Another great article on the effects that technology on online marketing.
The number of paid search clicks being made by tablet and smartphone users has soared over the last six months, new figures show. Mobile and tablet users accounted for ten per cent of all US search ad clicks in the fourth quarter of last year, representing a doubling in click share since Q3.
Furthermore, the research from Marin Software, shows the click through rate (CTR) of search ads served on tablets was 38 per cent higher than the CTR of ads on desktops. The US Online Advertising Report is made of key findings from the firm’s Global Online Advertising Index, which is itself comprised of data from more than 1,000 large advertisers and agencies.
“In Q4 2011, we saw paid search marketers allocate a larger portion of budgets to mobile devices than ever before,” said Matt Lawson, vice-president of marketing and partnerships at Marin Software.
“Given the favourable performance characteristics of mobile advertising today, we expect this trend to continue as advertising dollars begin to chase consumer behaviour.”
However, research from Econsultancy has shown that 70 per cent of firms have not optimised their website for tablet and smartphone use, while 84 per cent are not designing marketing emails for mobile.
The Marin Software report also found that across Google, Yahoo! and Bing, paid search spend increased 35 per cent, while click volume increased 56 per cent. Most importantly for brands using mobile advertising, CTR increased 23 per cent and cost per click (CPC) decreased 14 per cent during Q4 2011 compared to the same period a year ago.
According to the authors: “The combination of improving CTRs and declining CPC, point to significant efficiency gains for advertisers over the past year.”
In addition, search advertisers on Google saw a 48 per cent increase in clicks compared to last year, without an accompanying increase in impressions. CTR on Google also increased 48 per cent, while CPC decreased seven per cent. The authors say this suggests large-scale advertisers were able to realise “efficiency gains through improved matching and more effective bidding”.