MOBILE EXPERIENCE IMPACTS THE WHOLE PICTURE: When there’s poor user experience on a mobile device the performance of the website as a whole tends to suffer, according to a new report from Adobe Digital Index (ADI). Standard website metrics like page views and conversion rates are significantly lower when the mobile experience lags, partially due to the sheer weight that mobile visitors tend to hold as a share of visitors across all devices.
Here are some trends highlighted by the report:
- Mobile usability varies by industry, and the industries that are best suited for mobile logically tend to have better overall website performance. Media and entertainment were pegged as the industries that offer the best mobile product in terms of content and user experience, resulting in about 8 views per visit versus 5 for the financial services industry.
- The best performers saw the sharpest increase in smartphone and tablet traffic to their websites. Media companies saw a 15.5{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} jump, and entertainment had a 13.4{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} increase YoY.
- Media consumption will be driven by mobile video, which is being further assisted by larger screens. As of Q4 2014, the share of mobile video sessions on iPhones that reached at least the halfway point of the video grew by 7{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} YoY, and the number of “video starts” doubled, stats that Adobe chalks up to the large iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Mobile video already accounts for the largest share of all mobile data traffic, and will continue to grow its majority share through 2019.
This highlights the necessity of a mobile-first or mobile-only strategy for consumer-facing companies.
Notably, Apple devices are leading the way for the growing trend of digital video consumption, and mobile devices far outweigh the other categories (see chart, above). Collectively, iPad and iPhone account for almost 50{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} of all TV Everywhere authentications in Q4 2014. Android claims 16{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9}, and dongle-based solutions like Apple TV and Roku account for 12{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9}. Though Apple’s share seems large, this is a significant drop off from the 57{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} of authentications it accounted for a year earlier.
Mobile devices will likely continue to account for larger pieces of the digital video pie as large-screen smartphones that are gaining popularity now provide a better viewing experience than their smaller counterparts, and also as emerging markets come online for the first time and rely on mobile devices for internet access.
Source: BI Intelligence