Google Mobile Ads Blog

GoMo: Learn about mobile-friendly sites from Dennis Mink, DudaMobile CMO

2012-02-24T09:36:00.001-08:00

Are you looking for a way to bring your business site to new heights? Have you considered how users see your site on their mobile devices? As we approach the end of the first quarter, we teamed up with DudaMobile’s Chief Marketing Officer, Dennis Mink, to learn more about the why and how of optimizing your site for mobile devices. DudaMobile is a mobile website creation platform that makes it easy to turn existing websites into mobile-friendly sites. Read the interview below and download the full whitepaper here.

Google: First things first. What exactly does optimizing your site for mobile devices mean?

Dennis: Take a look at your desktop and smartphone screens next to one another. The desktop is a whole lot bigger than the smartphone, right? Optimizing your site means that you’re simplifying it, keeping it clean and making sure it is clear what action you want visitors to take when they visit. A mobile-friendly site is focused on speed, because the on-the-go user wants your site to load as quickly as possible. To improve speed, you remove content like images, sticking to one or two images per page, and any other data-heavy or flash content. You also add mobile-specific features like clickable call and map buttons.

Google: We’ve probably all stumbled across bad sites while on our smartphones. The pinching and zooming can be infuriating! Just how much of a business threat is having a poor quality mobile site?

Dennis: If you take a look at the research that Compuware released, 19% of mobile users will form a negative overall perception of a company if they are dissatisfied with the mobile experience. In fact, nearly 2 in 3 users are unlikely to return to a mobile site with which they had trouble and 40% of consumers said they’d visit a competitor’s mobile site instead. Optimizing your site for mobile devices is an absolute must.

Google: And on the flipside, how much of a benefit is it for business owners to invest in optimizing their sites for mobile?

Dennis: Brand Anywhere and Luth released that 51% of consumers are more likely to purchase from retailers that have a mobile-friendly website. Also, to give some context as to how significant this issue is, Compuware released that 74% of mobile phone users will wait 5 seconds or less for a page to load and 77% of top companies’ mobile sites take more than 5 seconds to load. Right now we’re watching business owners catch up to user expectations.

Google: What are the most effective mobile-specific features to update your site with when optimizing for mobile?

Dennis: Click-to-call and click-to-map. These are powerful features that allow users to call a business or view a business’ location on a map with one tap of a finger.

Google: What sort of businesses will benefit the most from these features?

Dennis: In Q4 2011 we did a sampling of 500 different businesses and looked to see what percentage of users were calling the businesses or going to the business. We analyzed how consumers responded to different categories of local business sites. We found that 1 in 5 visits to a local business mobile site result in an immediate call to the business. Looking more closely, 44% of the times users visited transportation companies’ sites, like taxi and car services, were through the company’s click to call feature. Here’s how other local businesses compare:
DudaMobile Internal Data Q4 2011

So what does all this data mean? Basically, more and more people are contacting companies through a site’s click-to-call feature. More calls into businesses means more clients, and more sales.

Google: So let’s say I’m a small business owner with a very limited budget. I want to optimize my site for mobile, but may not be able to afford the full-charged mobile update my developer is quoting. What’s the most important advice for a small business owner considering building a mobile-friendly site?

Dennis: Think speed, size and buttons.

First, with speed, put the most important content at the top, remove unnecessary text and compress images. Make it easy to convert by guiding the user closer to purchasing with simplified forms and click-to-call options. Make it local and include an address, map and option to search for nearby locations.

Second, for size, say no to left-right scrolling and more than 7 links per page. Say yes to menus, back/forward buttons and a clear search bar. Compare the desktop and mobile versions of your site side-by-side. A user can return to where they left off on a desktop and they’ll want to be able to do that on a mobile device too. Tell your developer to include a redirect code on your mobile site so that a user is prompted to choose between the mobile or desktop versions.

Third, with buttons, be thumb-friendly. Make buttons and check-boxes large because thumbs come in all sizes.

Finally, listen to your users. Use data from user surveys and web analytics to improve your site performance over the long run.

Google: What trends are you seeing for mobile sites in 2012?

Dennis: When I think of this next year, I think, “hold on”. We expect it to be a crazy year of growth. From our side we are projecting to triple the number of sites optimized for mobile by DudaMobile (http://www.DudaMobile.com/) by the end of 2012.

The writing is on the wall. Small business owners, it’s time to take your site to new heights and make your site mobile-friendly.

To read more, download the full whitepaper here. To learn more about why mobile matters, test how your site looks on mobile and receive a free personalized report, visit GoMo.

Posted by: Suzanne Mumford, Google Mobile Ads Marketing and Jessica Sapick, Google Small Business Strategy

Barcelona goes mobile with new mobile websites for 26 famous landmarks

2012-02-22T03:00:00.021-08:00

This week Barcelona lives up to its title as the Mobile World Capital with the launch of 26 new mobile websites for some of the city’s most famous attractions, restaurants, nightclubs and businesses. Barcelona Go Mobile is a new initiative created in collaboration with Invest in Catalonia, the support of the Government of Catalonia, the City of Barcelona and Google that enables businesses to better engage with their mobile customers through new mobile websites.

The City of Barcelona is leading the way by mobilizing their own site as part of this initiative and encouraging other businesses to take full advantage of the mobile opportunity. Other famous attractions and businesses participating in this initiative include FC Barcelona, La Sagrada Familia, Casa Batlló (Gaudí), Aquarium, Picasso Museum and Fundació Joan Miró.

Check out the next game with FC Barcelona or go shopping at La Boqueria market on your mobile

We know that given a poor experience with a website on their mobile phone, 61% of mobile users won't visit it again. In Spain, 44% of consumers have a smartphone1, but only 10% of large businesses have a mobile optimized site. In addition, giving users an easy-to-navigate mobile-optimized site is key to a good experience as one in four smartphone users in Spain2 make purchases on their mobile.

With the arrival of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, there is no better time for the city’s businesses to launch new mobile sites that give them the ability to connect with new customers and tourists who are among the most frequent users of smartphones. Every year the autonomous region of Catalonia receives more than 15 million tourists, making a mobile presence essential for businesses.

Experience the might of the Sagrada Family or plan your trip in the City of Barcelona on your mobile

If you live in Barcelona, are planning a visit or just want to see some of the best this world class city has to offer, pull out your mobile and visit these new sites today through barcelonagomobile.com to discover the best of Barcelona on your mobile.

