With the influx of smart mobile devices everyone is talking about the potential for mobile sales. ABI Research predicts that m-commerce will top $119BN in 2015, up dramatically from the $2BN predicted for 2010. Mobile transactions ARE the future of online commerce and we all are salivating for a slice of this rather large pie!
But how do we understand and prepare for the surge in mobile usage? With Google Analytics we can understand the quantity and quality of mobile interaction right now and make plans for future growth.
For our customers we have the following approach to achieve this:
1) Understand many mobile visitors you are receiving? Are these visitors as engaged as non-mobile visitors?
Build the report in Google Analytics: Visitors > Mobile Devices > Click Comparison button
Analysis: This helps understand the breakdown of mobile devices used, so that you can build pages that suit the device type. Also you can understand how mobile browsers are interacting compared to full internet browsers. The aim here is to make improvements over time by creating content that is more engaging on mobile devices.
2) How many conversions are you receiving from mobile visits?
Build the report in Google Analytics: To understand this data we need to isolate the mobile traffic segment. Click “All Visits” and select Mobile Traffic segment. I suggest leaving the all visits segment enabled too so you can see how conversion rates compare.
Click on Goals > Goal Conversion Rate
Analysis: This data will tell you how far behind mobile traffic is in conversion terms.
The key to making improvements here is to set goals for improvement, tracking them over time and implementing conversion improving tools. We suggest:
a) resizing pages for mobile browsers so that the most important information is at the top of the device.
b) make lead forms or mobile specific checkout pages fit within screen sizes.
Conversion testing these options is the best method for improvement!
3) Understand which areas of your site are being visits by mobile visitors!
Build the report in Google Analytics: Use the custom segment described above (by itself, i.e. without All Visits”). Click on Content > Top Content
Analysis: This report allows us to understand what the most visited pages are from a mobile device and target where to place our improvement efforts. Bounce rates of above 50% are slightly more acceptable on mobile devices due to the fact that visitors may be looking up a number to call. However we should be minimizing the bounces by trying to engage as often as possible.
For ecommerce sites the 1st focus should be to improve the checkout process and ensure it is simple and smooth from a mobile device. Then examining the top content report will provide a priority list for further improvement.
Mobile Device Conclusion
Using the above reporting we can monitor the performance of mobile visitors. By making improvements and tracking the performance over time we can address the numerous elements that will bring online success from mobile devices. Understanding what your visitors want though is primary key to this success.
These steps should be taken in conjunction with a mobile advertising campaign which leverages advertising on mobile devices and uses such features such as “click to call”.
Feel free to contact us on any of the above… we’ll be glad to help.
on
Thanks for posting this Jon ! With the mobile traffic picking up, E-commerce merchants need to keep a serious note of their mobile traffic. The traffic that comes from a smart phone has been growing over time and it has become very important to know the traffic trends of the visitors and Optimize your web pages accordingly. Can you ever imagine your giant sized website scaled down to the size of your 3 inch touch screen size !! That could be really worthless. So trying to keep the navigation simple to make sure that the mobile traffic can be converted is very important 🙂
on
Its great to know that even mobile apps can be tracked and tabulated into the analytics report. very nicely and lucidly explained with the insights for each graphic representation.
on
Yes True Jon… Its obvious that the Mobile Traffic is going to increase in a significant manner in the course of time. Even now we can see the latest mobile phones are competing against each other in terms of internet speed and the technology they are providing. So sure its going to be the mobile revolution that is going happen in the near future.
Thanks Jon in keeping me updated how to track the mobile traffic using Google Analytics..
I know some Word press plugins tools such as WpToGo, WpTouch, WordPress Mobile Pack that would serve the purpose for a newbie..
on
Great to see the analytics report on mobile traffic. Is it good that separate pages be built for mobile apps so that the content is less and it directs user to what he wants? I just feel nobody is going to read much through mobile applications. Thanks Jon.