50 Mobile App Data Trends in 2018

In case you hadn’t already noticed, mobile devices are now most people’s preferred way to access the Internet and its vast content. That’s partially because smartphone adoption continues to rise (nearly 80% of Americans own one), and the average user is now spending more than three hours per day on their phones. Not surprisingly, the continual rise in mobile adoption and usage is compelling companies to pursue “mobile-first” strategies, which prioritize mobile experiences (such as mobile applications and mobile-responsive websites) above traditional desktop experiences.

These trends are also causing ripple effects in a number of related areas: advertising, media usage, and e-commerce, for example. What follows is a collection of facts, predictions, and statistics for marketers, professionals, and the general public to understand the state of mobile experiences in 2018.

Mobile Advertising

1. Mobile Ad Spending Worldwide to Reach $ 176 billion in 2020. (Statista)

Perhaps not surprising — the more people consume content on mobile, the more companies will want to advertise on mobile platforms.

2. Mobile Devices Account for 53% of Paid Search Clicks. (Aumcore)

With the continual increase in screen sizes and improvements to mobile web experiences, people are now clicking on search ads willingly, not by mistake (as perhaps some have done in the past).

3. Phone Based CPCs are 24% Lower than Desktop & CTRs are 40% Higher. (Aumcore)

Advertising on mobile platforms are starting to show great results, and you can (for the time) take advantage of lower costs-per-click (CPC).

4. Google Drives 95% of all US Paid Search Ad Clicks on Mobile. (SearchEngineLand)

In addition to dominating search in general, Google is even more dominant when it comes to mobile search in the US. If you’re focused on reaching users in the US, make sure you offer a great mobile experience.

5. 87% of Facebook’s Advertising Revenue Comes from Mobile. (Adweek)

How many of us who use Facebook are NOT using it on mobile? (Not many, right?) Mobile applications are increasing vital to companies that want to generate digital advertisement revenues.

6. By 2019, Mobile Ads are Expected to Represent 72% of all U.S. Digital Ad Spending (MarketingLand)

As said previously, as mobile usage increases, so will ad spend on mobile platforms.

7. Worldwide Mobile Ads Revenue of Twitter to Reach $3.58 Billion in 2018. (Statista)

Though the social behemoth was relatively late to monetize its platform, Twitter is becoming highly relevant when it comes to mobile advertising.

8. 88% of Smartphone Users Increased their Use of Mobile Coupons in the Past 3 Years. (Adcolony)

A whole market has emerged around the growing use of mobile coupons, which incidentally, are great for the environment!

Mobile Shopping/E-commerce

9. 84% of Smartphone Shoppers use Their Phones while in a Physical Store. (ThinkWithGoogle)

Shoppers nowadays use phones as they shop in any physical bricks-and-mortar store. They might be doing price comparisons, looking for reviews, sending photos to friends, or any number of related activities.

10. 61% of People have a Better Opinion of Brands when they Offer a Good Mobile Experience. (HubSpot)

Obviously! What would consumers think about a company who is blatantly ignoring their preferred way of consuming Internet content?

11. 80% of Shoppers Used a Mobile Phone Inside of a Physical Store to either Look up Product Reviews, Compare Prices or Find Alternative Store Locations. (LinkedIn)

Again, shoppers don’t want to leave pertinent information out of their purchasing decisions. Smartphones bring valuable information to their fingertips, which can be great for shoppers and not-so-great for physical retail stores that do not have strategies in place to account for this shopper behavior.

12. 40.4% of all Users buy More of a Brand’s Goods after Downloading its E-commerce App. (Jmango360)

Offering a native e-commerce app is one of the best ways to increase share-of-wallet and purchasing behavior from your customers.

13. People view 4.2x More Products Per Session within Apps, Compared to Mobile Sites. (BluesenseNetworks)

With a native e-commerce mobile app, shoppers enjoy a better user experience that engages them more. This leads to more product views and more purchase behavior.

14. Having an App Increases Your Chances of Getting People Further Down the Purchase Funnel. (Jmango360)

Apps push more people down the purchase funnel, with 3x higher conversion rates compared to mobile sites and even 1.5 times more conversions per session than via desktop.