Posted by: Frank Albert Coates, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile & Social ads EMEA

1TNS Infratest GmbH, Global CATI Enumeration Survey, 2012
2Ipsos GmbH Smartphone research, 2012

Starwood Hotels & Resorts achieves 20x increase in mobile paid search ROI with ad extensions

2012-02-21T09:40:00.001-08:00

Starwood Hotels & Resorts prides itself on delighting its guests wherever they are, and mobile has provided a tremendous opportunity to further Starwood hotel’s efforts, especially as travelers become more technically savvy across multiple platforms. Working with digital marketing agency Razorfish, Starwood Hotels & Resorts began running Google mobile search ads with click-to-call (CTC) and location extensions in November 2009, using a launch and iterate approach to achieve the best results. Through using mobile ads, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Razorfish learned how guests are using ads to call as well as find directions to property locations.

“Implementing click-to-call and location extensions simultaneously boosted ROI and improved user experience,” says Amos Ductan, Senior Search Manager at Razorfish. “Mobile users are 20 times more likely to click on a map than desktop users and people who make a call are much more likely to convert. Ad extensions improved both conversions and customer experience.”

The combination of click-to-call and location ad extensions resulted in an increase in mobile paid search ROI, with CTC now driving a majority of Starwood hotel’s mobile search bookings. Additionally, Starwood hotel’s hyperlocal mobile search campaign resulted in:

20x increase in mobile paid search ROI
Mobile booking growth of 20% month on month
200% increase in mobile traffic

To learn more about how Starwood maximized mobile, see here for the full case study.

Posted by Kevin Otsuka, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Mobile becomes a core part of AdSense for content

2012-02-16T09:02:00.000-08:00

In September we announced that AdMob helps app developers build great app businesses, while AdSense helps publishers monetize their mobile web content. We have continued to invest in this vision by announcing today that our core AdSense product now supports mobile ad unit sizes, including the mobile banner ad unit for high-end mobile web pages.

Now publishers have a single AdSense product to manage their ad units across mobile and desktop, and they can accomplish powerful cross-platform tasks like unified revenue reporting broken out by desktop, tablet, and mobile.

Mobile web publishers need to update their tags to the new AdSense for content mobile ad units by May 1, 2012 when we will discontinue the AdMob mobile web product.

To learn more about how this transition may impact you, please visit our AdSense Help Center.

Posted by Vishay Nihalani, Product Manager, Mobile Ads

Mobile helps with Cupid’s last minute work

2012-02-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

Ahh, Valentine’s Day. The one day of the year when everyone tries to be a Casanova - carefully planning the details of a romantic evening - but most end up being passionate procrastinators.

Of course, you started off the week before Valentine’s Day with the best of intentions. You planned to pick up a bouquet of her favorite flowers, make a reservation at the hot new restaurant in town, get a box of chocolate covered strawberries. You took a midday break at work to do some online research. But then your day got in the way. So did the next one. And despite your best efforts, on the final days leading up to the 14th, you found yourself thanking your lucky stars for your smartphone. Fear not, you were in good company this Valentine’s Day.

Mobile makes up 62% of popular restaurant related searches on Valentine’s Day

For last-minute reservation makers, mobile was the device of choice. A whopping 62% of total US searches for popular national chain restaurants on Valentine’s Day occurred on high end mobile devices or tablets. If you weren’t advertising on mobile, you missed an opportunity to reach nearly two-thirds of consumers looking to find a restaurant.

Volume of Searches for Popular Chain Restaurants in the US

Searches for these restaurants grew 359% on mobile, 142% on desktop and 135% on tablets between February 7th and February 14th. These trends around restaurant related searches make sense when we think about the unique properties of our phones and how we use them in our daily lives - they are in our pockets and at our fingertips in that last minute frenzy; they are location aware, and they can, though we sometimes forget these days, make phone calls!

Clicks-to-call increase for last minute flower searches

Smartphones also helped save the day with last minute gift givers. Mobile searches for flower-related terms grew 227% from February 7th to February 14th in the US. On Valentine’s Day, the urgency to find flowers increased as more mobile searchers clicked on a phone number or on a link to “Get Directions” in an ad. Consumers were 560% more likely to click to make a call week over week. And mobile clicks to get directions increased 514% over the same period as people were scrambling to find a nearby florist.

Some of our passionate procrastinators went even further down to the wire, as can be seen in this chart which shows the hourly trend for clicks-to-call on flower queries in California on Valentine’s Day versus one week before. The lunch break was the last chance!

Volume of Mobile Clicks-to-Call on Flower Related Searches in California

Snuggling up to Tablets

For singles still looking for a special someone, tablets made a nice companion. On the weekend before Valentine’s Day, we saw searches for popular online personals sites grow relatively more on tablets than on computers and smartphones in the US. Those looking to make a last minute love connection seem to have been curled up with their tablets in their laps.

US Search Trends on “match.com” and “eharmony”: Scaled by Feb 6th

In the end, it all seems to have worked out for our Casanova friends. They used the magic of mobile to make their last-minute Valentine's Day celebrations feel as memorable as if they'd been planned weeks in advance.

Posted by: Dai Pham & Samantha Podos Nowak, Google Mobile Ads Marketing

GoMo: Mobile site redesign drives immediate results for 1-800-FLOWERS.COM

2012-02-14T11:14:00.000-08:00

As part of Google’s Go Mobile (“GoMo”) initiative, we wanted to share the impressive results 1-800-Flowers saw from their revamped mobile site. An early mover in the mobile space, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM began their mobile program over six years ago, and has since flowered to include both an app and mobile website as well as significant mobile advertising presence. Based on their analysis however, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM noticed that their mobile website still had room for improvement. To address the problem, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM launched an initiative to revamp their mobile site. Amit Shah, Director of Mobile and Social Media at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, recognized that the best way to approach mobile was not to simply transport their desktop website onto mobile but prioritize specific features for the mobile user.

“Trying to bring all of your desktop site to mobile misses the picture. You need to bring the right things to mobile,” says Amit.

Before After

1-800-FLOWERS.COM prioritized features such as shopping cart saving but was careful to prune less used features such as order tracking, which they identified only a small percent of desktop users utilized. Next, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM identified key content that would improve the user experience specifically for their own customers. Finally, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM streamlined the mobile shopping experience as much as possible by significantly reducing the number of steps it takes to complete a purchase and ehancing features such as a calendar that allows users to easily choose the best delivery date based on shipping prices and personal delivery needs.

By thoughtfully analyzing user behavior on their mobile site, and building enhancements to make the browsing and purchase experience even more robust, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM saw heartfelt success in the performance of their mobile website.

Increase in conversion rate and 25% increase in average time spent on site, despite decrease in steps to complete a purchase

53% reduction in cart abandonment

Increase in the average order value on mobile

Get the full study here to learn more on how to optimize best for mobile or test how your site looks on mobile at http://www.howtogomo.com/en/#test-your-site and download a report with personalized recommendations for your mobile site.

