Smartphone Stats Call For Action

18 Jul Smartphone Stats Call For Action

“On street corners everywhere, people are looking at their cell phones, and it’s easy to dismiss this as some sort of bad trend in human culture. But the truth is life is being lived there.” (Ze Frank, during a TED talk)

In 2011 Google released staggering behavioral statistics in a presentation titled, “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users”. Google found that search engines are the most-visited websites on smartphones, and 9 out of 10 users will take action within 24 hours following the results of a search. Additionally, 68% of them will visit a business (online or in-store), and over 50% of them will eventually make a purchase! Those are some powerful numbers.

Although this study is over a year old, these behaviors are undoubtedly growing. 35.1 million iPhones were sold in Q2 2012 alone. Predictions say mobile web browsing will surpass desktop browsing in 2013. Social media has integrated business recommendations into our daily lives – a study by Compuware concluded that 57% of consumers wouldn’t recommend a business to others following a bad experience with their mobile website.

Google’s findings solidify exactly why it is so pertinent for any and all businesses to regularly improve their local listings, keywords, and website design to be optimized for mobile browsing. Unfortunately, search engine algorithms change constantly, and if you aren’t keeping up with the chase, your placement will drop. If your business isn’t included in the top 10 results of a relevant web search, consider yourself invisible. Even if you already have a website – if it is old-school (for example, developed in Flash) it’s completely obsolete on a smartphone.

Sources:

http://www.gstatic.com/ads/research/en/2011_TheMobileMovement.pdf

http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/mobile-friendly-website-design-why-does-your-business-need-one-0221473