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Mobile Friendly or Mobile First?

Mobile-friendly or mobile-first? Truth is, the decision may no longer be yours.
 


Mobile-friendly or Mobile-first? Truth is, the decision may no longer be yours.

However, similar to indulging in a post-valentine discount chocolate overloard – each course of action carries its pros and cons. 

To compare audience reach accuracy trends within the mobile sphere, Media Post recently wrote an article looking at Measurement King Neilson’s study done on this subject.

As we are all well aware, desktop has predominately been the leader when it comes to audience identity accuracy and click through rates; however, this may be beginning to change with mobile targeting capabilities expanding. 

According to Nielsen, Mobile campaigns have significantly improved when looking at the accuracy in which they identify and reach an intended audience. The study shows mobile campaign accuracy hit 60% in 2016, up from 49% the year prior. This pushes mobile campaign average on target percentages into the same arena as desktop.
 
The study went on to show that mobile targeting was better suited and more accurate when connecting with more specified audiences; the inverse is true about Desktop. Nielson found broad audience based campaigns targeting people 18 – 49 saw a higher on-target accuracy percentage than mobile (70% desktop vs. 64% mobile).
 
Nielson credits the reasoning behind this to the personalization factor. We live in an era where everyone from a baby to your pet have their own mobile device, making it less likely that these are shared in the same way as a desktop or laptop computers have been. 
 

What’s more interesting is the fact that Nielson found that mobile ad campaigns historically had an easier time reaching women than men.

We are even seeing studies come out that show mobile may be increasing conversion rates in performance based campaigns over desktop. According to a 3-part study conducted by iAcquire, a buyer’s journey is merely expedited on mobile. Meaning, a search conducted on a mobile device drives a conversion percentage nearly three times higher than the same search done on a desktop. This resulted in an astounding 70% of mobile searches leading to online action within an hour, the study concluded.

So is it mobile first or mobile friendly? The answer is neither. In today’s world users are living in a cross device age. Designing a multi-screen strategy based on usage and audience patterns is mandatory. Design every strategy to be the cherry on top of your audiences chocolate-induced hangovers. Happy Valentines Day from your friends at Awlogy.

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