Posted by: Kevin Otsuka, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Smartphones and tablets influence consumer purchasing decisions on mobile, online and in store

2012-02-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

We know consumers love their mobile and tablet devices, but we are just beginning to develop a strong understanding of how they engage with these devices as they make their purchase decisions. To gain greater insight into this key behavior, we partnered with Ipsos during the 2011 holiday shopping season to study online shoppers. We uncovered a number of interesting consumer behaviors across desktop computers, smartphones and tablets. The powerful data we uncovered can drive best practices for advertisers at every holiday and year round.

The first key mobile insight every advertiser should know is that consumers use their smartphones at many different points in their purchase path. 41% of those who used their mobile phones to help with shopping said they made a purchase directly on their smartphone. 46% said they researched an item on their smartphone then went to a store to make their purchase. 37% said they researched an item on their smartphone then made their purchase online.

Another key mobile insight that emerged is that consumers used all three devices throughout the research process, but some activities were more popular on specific devices. Consumers who owned tablets read product reviews and looked for product information more from their tablet devices than from their desktop computer or smartphone. This is likely due to the combination of the large screen and portability of the device that enables consumers to use it more often and in more places. Consumers are carrying tablets with them to the couch, while in the kitchen, and even to bed.

Not surprisingly, more consumers used their smartphones to contact a retailer. With the natural calling ability of phones and many click-to-call phone numbers on websites and in ads, smartphones make it easy to contact retailers, whether to see if the store has the product in stock, get directions or find store hours.

While the 2011 holiday season is now firmly behind us, it’s clear that smartphones and tablets are only going to become a bigger part of the consumer shopping experience. Among consumers that used their devices to shop last year, 80% of smartphone shoppers and 70% of tablet users said they used their device more frequently this year.

To stay ahead of this shift in consumer behavior, advertisers need to make sure they have a mobile optimized site, make it easy for customers to reach them with click-to-call and deliver a seamless experience between online and offline in-store. It’s the advertisers who engage with their customers across all three devices that will have a distinct advantage in 2012.

To learn more about consumer shopping behavior across the desktop computer, smartphone and tablet and view a full report on shopper insights, go to Post Holiday Learnings for 2012.

Posted by: Dai Pham, Google Mobile Ads Marketing

Smile Designer enjoys big jump in new-patient calls with Google Mobile Ads

2012-02-10T10:10:00.000-08:00

Everyday consumers use their mobile phones to find local business information, to get directions, contact information or reviews. Research shows that 95% of smartphone consumers have looked for local information on their phones and 61% call or visit a business afterwards. Mobile advertising can provide a huge competitive advantage to local businesses to be discovered and preferred.

Ask Dr. Rania Saleh, who founded Smile Designer in Arlington, Virginia, in 2010. The success of her dentist practice in metropolitan DC, shows how running Google Mobile Ads can help a small business grow by driving more calls and attracting new customers.

Dr. Saleh is a general and cosmetic dentist. She was joined in the dental practice by an orthodontist and a periodontist. These three specialists take pride in creating a first-class experience for patients. The trio aims to attract patients who value good dentistry and want the best treatment they can get.

Once the fledgling practice had created an attractive website, which included links to starred reviews on Google and elsewhere, Smile Designer immediately launched an AdWords campaign. Although largely inexperienced in digital advertising, Dr. Saleh and her husband found AdWords easy to use. They added keywords and tested ad copy they wrote themselves. Google AdWords today constitutes about 95 percent of the practice’s advertising.

Following up its initial success with Google AdWords desktop campaigns, Dr. Saleh created a mobile-specific AdWords campaign. The ads were specific to the various practice areas and included keywords chosen especially for mobile users, mobile-specific calls to action, and text that included phone numbers.

“Mobile lets us reach people whenever and wherever they are,” Dr. Saleh says. “Patients with emergencies see our ad and use the click-to-call feature to call us right away. Others might discover our mobile ad when looking for a local dentist, then call us later from home after reading about our services and seeing the positive reviews on Google Places. Mobile helps us create a seamless experience.”

The AdWords campaigns raised Smile Designer’s competitive profile. The practice can now determine the number of people coming in through AdWords and other sources, and track clicks for keywords such as “orthodontist,” “dental implants,” “teeth whitening,” etc. The number of hits on the website jumped, as did the number of phone calls. In addition, the click-through rate (CTR) on mobile devices increased 74 percent, while the cost-per-click (CPC) dropped 34 percent.

All of this gave the dental professionals at Smile Designer something more to smile about.

To download the full Smile Designer case study, click here.

Posted by: Nabil Haschemie, Product Marketing Manager

AdMob auction enhancements

2012-02-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

To ensure that we deliver the most effective mobile ads marketplace to our customers we are changing the AdMob auction for all cost-per-click (CPC) ads.

Effective February 15, 2012, AdMob will move to an AdWords-style auction, where the winning price is determined by the quality of the ad and the other bids on that impression; the price we charge will never exceed the advertiser’s bid. In addition, we’re removing minimum bids and targeting fees to allow AdMob CPC advertisers to compete for inventory under the natural forces of supply and demand.

Advertisers will benefit from more efficient pricing and could receive cheaper clicks depending on the inventory on which they bid. High quality ads will be rewarded with an improved chance at winning the auction.

This change will occur for all CPC auctions globally on Feb 15th. There are no changes to non-CPC campaigns at this time. Advertisers should monitor their bids to see the effect on their particular campaigns, and be prepared to adjust bids & budgets to ensure they are meeting their volume & ROI goals.

We look forward to bringing AdWords auction components that have been refined over the years to the AdMob platform to benefit advertisers, users, and publishers.

Please visit the Help Center for more details.

Posted by: Chrix Finne, Product Manager

Super Bowl MVP: The mobile device - 41% of searches for Super Bowl TV ads during the game came from mobile devices

2012-02-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

What were you doing on Super Bowl Sunday? Like many of the 111 million people around the world who tuned into the game, you were probably lounging comfortably on your friend’s couch or sitting in a neighborhood bar with some buddies, holding a deliciously unhealthy snack in one hand... and your smartphone or tablet in the other.

Multi-tasking while watching TV isn’t new, but nowadays smartphones and tablets are also becoming popular couch companions. Mobile devices have driven increases in total searches because of their always on, always-with-you nature. During the Super Bowl, 41% of Google searches in the US related to Super Bowl TV ads came from mobile devices. By looking at a selection of specific Super Bowl related queries both during the game and one week before, we found that the number of searches on these terms increased at a significant rate across all devices and was particularly high for mobile. Super Bowl ad related searches in the US rose 200% on desktop, 970% on tablets and a whopping 2700% on smartphones.

