I just posted an article last week about Google’s new Image Extension that can be added to your AdWords Campaign. I wasn’t really planning on writing another article about Google’s products or studies for a while but after going through a webinar and attending a recent training event, I thought I would share some of the more important points as they relate to Internet usage today. I’ll try to keep it brief and in bullets for easier reading.
- It is estimated that 65% of consumers have a smartphone in 2013. The majority of our daily media interactions are based on a variety of screens. In fact, 90% of all media interactions are screen based (smartphone, laptop/PC, Table, Television).
- On average, we spend 4.4 hours of our leisure time in front of screens each day. Of course, this is just leisure time and does not include the time we spend in front of screens at work.
- The larger the screen, the more time we spend in front of it: Smartphones: 17 minutes; Tablet: 30 minutes; PC/Laptop: 39 minutes; TV: 43 minutes
- PC/Laptops are used to keep us productive and informed taking up 24% of our daily media interactions. We use PCs and laptops for more intensive and focused research.
- Smartphones are typically used for 38% of our daily media interactions. They are used for short searches, quick bursts of information, social media and on-the-go communications and information needed right away.
- Tablets take up 9% of our daily media interactions. They are primarily used at home and they are mostly use for soft research or searches that more likely will be completed on a PC or Laptop.
- Smartphones are the most common starting place for online activities. That’s why it is so important to have a responsive website design these days. From Smartphones, we move on to Tablets and PCs.
- The type of activity that each device is most used for varies by device. We use smartphones to search for information 65% of the times. Laptops or PCs are mostly used for planning trips or managing finances online. Tablets are mostly used to shop online or to plan a trip although the latter is only 15% compared to 38% on a PC
- We also like to multi-task between our devices and 78% of simultaneous use is multi-tasking. The most common combinations are 92% of the time we use our smartphone and PC simultaneously; the same 92% of the time we combine the use of our PC while watching TV. 90% of the time we combine using our smartphone with TV. Finally, 89% of the time we are watching TV while using our Tablet at the same time. If you’re watching TV at night after dinner while searching or browsing the Internet of your Tablet at the same time, you know which group you belong to.
- TV no longer monopolizes our attention. 77% of TV viewers use another device at the same time in a typical day. However the TV is the primary source that prompts us to initiate a web search on another device.
- Smartphones clearly lead when it comes to shopping on the go. 67% of us start shopping on one device (primarily a smartphone or tablet) and then we move from one screen to another to continue our search on different screen.
These are all very interesting facts although they shouldn’t be a surprise to most of us. We already know that we are more and more moving towards portable devices. We have them with us all day long and it just makes sense that most of our initial Internet actions happen on a mobile device. I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a responsive website design these days. If your initial search from a smartphone is not fulfilling, chances are you will search for something else. And from there, the path to the larger screen will already be set by those websites that have created a better first impression on the smaller screen. If you need help making sure that your website is mobile friendly or if you want to convert it into a Responsive Design, our team at MGR Web Services can handle that for you.
Until next time, this is Manuel Gil del Real (MGR)
Source: Google, Inc: The New Multi-Screen World: Understanding Cross-Platform Consumer Behavior.