Growing influence of mobile internet usage
Only 15% of decision makers for online marketing in Germany use cross-device tracking through which the surfing behaviour of users across different devices can be tracked. Almost three quarters of decision makers (71%) do not use it currently but wish to do so in the future. Only for 14% of those surveyed is the subject lower down on the priority list. These are the results of one of our current surveys in which 125 decision makers from the online marketing sector participated during May 2015.
The importance of measuring across different devices for e-commerce companies is demonstrated by the results of another current data analysis from intelliAd featuring a total of 10 sectors and product areas*. Smartphones and tablets are now responsible for almost one third of all traffic in online shops when averaged out across sectors. However, the average percentage of conversions for all end devices across all sectors is just 9%. 82% of conversions are still concluded on desktop PCs. There are, however, significant differences between the different product categories. Smartphones and tablets are responsible for 22% of conversions in the homewares sector and 31% in the luxury fashion sector. Conversely, 90% of sales are still concluded via desktop PCs for the electronic product and mid-range fashion sectors.
The cross-sector analysis of traffic and conversions also shows that smartphones, tablets and PCs assume various functions and roles in the context of buying decisions. Smartphones are frequently used for research, tablets serve primarily as a shop window and desktop PCs are where purchases are most frequently and speedily made. This factor is also associated with the usability of many mobile web shops and apps.
“Customer journeys should be as trackable as possible in order for budgets to be allocated optimally and to respond even more individually to customer wishes. The massive increase in mobile traffic makes cross-device tracking an indispensable discipline” explains Mischa Rürup, director and COO at intelliAd Media. “Only by recognising that customers are switching devices can they be targeted with relevant content and the effect of cross-channel marketing thoroughly evaluated via attribution.”
* We analysed over 1 million online purchases in 10 sectors and product areas (pharmacy, electronics, fashion, interior, cosmetics, luxury fashion, print products, sport items, confectionary, wine ) between 15th January and 15th April 2015