For example, when Clint Eastwood talked about “Halftime in America” in the moving Chrysler spot, viewers were increasingly reaching for their mobile devices to learn more. Smartphone searches on his name jumped nearly 5500% during the game. Here is a look at what happened with some other popular terms on mobile devices:

Smartphone and Tablet Search Volume Increase During Super Bowl

It’s clear that multi-tasking on small screens while watching the big screen is quickly becoming the new norm. Nielsen reported in a recent study that about 40% of tablet and smartphone users in the U.S. used their devices daily while watching TV. They pick up their smartphones and tablets because they’re often the closest and most convenient internet-enabled devices.

For advertisers, these big spikes in mobile search volume in response to TV ads point to the increasing importance of having an integrated mobile strategy. Advertisers are beginning to see that mobile can deepen engagement with their brands and extend the value of their ad buy beyond the 30 seconds on air. For example, Toyota’s ads encourage users to ‘Shazam’ the TV ad for a chance to win a new Camry. And by integrating a mobile search ad campaign with their Super Bowl TV ad, Volkswagen ensured mobile users could find and continue watching their ad during and after the game.

So what can we expect for Super Bowl XLVII? Perhaps some party invites that specify BYOC* (*Bring your own charger).

Posted by: Dai Pham, Google Mobile Ads Marketing

Comcast mobile search campaign leads to mobile accounting for over 10% of online sales

2012-02-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

Comcast is one of the nation’s largest Internet, phone, and cable television service providers for residential and business customers. High-quality customer service and products are central to Comcast’s business. To this end, Comcast closely evaluates how users engage their online site and find ways to improve upon their experience. With the surging rise of mobile Internet users, Comcast wanted to take better advantage of the growing mobile platform for advertising. Partnering with Google, Comcast developed a mobile campaign strategy that utilized mobile AdWords and mobile search ad extensions driven by top keywords and created mobile-optimized sites for all of its products.

The search campaign engaged users searching for Comcast keywords and directed them to mobile-optimized sites with mobile-specific functions including streamlined ordering, checking service availability nearest their location, and clicking-to-call for assistance. Comcast also implemented a mobile ad extension that allowed users to call Comcast directly from the search results page on their phone.

By advertising on the right channel with an approach optimized for mobile, Comcast capitalized on the many consumers already searching for Comcast services on mobile but who previously could not access needed information as easily. Making completing a Comcast order with a mobile device simple and convenient, the campaign led to a surge in mobile sales with mobile now driving over 10% of all online sales.

Average of more than 1 million impressions on mobile per month
More than 270% greater CTR than desktop for mobile search
More than 100% greater CTR than desktop for mobile click-to-call
Over 10% of all online sales driven from mobile

To learn more about how Comcast maximized mobile, see here for the full case study.

Posted by Kevin Otsuka, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Hair Club garners 30:1 return on investment using Google mobile ads

2012-02-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

Hair Club, with the help of agency partner Integrated Media Solutions, uses Google mobile ads as a key way to reach new customers. With 35 years of experience, Hair Club is the world’s leading provider of proven hair loss solutions. In their marketing activities, their primary goal is lead generation from their target demographic of men aged over 25 and women aged over 35.

Hair Club launched their mobile strategy by optimizing their website for mobile and leveraging Google AdWords to target specific key terms on mobile devices. Separate AdWords campaigns were created specifically for mobile devices and Hair Club took advantage of mobile specific formats including location extensions. On the mobile Google Display Network Hair Club began using contextually targeted call-only ads on relevant websites to generate additional qualified phone leads.

For their mobile site, Hair Club took steps such as prominently displaying a click to call phone number at the top of the page to drive new customers to their call center.

“From our own research we know that 30% of the people visiting the Hair Club website do so because they’ve seen our TV ad, and often they are on the sofa with their mobile device or tablet. What better way to be able to have someone convert than calling on their mobile device?” says Lee Zoppa, Vice President of Marketing and Advertising for Hair Club.

The results show the campaigns are proving an efficient way to generate more leads and interest in Hair Club. “While desktop searchers constitute 94% of sales, mobile is rapidly gaining ground, capturing 6% of sales over the last three months,” says Lalita Warren, Hair Club’s Media Director. The campaign exceeded Hair Club expectations with exceptional results:

30:1 return on investment on Google mobile ads

100% increase in mobile search ad clicks over the past year

11% higher conversion rate from mobile ads than desktop ads as tracked via online form

“Google mobile ads provide a successful, incremental platform for us. Mobile and tablet usage is increasing exponentially. Given our target demographic, we get more qualified traffic through mobile,” says Zoppa.

Get the full case study here.

Posted by Michael Schipper, Product Marketing Manager

Sweet sound of success

2012-02-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

Sweetwater Sound Inc., one of the largest dealers of musical equipment in the United States, launched the first version of its mobile site in 2008. Sweetwater, partnering with top interactive agency RKG , became an early adopter of Google AdWords, and most recently incorporated mobile search into its marketing strategies. Since representing 2.6% of total sweetwater.com traffic in 2008, mobile traffic has now more than tripled to 8% of total traffic.

By tweaking bids for device-specific ads, mobile ads targeted at iPads are demonstrating a better return on investment than any other tactic. “Because iPad leads are targeted to that device and iPads are popular among musicians and sound engineers, order values generated from iPads run a full 10% higher in value than orders generated from any other source,” says Matthew Mierzejewski, Vice President of PPC with RKG. “We were able to leverage iPad user data to increase our bids on that segment of the mobile audience. By leveraging this segmentation, we’ve been able to increase iPad CPCs by close to 90% compared to bundling smartphone and iPad devices together, efficiently driving more revenue for Sweetwater.”

Pleased with click-through-rates as well as the results from using tried and true keywords on smartphones like iPhones, Sweetwater is now making the most out of tablet-targeted mobile ads. With the help of Google mobile ads, Sweetwater:

Increased conversions: iPad conversion rate was 30% higher than desktops and laptops rate, and orders originating from iPads had 10% higher value

Improved ROI: Continuously tweaked ad copy, keywords, and bids based on performance by device

Maximized successful sales model: Implemented the click-to-call feature to drive more leads into telephone service center, where hundreds of expert sales engineers nurture customer loyalty

To learn more, see the full case study here.

