Statista informs us that the number of registered mobile WiFi internet connections around the world increased from 268 million in 2007 to a staggering 3.4 billion in 2015. This was in addition to the growth of fixed broadband internet subscriptions, which quadrupled from 220 million in 2005 to 884 million in 2016.
So the 3.5 billion people who are now connected to the internet don't just stick to one way of accessing it. They might use a smartphone, tablet, or plain old desktop PC. In fact, data from Pew Research says that 66% of Americans own at least two digital devices – smartphone, desktop or laptop computer, or tablet – and 36% own all three. Here's how they access the internet:
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It is clear that consumers today have access to more devices than ever and they utilize them to go online more frequently, anytime, anywhere (from home, work, other locations, and "on the go"). In fact, as far back as 2013, a Facebook-commissioned study found that 40 percent of multi-device owners in the US and UK start activity on one device and complete it on another.
The scenario is further complicated when it comes to business or the workplace.
Each sale, or "conversion," is a result of complex user behavior. Since consumers interact with businesses multiple times through various devices before actually making a purchase, it becomes a lot more difficult for organizations to track customer journeys and engage with them at relevant touchpoints. Let's see if it is possible for the organization to do so successfully and consistently.
Track Conversions across Devices
Monitoring your website performance and managing user interaction at every digital touchpoint are imperative if the organization wants to offer a better user experience or build a brand relationship.
Comparing in-device conversion rates might be misleading in this multi-device scenario. If you look at your analytics you will find the conversion rates for desktops and laptops are almost three times that of mobiles. This is because a huge number of consumers use mobile devices to research products and services and then move onto their desktops to complete the purchase due to better user experience, clarity of order information (due to size) and learned perception of trust in the transaction process.
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So, in order to reveal the actual contributions of each device towards the conversion rate, you need advanced analytics as well as better attribution models. This is one of the primary reasons why Google Analytics rolled out the UserID feature and made the transition to Universal Analytics. This helps you assess how exactly people are interacting with your sites and apps across various devices. A unique ID is attached to every user and Google associates all their activities to this unique ID (however, this information is not personally identifiable).
The simplest example is this: a unique ID is assigned to a user when they first log into your site and it gets updated with new attributes every time the same login is used to visit the site. Other reports give you more data about
- Device Overlap: what type and how many devices are used to access your content
- Device Paths: the last device types used before a conversion
- Acquisition Device: the relationship between acquisitions and conversions
People are using multiple devices to research and complete a buying cycle, so you need to understand what leads to a sale and what part the device used to access your web property plays in it. Understanding this will help you take important decisions such as:
- Whether to opt for a responsive website or dynamic serving
- What kind of content to show on mobile or desktop devices
- How to optimize navigation and landing pages for mobile
Tailoring to User Preferences
Now that you know exactly which devices contribute towards your conversions, you might get busy crafting unique user experiences around different devices. However, there's only so much a good display can do: apps and websites will only be successful if they resonate with the users and help meet a need.
This means you need to know what the users think about the kind of experience you offer them. Are they satisfied with the product or service you are offering? Do they require any other features? What are their expectations?
CaptainForm is an online tool that assists you in building website forms to use in multiple situations, such as getting feedback with a survey or a poll, registering new users, offering research in exchange for information, gathering emails for your newsletter, or simply building a quiz widget to assist in your content marketing efforts.
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CaptainForm also provides pre-designed templates which can be used with a single click. All templates are customizable, so you can create yours according to your customers' preferences, branding scheme, or existing website design. You can add images, Google Maps, ratings, signatures, etc. to forms.
It is also available in the form of a simple WordPress auto-popup newsletter plugin. You have full control over the size, content, formatting and timing of the popup. Such tools also help you track users and obtain useful insights via advanced analytics, so you get consolidated data under one roof.
Tweaking Page Performance
With 4G access now available across the globe to mobile internet users, fast loading websites are taken for granted. It is estimated that 17% of all mobile data worldwide is carried over 4G networks.
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4G offers higher internet speed compared to fixed broadband in many places; as a result, more consumers are using their mobile devices for research as well as impulse purchases. Consumers can access information at a faster speed and compare products, prices and service within seconds.
This means if you fail to offer the kind of experience the potential customers are looking for, they will quickly switch over to your competitors. According to an oft-cited Kissmetrics study, 47 percent of consumers expect a web page (from a desktop) to load within 2 seconds or less, and a 1 second delay in page response results in a 7 percent reduction in conversions. Google's Site Performance for Webmasters video also proclaims that "Two seconds is the threshold for ecommerce website acceptability. At Google, we aim for under a half second."
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Unlike desktops, where we're usually multitasking with ten different windows, while using mobile devices we generally focus on doing one thing at a time. It is thus very important that you optimize your mobile site for loading and performance. Google's Page Speed Insights allows you to measure your mobile site's performance and get pointers on how to improve loading speeds.
In Conclusion
Your cross-device conversions depend on a number of factors – in order to understand what leads to a sale or what causes a user to ditch the site, you should be able to track their journey across all the devices. Multiple device usage will become the norm in the near future, so you must be ready to adapt to this scenario and take it into account while designing your UX, if you are to retain any semblance of a competitive advantage.