21 Eye-Opening Mobile Marketing Stats You Should Know

Marketers are starting to realize that the mobile upswing isn’t just a fad. Thing is, if you haven’t already made an investment in mobile marketing, starting now could seem a little daunting. I mean, it’s just one more thing to add to your ever-lengthening to-do list, right?
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider it, even if it just means you start mobile-optimizing your emails. Or maybe you invest in optimizing your site for mobile visitors. Or even do a little mobile SEO. Wherever mobile marketing stands on your list of priorities, there’s no doubt it’s here to stay — and these stats should help you understand just how important it is, and perhaps help you prioritize your efforts.

The State of the Mobile Union

1) 1.08 of the world’s 4 billion mobile phones are smartphones. 3.05 billion are SMS enabled.
2) Mobile internet usage is projected to overtake desktop internet usage by 2014.
3) Apple and Android represent more than 75% of the smartphone market.

Mobile Optimization

4) 74% of consumers will wait 5 seconds for a web page to load on their mobile device before abandoning the site.
5) 46% of consumers are unlikely to return to a mobile site if it didn’t work properly during their last visit.
6) 71% of mobile browsers expect web pages to load almost as quickly or faster as web pages on their desktop computers.

Mobile Search

7) 7.96% of all web traffic in the U.S. is mobile traffic. That number skyrockets to 14.85% in Africa, and 17.84% in Asia — up 192.5% since 2010.
8) One half of all local searches are performed on mobile devices.
9) Mentioning a location in mobile ads and search results can increase click-through rates up to 200%.

Mobile Commerce

10) Only 19% of US retailers have an M-Commerce app.
11) That might be okay, since only 4% of consumers prefer to shop via an app.
12) 24% of US tablet owners use their tablets to shop 2-3 times per month; 20% use them to shop more than once per week; and 12% use them to shop every day!
13) 29% of mobile users are open to scanning a mobile tag to get coupons.
14) 1 in 5 smartphone users scan product barcodes, and nearly 1 in 8 compare prices on their phone while in a store.
15) 39% of instances where a consumer walks out of a store without buying were influenced by smartphones.

Mobile Social Media

16) 91% of mobile internet access is for social activities, versus just 79% on desktops.
17) Over 1/3 of Facebook’s users access Facebook Mobile; 50% of Twitter’s users use Twitter Mobile.
18) QR code scans increased 300% in 2011 compared to 2010.

Mobile Email Marketing

19) If all US mobile internet time was condensed into an hour, 25 minutes of it would be spent on email.
20) The entertainment, finance, publishing, and social networking industries see above average mobile email views compared to other industries.
21) From April to September in 2011, mobile email opens increased 34%, while webmail and PC opens decreased by 11% and 9.5%, respectively. (