15. For Every Second of Delay in Mobile Page Load, Conversions can Fall by up to 20%. (ThinkWithGoogle)

If you want higher conversion rates, your load times need to be on point, especially in e-commerce. If your pages take more time to load than your customers are willing to spend staring at a blank or incomplete page, you’re not just saying goodbye to a few orders, you could be losing valuable customers that would have spent tens of thousands of dollars with you over their lifetime.

16. 78% of Shoppers will Ignore a Retailer’s Offer if it is not Personalized. (Deviceatlas)

Personalized experiences are set to dominate, as Amazon and others have raised the bar by providing personalized recommendations based on your interests, past purchases, and other data insights. E-commerce companies must begin to invest in AI/machine-learning to provide the user experience their shoppers have come to expect.

17. Mobile-influenced Offline Spending is Already Over $1 Trillion. (Biznessapps)

People do heavy mobile research before making offline purchases in almost all categories. So even if your business metrics don’t necessarily show a huge contribution from mobile, you should consider the role mobile experiences have on in-store behavior.

18. 69% of Consumers Worldwide Between the Ages of 18 & 39 Use Mobile Devices to Research Products before they Buy. (Aumcore)

Again, all the more reason for you to optimize for mobile devices.

Mobile Users

19. According to the data in January 2018, the Global Mobile Population Amounted to 3.7 Billion Unique Users. (Statista)

3.7 billion unique users! It’s no wonder companies like Facebook have prioritized providing Internet access to every corner of the earth.

20. Smartphone users in the US to reach 271 Million in 2022. (Statista)

Needless to say, people in the world’s most advanced countries tend to be ahead in the global adoption curve. If you do business in the US, you need to provide an optimized mobile experience.

21. The number of tablet users in the U.S. is forecast to pass the 180 million mark for the first time in 2019. (Statista)

Tablet users are not to be ignored. Unlike smartphones, tablets provide an experience that is an easier transition for people who are used to staring at gigantic computer monitors.

22. 52% of all Global Web Pages Served Mobile Phones from 2009–2018. (Statista)

More than half of the global web traffic was from mobiles. This is going to increase exponentially in the years ahead, as more people adopt and behavior shifts towards mobile. Just having a desktop version of a website or even a mobile-friendly website won’t cut it anymore. Companies will also need to provide native mobile applications to stand apart from their competition.

23. As of 2017, 51.12% of Internet Traffic is from Smartphones. (Statista)

The majority of internet traffic is now from smartphone users. Hard to imagine, considering that smartphones were first invented just about a decade ago.

24. Top 5 Screens Used Among Teenagers. (ThinkWithGoogle)

Smartphone 78% Laptop 69% Television 68% Gaming Console 62% Tablet 52%

Smartphones are the #1 type of screen used by teenagers. (Perhaps that’s why strong eye contact from teens is a thing of the past.)

25. Android was the World’s Most Used Operating System in 2017. (MarketingLand)

In 2017, Android had a 38.9% worldwide market share as the most used operating system, followed by Windows (36.9%) and iOS (13.45%).

26. Mobile Email will Account for 22 to 77% of Email Opens. (Emailmonday)

Pretty clear. People are now using mobile devices for email as well.

27. 21% are Opened on Tablets. (Emailmonday)

Tablets are key for those providing email experiences as well.

28. By 2018, Mobile Email users are Expected to Reach 2.2 Billion. (Emailisnotdead)

Again, people are increasingly using their mobile devices to read and keep up with email.

Time Spent on Mobile

29. 94% of IT Professionals Expect Mobile Security Attacks to Become More Frequent. (Mobilebusinessinsights)

With everything going Mobile First, mobile security will become an uphill task. 79% of IT professionals report increased difficulty in securing devices.

30. In 2017, Average Time Spent on Mobile Using Internet was 223 Minutes. (Statista)

In 2016, Millennials spent 188 minutes per day on mobile for internet related tasks. In 2017, this number rose to 223 minutes per day.

31. 46% of Smartphone Users Drop off in less than 10 seconds, Making Mobile Optimization a High Priority. (Impactbnd)

Without a speedy mobile experience, you could lose valuable visitors before they even have a chance to see your content.

32. Google is Responsible for 96% of all Smartphone Search Traffic. (Omnicoreagency)

Completely dominant in search, especially when it comes to smartphones.

