Over two-thirds (72%) of total website traffic in Asia Pacific came from smartphones in 2020, up 16% globally from 2019, a new study by leading experience analytics company, Contentsquare has found. Despite the increase, just over half (51%) of mobile users bounce after viewing just one page.
The ‘2021 Digital Experience Benchmark’ incorporates global Contentsquare session data from some of the world’s biggest brands and includes over 20 billion web sessions (4.3 billion of which were in APAC) from over 900 websites around the world.
Commenting on the findings, Contentsquare managing director for Asia Pacific, David Bochsler said mobile-first consumers in the APAC region are increasingly always-on and time-poor.
“For brands, optimising the mobile user experience is no longer a luxury, but a necessity to unlock the potential of this user environment. There is a need to evolve e-commerce players’ understanding of user experience and how they interact with brands on their smartphones,” he said.
Contentsquare’s benchmark found that in APAC, the luxury sector dominated mobile in 2020, with 80% of the industry’s visits originating from a mobile device, followed closely by telco and financial services/insurance industries, which had smartphone users make up 73% and 72% of all online visits respectively.
The report also highlighted the explosion of mobile app usage globally 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 alone.
Contentsquare chief marketing officer, Niki Hall added, “Digital teams and business leaders are already familiar with the mobile imperative. 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 in to customer intelligence to ensure the experiences they design match users’ goals and expectations.”