Posted by Kevin Otsuka, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Android developers: Easier conversion tracking with AdMob

2012-01-26T10:14:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest headaches in promoting your app is being able to work out how many downloads a specific ad campaign generated. AdMob is committed to providing app developers tools to optimize advertising spend and maximize ROI. App Conversion Tracking helps you do just that by measuring your app download campaign performance.

We’re rolling out a new feature that makes this even easier--automatic app conversion tracking for Android campaigns. All AdMob Android app download campaigns will now automatically report conversion data from the Android Market. This means that you’ll be able to see conversions from your app download campaign without configuring any special code.

To see conversion data for your Android download campaigns, simply go to the App Conversion Tracking section of your account. You’ll be able to see the number of downloads driven by your AdMob advertising campaign. In addition, you’ll be able to keep tabs on the cost per download and conversion rate so you can better optimize your campaign.

Posted by: Morgan Hallmon, Product Manager, Mobile Ads

New research: Global surge in smartphone usage, UK sees biggest jump with 15% increase

2012-01-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

Mobile devices are mainstream. In fact, according to our newest research more consumers in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan use a mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone) than a computer (desktop or laptop).

But our most significant findings centered on the clear consumer shift to smartphones. This trend was evident in all countries, with the UK showing the largest increase in smartphone usage from 30 to 45% of the total population. We also found that the demographics of smartphone owners are shifting. Smartphone usage among females increased in all five countries. Smartphone ownership also rose among those aged 45+ in the US, UK and France.

We partnered with Ipsos to conduct this research with a goal of gaining greater insight into consumer usage of mobile devices, the shift to smartphones and the emergence of tablets as a fourth screen. This study was fielded amongst the total population in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan. Phase 1 of the research was conducted in January and February 2011 and Phase 2 in September and October 2011.

Some of the key findings of this new research include:

Consumers are clearly shifting from feature phones to smartphones. Smartphone penetration reached 45% in the UK, 38% in the US and France, 23% in Germany and 17% in Japan.

Consumers are increasingly using their smartphones for Internet access. Germany saw the biggest increase with the percentage of smartphone owners using their device for daily Internet access jumping from 39% to 49%, while Japan had the highest percentage accessing the Internet daily on their smartphone at 88%. A little over two-thirds of smartphone users in the US and over half of smartphone users in the UK access the mobile Internet daily.

Smartphone owners are continuing to get online on their computers. Across all five countries approximately 75% of smartphone owners said they continued to use their computer to access the Internet daily.

Consumers are embracing tablets as the fourth screen. Tablet usage increased across all five countries with the highest penetration amongst the total population in the US at 11%. The rate of tablet usage is even higher amongst smartphone owners - hitting 17% in the US, 11% in Japan and 10% in the UK.

Download the PDF report here to see the full set of data from this research.

Posted by: Nicole Leverich, Google Mobile Ads Marketing

New targeting options available to AdWords mobile advertisers

2012-01-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

Online advertisers seek to effectively reach people across all devices and platforms. This means that regardless of whether your customer is on a computer, a mobile phone, or a tablet, we want to provide you with specific ways to reach them through targeted ad campaigns.

AdWords advertisers already have access to a range of campaign targeting options. For our advertisers running mobile campaigns,we offer the ability to run separate mobile and desktop campaigns, the ability to target tablet devices, or target specific mobile phone carriers in your country (1).

Today we’re introducing two advanced targeting options that are now available in your AdWords campaign settings: WiFi targeting, and targeting by mobile operating system version.

WiFi Targeting
To reach users when you know they’ll have a high speed connection, you’ll now be able to target your campaigns to mobile users specifically on a WiFi connection. If you’re currently targeting users on specific mobile carriers, you can now target users on WiFi connections too, and expand your reach. This is also useful if your campaign or landing page has high bandwidth content, like videos that you’d like mobile users to access.

AdWords advertisers in these countries can now use WiFi targeting

To get maximum visibility for your ads we recommend targeting all available carriers and Wi-Fi traffic.

OS Version Targeting
You can already target mobile users by their operating system platform. For example, you can specify whether you would like to reach Android, iOS or WebOS devices with your ads. We’re now giving you even more granular targeting options if your application or service is only applicable to particular platform versions, such as “iOS version 4.0 and above”.

Take advantage of these new campaign targeting options in your Campaign Settings. Stay tuned to the Google Mobile Ads blog for updates on new ways target and reach your mobile customers!

(1)
Available in select countries: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=86623

Posted by: Morgan Hallmon, Product Manager, Mobile Ads

A look back at 2011

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

Mobile turned a corner this year. As smartphones and tablets became a part of our everyday lives, business owners’ conversations shifted from 'Why should I advertise on mobile or build a mobile website?' to 'How do I get started?’.

Five major industry trends emerged in 2011 that will carry us into 2012, and beyond.

1 - Everyone goes mobile
Smartphones and tablets proved that they weren’t just for the geekiest - er, ‘tech savviest’ - among us. These devices are increasingly becoming the norm and they continue to change how people connect with each other, and with businesses, everywhere. According to our research with IPSOS earlier this year:
79% of smartphone consumers use their phones to help with shopping, from comparing prices, to finding more product info, to locating a retailer.

70% use their smartphones while in a store.

77% have contacted a business via mobile, with 61% calling and 59% visiting the local business.

It’s not just that more people are using smartphones and tablets (though the numbers are skyrocketing at an accelerating pace)—it’s that a huge, and fast-growing base of smartphone users, now expect to engage with businesses on mobile. The mainstream consumer got mobilized in 2011.

2 - Mobile search transforms shopping, forever
Analyzing mobile search trends helped the industry better understand how people were using their mobile devices in 2011. For starters, we learned a lot about the ‘timing’ of mobile and tablets. These devices enable us to be constantly connected to the internet, as mobile usage has proven to be complementary to the desktop. We got a clearer picture of how search is changing the ways we shop and connect with businesses. More people are looking for deals both en route to stores and within them on mobile - in the retail category, “Black Friday” related mobile queries were over 200% higher this year than in 2010. Users have also developed some mobile-specific shopping habits - for example, 44% of all searches for last minute gifts and store locator terms are projected to come from mobile devices this holiday season. For procrastinators, mobile has come to the rescue!

In October, we looked at some of the newest ways marketers can build their businesses via mobile search. But, this is only the beginning - whether people are trying to find or call a business, compare prices in a store, or visit a site or app directly from their phones, search and search ads will be the tools that shape a new shopping experience, enabling us connect with businesses, research and buy products on or offline, all via mobile.

