studies

The problem (and opportunity) is big...

While nearly 75% of users prefer a mobile-friendly site, 96% of consumers say they've encountered sites that were clearly not designed for mobile devices. This is both a big problem and a big opportunity for companies seeking to engage with mobile users.

Mobile-friendly sites turn users into customers

The fastest path to mobile customers is through a mobile-friendly site. If your site offers a great mobile experience, users are more likely to make a purchase.

• When they visited a mobile-friendly site, 74% of people say they're more likely to return to that site in the future
• 67% of mobile users say that when they visit a mobile-friendly site, they're more likely to buy a site's product or service

Not having a mobile-friendly site helps your competitors

A great mobile site experience is becoming increasingly important, and users will keep looking for a mobile-friendly site until they find one that works for them. That means your competitors will benefit if your site falls down on the job (and vice versa).

• 61% of users said that if they didn't find what they were looking for right away on a mobile site, they'd quickly move on to another site
• 79% of people who don't like what they find on one site will go back and search for another site
• 50% of people said that even if they like a business, they will use them less often if the website isn't mobile-friendly

Non-mobile friendly sites can hurt a company's reputation

It turns out that you can lose more than the sale with a bad mobile experience. A site that's not designed for mobile can leave users feeling downright frustrated, and these negative reactions translate directly to the brands themselves.

• 48% of users say they feel frustrated and annoyed when they get to a site that's not mobile-friendly
• 36% said they felt like they've wasted their time by visiting those sites
• 52% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company
• 48% said that if a site didn't work well on their smartphones, it made them feel like the company didn't care about their business

Takeaways

While the research confirms what we already suspected -- that mobile users actively seek out and prefer to engage with mobile-friendly sites -- it's a sobering reminder of just how quickly and deeply users attitudes about companies can be shaped by mobile site experiences. Having a great mobile site is no longer just about making a few more sales. It's become a critical component of building strong brands, nurturing lasting customer relationships, and making mobile work for you.

Visit howtogomo.comto explore resources to help build a mobile-friendly website. Download the below quick sheet to share these learnings.

For the first time ever the majority of purchasers does online research before purchasing. The online purchase share shows limited growth for most products, however online research grows strongly and consistently across all countries and products.

Key Findings

• Online purchase mainly grows in travel and media, however online research grows strongly and consistently across all countries and products.
• Online research grows equally strong amongst online and offline purchasers and is consistent amongst countries and products as well.
• Products of higher value show both more online research and more online purchase than lower value products.

This study looks at ROPO (research online purchase offline) behaviour in UK FMCG sector, focusing on FMCG searchers and those who have visited a grocery retail online site. The study combines single source data for online behaviors and offline purchases in those categories.

Key Findings:

• In 2011, 64% of UK internet users spent significant time researching brands before making a major purchase (vs. 50% in 2008).
• 47% of main shoppers visit grocery retailer websites and 72% search for FMCG related terms. Two thirds of main shoppers search for Food & Drink related terms, half search for Beauty information.
• Main shoppers who Search & Visit spend +13% more in-store than those who do neither.
• Main shoppers who search for FMCG information online are younger, more affluent and have larger households.

This study provides a deep dive into ROPO (research online purchase offline) behaviour in UK FMCG sector. It focuses on FMCG searchers and those who have visited a Grocery retail online site. The study combines single source data for online behaviors and offline purchases in those categories.

Key findings:.

• In 2011, 64% of UK internet users spent significant time researching brands before making a major purchase (vs. 50% in 2008)
• Main shoppers who search and visit spend +13% more in-store than those who do neither
• Main shoppers who search for FMCG information online are younger, more affluent and have larger households.

The Global Business Map provides a country profile for 48 countries on 6 different continents. The country profiles give an overview of fundamental country facts and specific market insights. We have collected those metrics most relevant for uncovering market potential and to help you recognise business opportunities specific to your company. This guide also provides an introduction to a range of products and tools available to you at Google, which are each explained briefly to help you get acquainted with the different ways in which you can reach out and connect with your target markets.

Each country page contains the following data:

• Basic Facts: official country name, capital, area, top-level domain, official or most spoken language, local currency, age distribution and GDP in terms of purchasing power parity and rank. GDP in each country has been expressed in US Dollars.
• Demographics: Population (total, growth and country rank), a breakdown of the age distribution according to gender and age group, median age.
• Internet statistics: The Internet penetration of the population, the total number of broadband and fixed Internet subscriptions, as found by the International Telecommunications Union.
• Google Contact: The email address that you can use to get in touch with our local representatives. They will be happy to give you more insight into the statistics you can find in the pages here and connect your ideas with the appropriate Google products.

