It bears repeating. Every business should have a mobile strategy. Here are some interesting statistics that illustrate how devices are changing the way we live, work and play. Take a quick look at these numbers and see how quickly we are going mobile.
Who Uses Mobile?
Make no mistake, smartphones are now the preferred way to access the internet and all its resources. About 80 percent of us own a smartphone. Last year over half the internet traffic was generated from a mobile device, instead of a computer. (Statista) There’s no doubt millennials are leading the way in this trend. In 2017, they spent 223 minutes on the internet, daily. (Citrusbits)
How Often?
You probably already know the best way to reach anybody under the age of 30, is by text. Millennials are checking their phones about 150 times every day. (Inc) But younger Americans aren’t the only ones who have a close and personal relationship with their smartphones. About half of mobile users admit to checking their phones before they get out of bed in the morning. (Techtimes) About half of us use our phone every time we begin a trip. (ThinkWithgoogle) And about 85 percent of travelers use their phones to book travel.
What’s Next?
Voice search is an emerging trend with cell phone use. Already over half of teens and almost half of adults use voice search on a daily basis. With the addition of Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, voice search is effortless and omnipresent in our society. According to Google, by 2020 more than half of all search will be conducted by voice.
What Does This Mean For Business?
It means you cannot afford to ignore these trends any longer. Consider this fact: For every second of delay in mobile page load, conversions can fall by up to 20 percent. (ThinkWithGoogle) That means, if your site isn’t optimized for mobile, you are losing customers. It’s a fast world, and getting faster. Even if you maintain a brick and mortar storefront, 80 percent of customers will use their phones while in your store, to check read product reviews, compare prices, or an alternate store location. (LinkedIn) Quick access to this kind of information can cause problems for a business that doesn’t have a mobile strategy in place.
Also, be forewarned. If your website is not mobile friendly, your business will not appear in Google’s Mobile Only Index. The cost will be a 60 precent loss of traffic to your website.
At Web Design by Knight, we encourage business owners to use the “pinch test” if they aren’t sure about their site. First, bring the website up on the phone. If the user has to pinch and grab to access the information on the site, then it’s not optimized for mobile. Contact us if you have questions about mobile optimization.