3 Tests to Determine if Mobile Ads are Right for Your Online Store

by Mary Weinstein,July 11, 2014Comments

Mobile use is such a part of our lives that 73 percent of people admit they would feel panicked about losing a phone. Mobile use is a pervasive habit for our society- across search, shopping, and social networks.

Consumers spend more than 15 hours a week on mobile sites and apps, a year over year mobile use has grown 25 percent, according to Google. Just as marketers switched from print to television advertising, many marketers are emphasizing a mobile presence for their online store.

Should You Set Up Mobile Ads?

Mobile is big, and getting bigger. But are mobile search ads a good investment for your site?

Below are three questions to ask to help your determine your potential for mobile success, and analytics reports you can run to help answer those questions.

1. How Much Traffic Comes to Your Site From Mobile?

How many of your users are actually coming to your site using a mobile device? Depending on your site and consumer base, this answer will vary widely.

If your client demographic is older, you may have very few mobile visitors. Younger shoppers, or a more tech savvy audience will inversely be more likely to browse and purchase using mobile. Don't assume your site visitors are or aren't visiting on mobile. Look at the data first.

To determine how much of your site traffic comes from mobile, run a device report in Google Analytics. To do this, login to Analytics and select mobile in the left navigation under Audience. Click overview to view the mobile sessions, users, and other user traffic information for mobile:

How Responsive Design Increases the Results of Your Online Marketing

by Kristi Hines,June 20, 2014Comments

We all hear about responsive design. But as a marketer, sometimes we are only focused on the specific tasks, such as creating content, developing email campaigns, building links, and updating social media networks. The fact of the matter is, if you or your clients do not have a responsive design in place, then all of the online marketing strategies we implement will not bring the full potential of results.

This post will cover the points you need to make to your boss or your clients when it comes to adding responsive design into the marketing mix.

A Quick Rundown of Mobile Statistics

So how does mobile play into content, email, search, and social media marketing? Here are just a few of the stats.

60 percent of Internet access is made on a mobile device. (InMobi)51 percent of emails are now opened on mobile devices. (Litmus)The majority of mobile consumers use search in the shopping process. Forty-eight percent start on search engines. (Google)70 percent of mobile searches lead to action on websites within one hour. That's assuming that the website is mobile-friendly, otherwise 40 percent will choose another result. (iAcquire)60 percent of social media time is spent on smartphones and tablets as opposed to desktop browsers. (Business Insider)

What do these statistics mean? They mean that every aspect of our online marketing efforts – content, email, search, and social – is affected by mobile. People are reading content, opening emails, performing searches, and engaging with brands on social media – all on their mobile devices.

If statistics do not convince you that getting mobile-friendly with responsive design is important, then hop into your Google Analytics and go to the Mobile Overview in the Audience portion. Chances are, if you do a traffic comparison between this year and last, you'll notice that your mobile users have grown, potentially significantly.