3 - Progress with the mobile advertising pipes
As an industry, we came a long way in terms of improving the ‘pipes’ - the systems, products and technologies that advertisers use to build, serve, and measure mobile ads. It’s still early days, but the progress with standards like MRAID and the momentum behind HTML5, are helping to rally the mobile community and make it easier for marketers and customers to connect on the platform. Getting existing tools to ‘speak mobile’ has been another key to helping mobile advertising grow-up as quickly users and businesses want it to. Across search and display, the tools the industry is already familiar with are getting mobilized. There’s plenty of work still to do, but significant progress is being made - watch this space in 2012.

4 - Tablets join the mobile party
Tablets made quite a splash this year. Usage trends sharpened - we’re seeing that people people use these devices to shop, consume media, have fun, and they do so most frequently in the evenings. Tablets are a third screen to be reckoned with for marketers - we saw a 440% growth in traffic from tablets in November 2011 compared to December 2010 on the AdMob network. The business potential is tremendous: not only are users more inclined to shop and make purchases on tablets, but because campaigns can be more effective running across several screens instead of one, tablets offer an incremental opportunity for marketers. Our research with Nielsen showed that campaigns on several screens can be ‘Better Together’ - indeed, in cases like Adidas’, that proved to be true.

5 - Businesses start (actually) thinking mobile first
Smartphones and tablets aren’t small desktop computers - they’re new devices being used in entirely new ways. This year, businesses began to embrace this at scale and many saw good things happen when they built ad campaigns and websites specifically for mobile. Ticketsnow’s success with a mobile optimized site - increased site traffic, and more ticket sales - is just one example of the benefits of building for mobile. Initiatives like GoMo and platform-specific ad features will help businesses better connect with mobile customers in the coming months, and beyond.

It’s hard to believe, but as far as the industry has come in 2011, we’re still in the earliest chapters of mobile’s story. The ways people connect to businesses on their mobile devices and the tools they’re using to connect from them progressed by leaps and bounds this year and soon, we’ll see the mainstream shift that changes the way mobile connects people with brick-and-mortar storefronts as well. Mobile will be moving full speed ahead in 2012 so keep those sleeves rolled-up and those seatbelts fastened - we’ll see you then.

Posted by: Karim Temsamani, VP Mobile Ads

AdWords on mobile helps Regtransfers reach its on-the-move customer base

2011-12-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

For sectors like motoring where target customers are inherently on the move, mobile is a critical marketing and sales channel. Regtransfers, a UK market leader in the field of personal number plates, recognised that mobile offered an ideal way to reach their audience of gadget-loving, tech-savvy car drivers, and they embraced a suite of Google tools to help.

With Google AdWords, Regtransfers had driven users to its desktop website with considerable success, so they began their mobile activity by creating an AdWords for mobile campaign and simply replicated the keywords used in the desktop campaign.

They’d also found Sitelinks useful in the desktop campaign, and since mobile search ads offer the chance to present two Sitelinks, Regtransfers was quick to take advantage. The first Sitelink on their mobile search ads clicks straight to the inventory search facility; the second Sitelink employs click-to-call. This enables a potential customer to automatically reach the call centre without navigating to the website. There’s no need to copy, dial or re-key a phone number, making it that much easier to convert a browser into a customer.

Next Regtransfers launched an iPhone app to let customers search for registrations, make enquiries and complete purchases. As with click-to-call, the app removes barriers that might otherwise prevent easy engagement.

Finally, Regtransfers implemented remarketing campaigns both for desktop and mobile web users. Search ads first drive traffic to the site, but then if a visitor doesn’t sign up for future communication, download the app, obtain the magazine, make a phone call or email an enquiry, Regtransfers can remarket to them by displaying tailored ads on sites throughout the Google Content Network.

So what about the numbers? Since implementing their AdWords mobile campaign, Regtransfers’ mobile traffic has increased 100%. With a cost-per-conversion that is 48% less on average than on desktop, the click-through rate across the mobile campaign is 93% better than the desktop campaign that it’s based on. Regtransfers’ mobile AdWords campaigns are now delivering 73% more calls than when they first began.

To download the full Regtransfers case study, click here.

Posted by: Matt Brocklehurst, Product Marketing Manager

Analyzing Christmas presents: Make merry, go mobile

2011-12-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

Smartphones and tablets are the biggest thing to hit Santa’s workshop since the sleigh. According to recent Google research, we’re using mobile devices in booming numbers for searching, shopping and browsing before, during and after December 25th.

E-commerce is more important than ever this Yuletide, and mobile is driving a lot of this. While an eDigital study shows that one in three UK smartphone users engaged in M-commerce in the build-up to Christmas last year, conversions don’t tell the whole story. Many mobile users are turning to their phones to browse products, compare prices and search for physical store locations as well.

An analysis of UK search volumes on desktop versus mobile has found that in November 2011 mobile searches on popular Christmas gifts represented 14.60% of the online total – a jump from 1.83% in 2008 and still growing steadily. Mobile search is becoming increasingly critical in driving footfall too; Google predicts that 44% of total searches for last minute gifts and store locations will be from mobile devices this holiday season. We’re also seeing that 24% of UK consumers use their mobiles for in-store comparison.

Google research also reveals a “triple peak opportunity” on mobile. Data from the past two years show that UK mobile queries for top retail brand terms spike three times in the season of giving. The first peak arrives at the end of November with the last payday before Christmas. The second is in the final days before the holiday itself, and the third coincides with the kick-off of January sales. And this opportunity is growing. These kinds of search queries demonstrate 166% year-on-year growth.

Tablets and smartphones remain among the most desirable of gifts, so it’s worth remembering that mobile display advertising offers a chance for brands to engage with mobile owners from the day they take their new device out of the box. We’ve studied post-Christmas daily AdMob activity in the UK and know that impressions ramp up immediately after Christmas Eve, driven by the acquisition of new smartphones and tablets.

This doesn’t stop when Santa kicks off his boots. Once Christmas and Boxing Day are out of the way, post-holiday sales drive renewed online activity. Queries on mobile recover from the temporary lull more quickly than desktop. Search volumes of the top 1,000 commercial queries illustrate that in the week after Christmas, mobile queries increase 35%, while on desktop the rise is just 2%.

So what can you do to have a merry mobile Christmas? We’ve made a list of top tips for the season:
Remember that mobile is the link between online and offline shopping and design mobile sites and campaigns accordingly.

Align messaging across your TV, desktop, mobile and tablet advertising for maximum impact.

Optimise your search campaigns for mobile for greatest performance.

Activate the click-to-call and hyperlocal features in your mobile search ads. This will enable users to reach you easily and get locally-relevant information including distance and directions to find and navigate to your business.

AdMob’s latest targeting options allow you to serve ads specifically to newly activated mobiles. Use the network to engage users with your brand name, products and offers on their new devices.

