. Creating your own company YouTube channel gives you another valuable channel for search. Using videos on landing pages can increase conversions by 86%. Using the word “video” in an email subject line increases open rates by 19%, and including video in an email message increases click-through rates by 200-300%. Advertising on YouTube videos can also be effective—but be very selective about which channels your ads appear in. There’s a lot of garbage on YouTube.
- Create mobile-friendly content. While white papers and ebooks remain important and productive elements of B2B content marketing, they don’t translate well to mobile devices (particularly smart phones). So repurpose that valuable thought leadership in other, more mobile-friendly formats like blog posts, social media updates, video, infographics, and podcasts. Make sure your emails look good on mobile, keep contact forms short, and use online tools (e.g., calculators) that work well even on small screens.
This was the fifth post of the Spectacular Springtime of (Digital Marketing) Stats series on Webbiquity and elsewhere.
#1: A Spectacular Springtime of Stats, Facts and Insights About Digital Marketing
#2: Email Marketing Turns 40 This Year (and 10 Other Fascinating Facts)
#3: Nine Social Media Marketing Stats You Can Use
#4: Marketing Technology Growth and Challenges – 12 Enlightening Statistics