Friday, February 26, 2010

No Mobile Web Strategy?  You’re Missing Out on Valuable Traffic

No doubt about it, mobile apps are cool.  They take advantage of the iPhone’s elegant user interface, and they can be well-integrated into other device features such as GPS and maps.  However, as mobile bandwidth improves and smartphone ownership increases dramatically, the ultimate mobile application is the mobile Internet. 

U.S. smartphone ownership had reached 25% of subscribers by the end of 2009 and continues to grow at over 60%.  In turn, this has been a primary driver of mobile Web visitors from 42.5 million in July 2008 to 56.9 million one year later according The Nielsen Company.  In fact, 95 million Americans were already paying for Mobile Web access by July 2008 meaning there are (at minimum) another 38 million Mobile Web users primed to increase their usage.

Other interesting trends include Facebook’s mobile growth:  65 million active mobile users today from 20 million a mere 8 months ago, and Ebay’s double-digit month-over-month growth in mobile sales volume. 

Another sobering fact is this:  There are roughly 165 million U.S. Internet users tody.  This means that over 34% of them are using the mobile Web now, and we can probably expect that percentage to grow dramatically given all the other projections for the space.

The Mobile Web Experience

Unfortunately, the Mobile Web experience remains alarmingly unsatisfying for these Mobile Web users.  A recent study by Equation Research discovered that two out of three mobile Web users encountered problems when accessing Web sites on their mobile phones in the last 12 months with slow load time being the primary issue.  It should be noted that load time is not necessarily addressed by the iPhone and its superior Safari browser because it is still at the mercy of slower mobile network speeds.

Other issues include a poor mobile user experience, crashes, and Website unavailability.  In addition, the report found that more than half of respondents were unlikely to return to a Website they had trouble accessing.  40 percent said they’d visit a competitor’s mobile site instead.

Capturing That Mobile Traffic

In short, the lack of a properly formatted and optimized Mobile Web experience for consumers compounded by a the lack of a smart mobile strategy means one could be missing out on as much as one-third of the potential traffic.  Granted, a full third may be an overestimate at this stage of the game, but this number is at least reflective of the potential that can be captured with an integrated, cohesive mobile strategy.  To support this, The Nielsen Company reported toward the end of 2008 that the average business sees a 13% lift in traffic on top of their traditional Internet presence. 

How Much Traffic Is Being Missed?

It’s hard to say exactly how much traffic is being lost. Mobile analytics is still an emerging industry, and traditional Web analytics packages simply can’t differentiate most mobile device requests.  In other words, it requires a separate Mobile Web site that can track the mobile requests in order to gauge just how many incremental pageviews it can get.  Nevertheless, estimates range between 5 to 15 percent of a site’s visitors are stopped cold on their mobile devices, and this is especially acute for pure-play Web businesses.

Of course, the very existence of a mobile presence opens a myriad opportunities to drive visitors and pageviews, and this means increased revenue, new advertising opportunities, mobile sponsorships, branding, and awareness.