Ensure mobile search and display campaigns have sufficient budgets over the Christmas holidays when mobile usage peaks.

Read our presentation on the research outlined here plus lots more insight on the power of mobile advertising at Christmas by clicking this link here.

Posted by Matt Brocklehurst, Product Marketing Manager

Going mobile in Mobile, Alabama

2011-12-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

What happens when a community commits to mobilize together, over the course of three days? It sounds like a theoretical question, but thanks to Mobile, Alabama’s, hospitality and innovation we had the opportunity to find out. That’s how a clever play on words turned into Mobilizing Mobile--a three-day celebration of local community, small business and the mobile web.

Part of the GoMo initiative, Mobilizing, Mobile was an event where business owners of Mobile were invited to learn and take action in order to “Go Mobile” with a little help from Google, DudaMobile, and Mobify. The event kicked off at Space 301 where Mobile’s Mayor Sam Jones and Winn Hallett, President of Mobile’s Chamber of Commerce, welcomed Google to their city. Several of Mobile’s businesses including LuLu's at Homeport Marina talked about the importance of mobile and we unveiled the first two newly mobilized sites: Distinguished Young Women and the Festival of Flowers. That evening Red Square hosted an event for agencies where Jason Spero, Director of Google Mobile Ads, and Edward Bocches, Chief Innovation Officer at Mullen, spoke on the importance of mobile for ad agencies.

The next day, the real mobilizing began as hundreds of business owners poured into Space 301 to create mobile-friendly versions of their websites, attend mobile business seminars, explore the Google expo and enjoy some delicious local fare.

Check out the action in this quick recap video:

In just 48 hours, nearly 500 mobile-friendly websites were created and launched. You can see some great “Before and After” shots here. Over 400 businesses committed to "going mobile" by signing the GoMo Pledge and hundreds learned about how to grow their businesses with mobile and digital tools in classroom sessions. You can find more event highlights on the Mobilizing Mobile, AL recap pages on the GoMo website.

All Critters Pet Sitters, a pet sitting service in Mobile, AL decided to “Go Mo.” Here’s their site before (left) and after (right) their one-on-one consultation at Mobilizing, Mobile.

As we look ahead to next year (and beyond), mobile’s role in our lives will only continue to grow. We can look to Mobile, Alabama, for inspiration, as we watch how the sites created during Mobilizing Mobile affect consumers and businesses alike. And, for the rest of us, ‘tis the season for New Year’s resolutions! The commitment to ‘GoMo’ may be a good one to add to your list for next year. We’re looking forward to more Mo’ in other cities, and countries, in 2012.

Posted by: Jesse Haines, Google Mobile Ads Marketing

PrivacyStar scales Android business with AdMob

2011-12-13T09:01:00.000-08:00

With the rapid smartphone growth, it’s no surprise that consumers are downloading a huge number of apps--10 billion on Android alone, as of last week. Many app developers are recognizing the opportunity to develop on Android, including PrivacyStar, a small privacy services company offering smartphone users the ability to block unwanted calls from telemarketers via their mobile app. To help grow their business on Android, PrivacyStar looked to AdMob to drive quality downloads of their app.

PrivacyStar had used a variety of marketing channels to promote their app, including desktop display and television advertising. While successful, this initial acquisition strategy resulted in relatively high cost-per-acquisition (CPA), with downloads costing upwards of $5. Seeing the need to reach their audience while on specific smartphone devices and slash CPA, the PrivacyStar team decided to try in-app advertising across a number of mobile ad networks to drive users to download their app directly to their devices.

AdMob was able to deliver and quickly become their most effective channel of advertising. Other mobile ad networks struggled to maintain a low CPA as they grew on Android inventory. The team then began optimizing their advertising within other mobile apps on the AdMob network—informed by data from Google Analytics. App placements were limited to particular app categories to focus their audience and placements that didn’t meet the aggressive CPM targets were excluded. Within a month of these optimizations, cost per acquisition fell to less than $2, a fraction of their initial acquisition cost. Additionally, the quality of downloads that AdMob drove were far superior, with more users upgrading to a monthly subscription.

The success that PrivacyStar has achieved with AdMob and Google Analytics has them poised for continued growth on Android. For more details on PrivacyStar’s approach, check out the full case study.

Posted by: Eduardo Fenili, AdMob Sales Executive

eBay Boosts App Downloads using Google AdMob Mobile Ad Network

2011-12-12T09:49:00.000-08:00

Shopping on the go
eBay the world’s leading online marketplace connects millions of buyers and sellers globally. In 2010, the total worth of goods sold on eBay globally was US$61.7 billion.

eBay's entire portfolio of mobile applications surpassed 50 million downloads globally since
the launch of mobile in 2008. In 2010, consumer’s bought nearly US$2 billion worth of goods
globally through eBay’s mobile applications. This is expected to increase to almost $5 billion in 2011.

eBay’s main iPhone application is available in eight languages and 190 countries and has been downloaded more than 20 million times since its debut in 2008. The company’s Android app is gaining ground apace as Android usage accelerates worldwide.

Down under—all over mobile
Australia is one of eBay’s hottest mobile markets. Between 5 to 10 per cent of Australian iPhone owners log into eBay’s mobile app daily.

On an average day on eBay.com.au, an electronics item is sold every 6 seconds; a laptop every 13 minutes; a sports item every 25 seconds; a car every 22 minutes; and the list goes on.

With AdMob, eBay saw an opportunity to capitalize on the growing popularity of smartphones,
which constitute almost half of traffic in the AdMob network. (1) The company also looked toward to taking advantage of the “stickiness” of smartphone apps: users of iOS and Android platforms regularly spend at least 79 minutes a day using apps. (2)

From tried to true
During the AdMob push, Android app downloads increased 48% when compared with the same time period pre-campaign. Cost-per-click was significantly lower than traditional online display advertising, and cost-per-download. To further advance its mobile initiatives, eBay has created a new mobile-optimized website for eBay.com.au and plans to expand mobile advertising activities.

(1) May 2010 Mobile Metrics Report from Google AdMob (metrics.admob.com)
(2) May 2010 Mobile Metrics Report from Google AdMob (metrics.admob.com)

Posted by Ryan Hayward, Product Marketing Manager

Engaging consumers on tablets: new ad formats

2011-12-08T10:28:00.000-08:00

Tablet devices went mainstream this year and people are using them - 65% of consumers who own tablets use them at least one hour per day. Consumers are embracing them as the third digital screen in their lives. Over the last few months, we've researched the ways people use their tablets on a daily basis and have recognized some emerging trends. Shopping, consuming media, gaming are all popular tablet activities according to our recent study. And, daily search trends suggest tablets are used more frequently in the evenings and at nights.