The question is no longer “Why should I invest in mobile?” - we’ve all read statistics about the tremendous adoption of mobile and tablet devices - but “How should I invest in mobile?”

Check out this UK Mobile Playbook in order to help you find answers to crucial questions, such as:

• How does mobile change our value proposition?
• How does mobile impact our digital destinations?
• Is our organisation adapting to mobile?
• How should marketing adapt to mobile?
• How can we connect with our tablet audience?

This study will help you understand more about the ROI of pre-roll ads in the media mix.

Key findings:

• Although TV reach is higher, the YouTube pre-roll adds 10% incremental reach
• The pre-roll campaign, particularly when combined with TV campaign viewing, has the strongest brand impact
• The YouTube pre-roll campaign has a greater impact per contact than does the TV and is effective at lower frequencies
• The targeted pre-roll is more efficient than the TV campaign in driving sales

One of the aims of Cadbury’s London 2012 programme is to engage with a younger audience of customers aged 18 to 25 years old. With the goals of interacting with this tech-savvy demographic, standing out from other sponsors and extending its reputation for creativity and innovation, Cadbury embraced Google+ in the following ways:

• With every advert or new creative, early in the process Cadbury thinks, ‘How are we going to bring this alive in social media? Is there a way for our fans to become a part of it?’
• Cadbury has been careful to give their followers a reason to come to their Google+ page by sharing exclusive content they can’t find anywhere else. For example, special edition Google+ chocolate bars were made to feature on the page.
• Hangouts let Cadbury connect fans to interesting personalities, from Olympic athletes to chocolate experts. "Hangouts are a really great way to quite literally see people eye to eye."
• Use of social extensions in AdWords, which links Cadbury’s Google+ page to its AdWords campaigns drove a 17% uplift in click-through rate (CTR) across all their AdWords campaigns.
• Installment of the Google+ badge on its homepage drove a consistent 10,000 new Google+ followers per day. Also, since the addition of the badge and code on www.cadbury.co.uk, Cadbury experienced an increase of 7.5% of traffic from Google URLs.

This research offers unique insights into the usage of internet enabled devices (PCs, smartphones, tablets, etc.) as well as internet & broadband penetration and online behaviour. The enumeration survey was conducted during Q1 2012 in 40 markets and this is the overview presentation on 11 Northern and Central Europe (NACE) markets.

Key results:

• Growing smartphone & tablet penetration in all NACE markets.
• In Norway, Sweden and UK every second adult uses a smartphone.
• In most NACE-countries mobile networks are the most often used channel to go online via smartphone.
• In every market laptops are more common than desktops – Norway has highest laptop share.
• Across all countries (private) internet usage is on a high level. In the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark private usage reaches 90%.

With UK smartphone penetration now at 51% and 59% of smartphone owners accessing the Internet every day from their device, mobile has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Google partnered with Ipsos OTX Media CT to understand how the growing adoption of smartphones has transformed consumer behaviour from media consumption to commerce to connecting with the world around us. These insights can help advertisers understand how to best use smartphones to engage with their customers. Here's what we found:

• Smartphone users are multi-tasking their media with 80% using their phone while doing other things such as watching TV (55%). 85% of smartphone users look for local information on their phone and 81% take action a result.
• Smartphones are critical shopping tools with 95% having researched a product or service on their device. 31% of smartphone users have made a purchase on their phone.
• Mobile ads are noticed by 84% of smartphone users. Smartphones are also a critical component of traditional advertising as 56% have performed a search on their smartphone after seeing an offline ad. Review the full study to understand the business implications and opportunities for marketers.

This study looks at mobile, tablet and internet usage across five key markets USA, UK, Japan, Germans, and France.

Key findings:

• An immense increase in smartphone usage across all key markets year over year – particularly in UK (+21%) – and a decrease in feature phone usage.
• Smartphone penetration is now at: US 44%, UK 51%, France 38%, Germany 29%, Japan 20%. Tablet usage also continues to grow in all five markets, with the largest increase in the US (now 13%) and UK (now 11%).
• Netbooks (like the Chromebook), purely designed to access the web, are on the rise especially in Germany, Japan, and US.
• In all key markets, almost every sixth household already uses internet enabled flatscreen TV devices.
• Internet penetration is at a high level in all key markets (around 80%) - PCs and tablets are mainly used for internet access.
• Across all five markets, smartphone usage is more prevalent in younger, male and highly educated segments as well as in larger households with children.

Google commissioned GfK to help understand women aged 25-50 who buy CPG products for their household. Key findings included:

• 88% of British women use the internet and search online.
• 60% of UK women have searched online within the CPG category.
• Women who search in the category spend, on average, 20% more in store.