MobileWebsiteWatch

Its no secret that American’s increasingly rely on their mobile devices for web access, and a new study by M:Metrics shows that they browse the web a lot, and the number is growing fast.  Highlights of the report include:

• American smartphone owners browse mobile web an average of 4 hours 39 minutes per month.  That’s a half a workday!
• About 11% of smartphone users have an unlimited data plan
• 9 out of the top 10 most popular smartphones in the USA offer a QWERTY keyboard, allowing robust interaction with all types of web functionalities on mobile.
• Sizable data pool used for highly accurate results, n=3500.

In a similar non-shocker, top domains included mostly web sites that offer sophisicated mobile optimized views, such as eBay and Facebook.  This shoudl serve as a pretty strong indicator that mobile web optimization a must for getting in front of your customers when and where it counts most–connecting with them on a more intimate level via their mobile device whcih they use for business, shopping, and organizing their social lives.

According to a study realeased on the 4th by the Kelesy Group, about 19% of cellphone-owning

Americans now have a smartphone and, shockingly, 49.2% plan on getting one within one year. The study goes on to disect the things people use the mobiel web for which include: searching for products, getting maps and directions, getting info about movies and entertainment and accessing social networking sites.  All of these areas clocked in double digit growth year over year and with half the cell phone owners out there who plan on upgrading to a smartphone in 1 year, that should accellerate more in 2009.

As this surge of mobile users comes online, you can be almost certain that once they are shelling out for new phones with advanced data services, a seamless and successful mobile web experience on any company’s web site will pretty much be a basic customer expectation.  As we’ve posted here, smart companies like Sears, Gamefly, American Airlines, and Victoria’s Secret have already implemented an optimized mobile web view of thier sites and are building up market share.  Getting mobile should be top priority for anyone not yet there as everyday customers who try and interact with you on mobile are frustrated and lost.

In the Sears Mobile press release (from Women’s Wear Daily here), Sears mobile innovations team leader Thomas Emmons says it best:

“If you’re marketing to people who read 85 percent of their e-mails on a BlackBerry, and you don’t have a good mobile site, you’re losing that customer,”

Sears is a great example of mobile best practices and others will have to either follow suit or get out of the way.

In a press release from comScore today, the boom in the everyday use of mobile web to get things done was confirmed and reinforced. According to the report, in June 2008, more then 20.8 million U.S. mobile subscribers accessed search during the month, an increase of 68% over same month year prior.

“It is interesting to note that as we see the number of mobile search users increase, the frequency of activity is also growing,” observed Alistair Hill, analyst, comScore. “The number of U.S. users accessing mobile search has more than doubled as a result of expanded 3G penetration and smartphone adoption, as well as the proliferation of flat-rate data plans. We have also seen a substantial improvement to the mobile search offerings in the U.S. market.”

As more and more people search for things on thier mobile devices, the more important it becomes to offer a mobile Web site for them to interact with.  What good is your store or office if your customers can’t even walk in the door.  The expectation of mobile optimized Web sites is now basic for most customers.

Furthermore, customers who arrive at your site via mobile search are likely your best customers.  If they search for you on their phone, and then go to your site, this means that they are on the go, away from their computers, and most likly to be seeking specfic information on how to interact with you: such as finding contact information, store locations, buying a ticket or a specific product, or reviewing information about your products and pricing while shopping.

According to the 2008 Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey (formerly Monroe Mendelsohn), the affleunet not only spend more time online per week, but also lead the way in use of the mobile web.  The report found that heads of households of affluent familys (defined as making $100,000/year or more) went online 26 times a week on a computer and 17.6 times per week on the cellphone. Overall, the spend an average of almost 24 hours a week online, constrain that to only people who make $250,000 or more, and the number jumps to 27.4 hours per week.

The study also found that the same trend applies to mobile devices. “While 40 percent of affluent households use hand-held devices to access the Internet, the percentage rises to 57 percent among those in the $250,000-plus bracket from 34 percent for those at the $100,000-149,999 level.“

The implications of this for the mobile web market as a whole is that since many web producers do not provide optimized content for mobile viewers, they are missing out on a lucrative slice of the market and will have to work double time to catch up.  Furthermore, due to this lack of mobile content, companies and providers that get in the hadset of those people sooner will benefit even more as their market share multiplies as the size of the mobile web market expands to like the internet and cell phone markets did.

