10 Surprising Mobile Marketing Facts

Mobile marketing is becoming a must in most marketers’ plans. Look around you in the world today, and it’s clear that cell phones, smartphones and other mobile devices are everywhere. Mobile marketing has become vitally important to companies in all industries. These mobile marketing facts and stats will inspire you to take mobile marketing to the next level.

1. How many mobile only users do you think there are? 25% of Americans report only using smartphones or other mobile devices to use the web and internet-based services.¹
There is a major subset of those who primarily use mobile phones: the mobile only user. These people generally only access the internet from a mobile device. According to the Harvard Business Review, these individuals may either not have access to a PC or they share that device with other members of the family, so they find it easier (and more private) to do their mobile browsing from a smartphone device.² To learn more about the mobile only user check out my blog article How many mobile only users exist and what does this growing segment mean to marketers?

2. Mobile Marketer reports that 70% of mobile searches lead to an individual taking action—within an hour!³

Unlike web surfing, it appears that the users have a deliberate something in mind when they pick up their phone or other mobile device. This mobile marketing fact is almost unbelievable, that 7 out of 10 mobile searches lead to an action within an hour. Does this mean that SMS and other forms of mobile marketing should be focused further down the funnel? I’d argue that yes, mobile marketing should be more action-oriented, and is not the most effective channel for generating awareness.

3. 99% of text messages (SMS messages) are eventually read.⁴
Do you believe this number? It seems pretty realistic. After all, it’s pretty difficult to think of the last text I received that I didn’t read. Getting 99% of a targeted population to do anything is pretty difficult. This rate is huge when compared to the percentage of direct mail or emails that are read. Mobile marketing facts about text messages show very positive receptivity.

4. According to January 2014 Pew Research statistics, 90% of American adults own a cell phone.⁵
While all cell phone users aren’t smartphone owners, more and more actually do own a smartphone. Still the growth of cell phones is pretty significant and covers a fairly large cross-section of the population.

5. Nielsen stated that mobile ads perform up to five times better than traditional online ads in the key areas of brand awareness, favorability and purchase intent.⁶
This mobile marketing stat isn’t that surprising. According to a 2012 Tech Crunch article, “annoying” and “distracting” are the two most common words used when describing banner advertising. Apparently users feel that mobile ads are simplified and therefore less annoying than typical online banner advertising. Hopefully the marketing community can maintain this image of mobile ads over traditional online ads.

6.This same study showed that around 30 million consumers watch television content via their mobile phone.
This mobile marketing fact seems a bit surprising, strictly because of the screen size of mobile phones. However, as I’m writing this blog it is worth noting that I’m sitting next to someone on a plane actually watching a TV show on their phone. This stat also includes services like YouTube and Netflix as well as applications that allow a user to connect with their cable provider.

7. Men are more likely to click on a mobile ad than women.⁷
Ever wonder who is more likely to click on an ad? This is one of the most surprising mobile marketing facts in that men are more likely to click on a mobile ad than women. Hypotheses, anyone?

8. Even more so than traditional internet users, mobile phone users expect pages to load immediately—if not sooner. Three seconds is considered the gold standard for mobile loading time.
Users expect optimal performance when surfing the internet on their phone. It appears that users’ deliberate behavior plays into their lack of patience. Users seem to know where they want to go. Now they just want their phone to cooperate and get them there quickly.

9. Overall, in the 2013 holiday season, mobile devices accounted for 30% of the traffic to commercial websites but only 15% of sales.
Multichannel, omnichannel, whatever you may call it, this mobile marketing stat demonstrates users utilize a number of channels while in the shopping and purchasing process. Many people are looking at information, products and data on their phone before purchasing. This behavior is likely to manifest in many different ways. Much of this can be accounted for due to shoppers using mobile devices to research and then purchasing in-person or on a traditional website. For example, many buyers are reading reviews while in-store or loading products into a shopping cart via an app and then purchasing online later.

10. On Cyber Monday 2013 over 17% of total online sales for that day occurred on a mobile device. This was a 55% increase over 2012 statistics.⁸
Cyber Monday sales seem to be a good barometer of what we can expect to see in terms of mobile commerce. This mobile marketing fact demonstrates that mobile commerce is on an upward trend.

These mobile marketing facts make it clear that mobile marketing is important and mobile internet browsing is here to stay. It is important that you harness the power of mobile for your own marketing campaigns. To learn more about how to effectively utilize mobile marketing for campaign success, sign up for our SMS marketing workshop. Our personalized mobile marketing webinar will help your company get an effective, successful mobile marketing strategy into action. Click here to sign up today.

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