According to a new survey, just a third of digital marketers in the UK and the U.S. are making optimising for mobile a priority. This is despite the fact that mobile continues to dominate, leaving brands without a website optimised for smartphones and tablets potentially missing out.
The poll, carried out by Marin Research, involved more than 300 digital marketers in both the UK and across the pond. When asked about whether mobile is a priority for them, a surprising 68% said that it wasn’t. Around 57% said that they optimise for mobile when they can but they aren’t prioritising it, whilst 10% said that it’s not a major part of their overall strategy.
Could you be left behind if you don’t prioritise mobile friendly websites?
All indications suggest that failing to make mobile a priority would be a considerable mistake on the part of brands and marketers. Customers increasingly expect to access anything and everything via their smartphones, including shopping carts. Quite simply, brands could be missing out on purchases and revenue by sticking to a traditional, non-optimised website and shopping cart.
Research seems to support this, as the Huffington Post revealed earlier this year that 30% of mobile users would abandon a purchase if the shopping cart wasn’t optimised for their device. Just as worrying for brands, around 57% of users said they would leave a website if it didn’t load on their mobile device within 3 seconds.
Matt Ackley, the chief marketing officer and senior VP of product at Marin Software, puts it directly:
“Advertisers that are not integrating their campaigns across channels and devices are leaving money on the table,”
“The old model of each discipline operating within its own silo is counter to how people shop and consume media. Savvy marketers that integrate their data and campaigns stand to achieve a greater return on their ad investments.”
It’s all change in 2015
Throughout 2014, marketers were being advised to catch up and make mobile a real priority. As it seems that a considerable number of brands have not taken this advice, they could risk being left seriously behind in 2015 as new technology takes over. Wearable devices, such as the Apple Watch, could well become the new smartphones within a few short years, so brands will need to be developing wearable-friendly websites and apps. If you haven’t caught up with mobile next year, you could be left hopelessly behind.
The overall point to take away with you is that users expect a seamless customer experience across all devices. This is what the market-leading brands will be focusing on in 2015, bringing all marketing tactics and platforms together into an integrated strategy.
Do you have a mobile-friendly website yet, or are you planning to optimise for smartphones and tablets in the New Year? If not, what are your reasons for not making mobile a priority?