The survey also found that about 10 percent of the affluent make Internet purchases using their cells or mobiles.

Remember, the study defines “the affluent” as a head of household of a household making $100K/year or more. That’s about 20% of all US households!  From there the math is strightforward.

In a study released this May by design agency AKQA and dotMobi, a lot of illuminating data is brought to light. While the overall tenor of the “study” is slightly muddied by the blatant commercial interests of its sponsors, there are nonetheless, over 2,000 respondents, fairly selected by independent third party research agency, Research Now. The study, which focuses on the US and UK, and is notable for highlighting the similarities and contrasting trends in the two nations, has its data broken down in many many ways. The free PDF download contains over 80 pages, most of which are charts or graphs about niched subject matter surrounding mobile web use. Below are few of the more enlightening points:

• Approximately 90% of the 2,000 respondents are interested in learning about the mobile Web, demonstrating a need for brands to make their mobile properties findable via mobile search, marketing and advertising campaigns.

• 50% of respondents were unaware that there are mobile sites optimized for use on mobile phones and;

• The vast majority - 86% of participants - said they were interested in knowing which sites are easily accessible on a mobile phone.

• Nearly 50% of respondents said that a poor experience on their initial use of the mobile Web made them “reluctant to access” either the site - or the Internet in general - on their mobile phones again.

• Only 2% of participants in the survey who have purchased a phone in the past six months chose an iPhone. This indicates that brands that don’t optimize their mobile services for a variety of mobile phones will provide a substandard mobile Internet experiences for a vast majority of consumers.

• Poor site display and layout remain top reasons for mobile Web dissatisfaction among consumers.

• Almost two-thirds of participants stated that they would consider purchasing theater tickets, take-out food and travel tickets via a mobile phone.

• Finally, 63% of survey respondents said they would be more likely to give up their money than their mobile “smart phone” if they were mugged.

This study really showed a lot of things that are common misconceptions about the size and reach of the mobile internet today. For example, it is commonly though that the only people using the Internet on their phones are teens and young adults and an optimized mobile web experience will appeal most to them alone, yet this study finds that even in the higher age range brackets, the desire to know what is accessible from the user’s phone is remarkably high:

The take-away from survey graph like this is perhaps not immediately clear. While it is easy to see that interest in mobile web accessibility tilts more (although less than one might expect) toward the younger generations, the strong interest in accessing optimized content across all age groups really rives home an underlying, but indisputable and often overlooked fact: mobile users are a much more devoted and committed audience than desktop users.

Mobile users are purposeful internet users. They are not likely to be browsing idly and are by definition: on the go, needing information right away and, expecting to get it on their phone. Furthermore, there numbers are much higher than many think. This study concludes that, already, about 1 in 5 people access the Web on their mobile devices daily. However, if you add in all those who report using the mobile web at least weekly, you’re looking at more than 50% or users who access the internertt on their phones at least once a week!

If you’ve been reading avidly you’ll recall that in our previous post on Neilsen’s mobile web market report, it was revealed that there were 95 million mobile web subscribers in May 2008 in USA.  So lets do some quick math here:

OK, so if AT LEAST this many users are browsing on their phones today and want optimized content, how many are your customers? More importantly, how many do you stand to lose to a competitor that does offer a mobile Web site.

Or best of all, how many do you stand to gain at your competitor’s expense by providing an optimized view of your Web site? Couple that with the year over year growth rate of mobile web use and the answers require less than back of the envelope arithmetic to become apparent.

Our dedicated friends over at BerryReview.com just announced the results of their Blackberry use poll: “What Secondary Feature Do You Use Most” It should come as no surprise that, of the more than 500 users polled, mobile web browsing carried the day easily. With the Blackberry Bold on the way, the time for companies with heavy traffic from on the go business people should be considering implementing a mobile web solution more than ever.