Nearly two-thirds (64%) of total website traffic came from smartphones in 2020 — up 16% from 2019 — according to a new global study of 20 billion web sessions.
The study, from experience analytics company, Contentsquare, finds that despite the increase, the research reveals that almost half (49%) of mobile users bounce after viewing just one page.
The Contentsquare’s ‘2021 Digital Experience Benchmark’ also reveals that:
• the luxury sector dominated mobile in 2020, with 76% of the industry’s visits originating from a mobile device
• this was closely followed by the beauty and apparel industries, which had smartphone users make up 72% and 70% of all online visits respectively
• desktop still dominates in the financial services (57%) and B2B (81%) industries, where visitors tend to access sites on work computers or prefer larger screen size to complete transactions
• mobile app screen views increased by a whopping 202%
The ‘2021 Digital Experience Benchmark’ incorporates global Contentsquare session data from some of the world’s biggest brands. The anonymized data set includes over 20 billion web sessions from over 900 websites around the world, providing unparalleled insight into previously misunderstood user behaviours.
Commenting on the findings, Niki Hall, CMO at Contentsquare said, “Digital teams and business leaders are already familiar with the mobile imperative — one we’ve been designing for since Forrester started discussing a mobile-first approach almost 10 years ago. The acceleration of smartphone usage observed in 2020 serves as a reminder that to remain competitive today, you need to offer a seamless experience on both your mobile site and app.”
“Smartphones are no longer just another way for visitors to interact and shop with your brand — they’re becoming the preferred way for consumers to discover and research new products and services. And with almost half of mobile users exiting your site before they make it to the second page, brands should lean on customer intelligence to ensure the experiences they design match users’ goals and expectations.”
Contentsquare’s benchmark also found that the luxury sector dominated mobile in 2020, with 76% of the industry’s visits originating from a mobile device. Following closely behind were the beauty and apparel industries, which had smartphone users make up 72% and 70% of all online visits respectively.
However, the research also reveals that desktop still dominates in the financial services (57%) and B2B (81%) industries, where visitors tend to access sites on work computers or prefer larger screen size to complete transactions.
The report also highlights the explosion of mobile app usage in the last year, which has seen mobile app screen views increase by +202%. Time spent on mobile apps peaked at the start of the pandemic, with a +91% increase in session time in March.
“Contentsquare’s annual benchmark of digital customer behaviours provides great insight into how web and app browsing trends vary sharply from one industry to another and from one device to another,” said Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst with ZK Research. “Every brand is unique, of course, but this aggregated data set allows teams to compare the performance of their CX against their sector benchmarks, and to see if they’re ahead or lagging in the race for the perfect experience.”
Methodology
Research based on Contentsquare’s database of over 900 global websites to collect over 20+ billion individual user sessions from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. The data was collected and analysed data from desktop, mobile, tablet, and mobile app interactions and sessions across 10 industries to learn more about the evolution of online experience and quantify the impact COVID-19 had on businesses last year.