33. 90% of Media Time on Mobile Devices is Spent in Apps and 10% on Mobile Web. (Aumcore)

It’s not enough to be “mobile-friendly”. If you want to occupy greater mind share versus your competition, consider building a native mobile app that attracts and retains your users’ attention.

34. Mobile now Accounts for Nearly 70% of Digital Media Time. (Marketingland)

Whether you’re Youtube or just a company that uses digital media online, offering your media on mobile platforms is critical.

35. Digital Audience Comprises of 22% Females & 16% Males. (Marketingland)

From the total audiences that is exclusively dependent on smartphones for using internet, 22% are Females and 16% males.

36. Top Digital Media Categories in terms of Overall Time Spent are Social Media & Entertainment. (Marketingland)

Facebook, despite its well publicized struggles over the past year, remains the top social media app/website. Second to Facebook stands Snapchat, with the most engagement from its users.

37. 80% of Social Media Time is Spent on a Mobile Device (ComScore).

Make sure that your social media presence is optimized for mobile devices, and build strong social media integrations into your mobile applications.

38. In Online Mobile Searches by Industry, 72% Goes to Food & Beverages. (Searchengineland)

Food and beverage dominates with 72%. I guess we’re really that hungry/thirsty so much of the time.

39. In Feb 2018, Alphabet Accounted for 23 % of Total Time Spent on Mobile Apps.(Statista)

Alphabet (Google) was at #1 with a percentage of 23% and Facebook, surprisingly was at second with a percentage of 15.1%.

40. Smartphone Owners are Using 9 Apps Per Day, and 30 Per Month. (Techcrunch)

Smartphone users spread their time amongst a number of a different apps, some which they might use daily, and others they use more sporadically.

Mobile User Behavior

41. Voice Search on a Daily Basis — 55% Teens and 44% Adults. (Omnicoreagency)

With Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant, people have started to embrace voice search in their everyday lives.

42. 25% of People Ages 16–24 Use Voice Search on Mobile. (Branded3)

The relatively new way to search for information online is showing strong adoption among teens and young adults.

43. 60% Users Don’t Return to a Problematic Mobile Site. (Impactbnd)

Google says that over 60% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing, and 40% visit a competitor’s site instead. One bad experience loses you two customers, at least. One for the person who experienced it and the other for the person he would have shared your site with.

44. According to Google’s Official Blog, By 2020, More than Half of all Queries will be done by Voice Search. (MarkGrowth)

If you like to search for information online, start doing those vocal exercises as the voice search market will continue to grow by leaps and bounds.

45. 46% of Americans Check Their Smartphones Before Getting Up. (Techtimes)

A 2017 report found that 46% of Americans admitted to checking their smartphones before they even get out of bed in morning. I have to admit, that includes me too. While many of us know this isn’t necessarily healthy or productive, we often can’t help but want to “catch up” first thing in the morning.

46. 53% of Visits are Abandoned if a Mobile Site Takes Longer than Three Seconds to Load. (hobo-web.co.uk)

This is very important. Page speed is one of the key factors that determines who stays at the top of the SERP. With Google going Mobile-first, page speed on mobile is now becoming even more important than ever.

47. Millennials Check Their Phone 150 Times per Day. (Inc)

There is a science to this behavior. Checking your phone releases dopamine inside your brain. That tricks yourself into the feeling that you’ve accomplished something. For marketers and software creators, this is a powerful force to consider when building mobile applications and mobile experiences.

48. 1 in 2 Trips Starts on Mobile. (ThinkWithgoogle)

Not surprising that people who like to be on the go also like to plan their trips on the go. For businesses that focus on travel experiences or transportation (think Uber or Lyft), providing an optimized mobile experience is absolutely mandatory.

49. 85% of Travelers Use Mobile Devices to Book Travel Activities. (Adweek)

Even while on trips, popular digital activities include: navigation 60%, looking for restaurants (54%), 34% social media apps, travel apps (23%), and transportation apps (12%).

50. An Estimated 84 % of Communications Will be Visual by 2018. (Inc)

Though this applies across all platforms, it’s critical for those who focus on mobile. In optimizing your mobile experience, ensure that you’re using strong visuals that appeal to users on multiple levels (not just rational).

Originally published at citrusbits.com on April 25, 2018.