We’ve also looked at how consumers engage with ads on tablets. Our research shows that they have higher expectations of ads on tablets, believing they should be more interactive and touch screen friendly.

To help marketers reach these engaged consumers we are launched new tablet-specific ad formats. On the display side, today we are launching new Rich Media Designs for Mobile. These new rich media templates will make it easy for advertisers to create rich media ads for tablets using existing assets (photos, logos, etc.) and then implement them across platforms (mobile, tablet and desktop). Advertisers can use these templates in a number of ways, including to interact with a specific product, feature a collection of products or promote foot traffic to a specific store location.

For tablet search advertisers, we are launching Media Ads in beta this week. Media Ads take advantage of the large, interactive touchscreen by bringing video directly into an ad on the search results page. Advertisers who want to engage consumers with video content can now use Media Ads to provide an immersive and engaging video watching experience. In addition to watching video game, TV or movie trailers, US consumers will also be able to view locally relevant movie showtimes right within the ad.

Tablet users can view movie, game, and TV trailers in a full screen overlay right from Google.com

These new tablet-specific ad formats build on the launch of new tablet-specific ad formats on AdMob and tablet-targeting in Adwords earlier this year.

While most advertisers do not need to create tablet-only campaigns today, they should start thinking about how they can engage their customers on Tablets in distinct ways and using made-for tablet formats, now and in 2012. Tablets are just getting started and we plan on continuing to invest in building tablet first consumer experiences and ad units.

Posted by: Karim Temsamani, VP of Mobile Ads

Liberty University leveraged mobile to drive direct responses at lower cost-per-conversion

2011-12-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

Liberty University Online has long been able to reach and engage prospective students as they searched for education options from their desktop computers. However, with the growth of mobile search activity, Liberty recognized a new opportunity to reach the people on a new platform. Liberty noticed rapid growth in mobile traffic to their own website, which closely mirrored industry-wide trends in mobile usage growth. According to Google internal data, education-related search volume is increasing rapidly and is projected to grow to over 17% by the end of 2011.

Liberty started advertising their online programs on both desktop and mobile. After seeing initial success, Liberty broke out mobile campaigns for their branded traffic, and continued to monitor and optimize the performance specifically for mobile. Executive Director of Admissions Steve Peterson was surprised at the immediate results from mobile.

“Sometimes when you’re trying new things, your tolerance is a little higher for what you’re willing to accept,” Steve said. “The thing that was surprising was how well it performed in a short period of time compared to stuff we’ve been doing for years. So when you have that out of the gate, we just want to keep scaling until we see some kind of diminishing returns.”

Liberty hasn’t seen diminishing returns yet. In the first six months of mobile-only campaigns, Liberty saw effectiveness and efficiency improve for conversion volume and cost-per-conversion:

49% increase in number of conversions
50% decrease in cost-per-conversion

Now, Liberty plans to break out mobile traffic from all their campaigns and is pursuing a full-fledged mobile landing page strategy. Mobile represents both an immediate and long-term opportunity for Liberty.

Full case study can be downloaded here.

Posted by Kevin Otsuka, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads

Consumers on tablet devices: having fun, shopping and engaging with ads

2011-11-30T11:02:00.000-08:00

Tablets have quickly emerged as a distinct third digital screen in consumers lives that fill the gap between desktops and smartphones. But there are still many open questions about exactly how consumers are using them. We explored tablet search trends earlier this year, but wanted to dig deeper and answer key questions such as: What are the contrasts between tablet use, laptop use, and smartphone use and how are consumers engaging across these devices? What are the most common activities (playing games, searching, reading, etc.) that tablets are used for? What ads are most relevant and useful based on how people are using the devices?

Tablets are for fun, entertainment, relaxation, while laptops are for work
One of our studies, a diary study that had people record every occasion that they used their tablet over a two-week period, found that most consumers use their tablets for fun, entertainment and relaxation while they use their desktop computer or laptop for work. Tablet devices are personal - 91% of the time that people spend on their tablet devices is for personal rather than work related activities. When a consumer gets a tablet, we’ve found that they quickly migrate many of their entertainment activities from laptops and smartphones to this new device.

Tablet owners are building the device into their daily routine. Our research found that the most frequent tablet activities are checking email, playing games and social networking. We also found that people are doing more activities in shorter bursts on weekdays (e.g. social networking, email) while engaging in longer usage sessions on weekends (e.g. watching videos/TV/movies).

Tablets are multi-tasking devices with at least 42% of activities occurring while doing another task or engaging with another entertainment medium. Of all the activities that people do on tablets, checking email, playing games, social networking and searching are the ones most frequently done in front of the TV. Many consumers also used their tablets to check email while eating, and listen to music while cooking.

The activities shown in the above chart were self-reported by respondents.

Tablets primarily stay home, few travel
But unlike smartphones that go everywhere and laptops that travel between work and home, few consumers take their tablets with them when they leave the house. However, consumers do take their tablets on vacation or work trips where they use them as a laptop replacement and a small number take them on their commute. Interestingly, our recent research found that tablets are for the most part a one-person device, although there are consumers who share their tablet with other family or household members.

Tablets are, however, mobile within the home, with the highest usage taking place on the couch, from the bed and in the kitchen.

The activities and locations shown in the above chart were self-reported by respondents.

Consumers are shopping on tablets
Many consumers do a lot of window shopping on their tablet and our data shows that they are making more and more purchases on their tablet devices. Indeed, tablets figure to be a significant new way for people to be shopping this holiday season. While shopping they are engaging with familiar brands through social media sites, deals discounts, and navigating directly to trusted shopping sites.

We also found that people are using their tablets for activities that they are also doing in the real world, such as searching for something in their local area, shopping (browsing and purchasing), and managing finances.

For many people, websites and apps designed for smartphones just don’t cut it on tablets. Instead consumers are taking advantage of the bigger screen and prefer using fully featured apps and the full desktop sites on their tablet.

We found that some of those activities also extend to additional devices (e.g. smartphone, laptop, etc.). These activities included shopping (both browsing and purchasing), searching for information, managing finances, checking the calendar and checking email.

Consumers don’t view ads differently on tablets, but they do expect more interactivity
Consumers are engaging with useful, relevant and rich ads that take advantage of the touchscreen interface on tablets. Some consumers expect more interactivity from ads on tablets than they do from ads on their desktop computer.

We believe that tablet ownership will continue to rapidly grow in 2012 and that tablet usage may change over time, particularly as smaller devices come on the market. We plan on continuing to conduct research to understand consumers’ uses of their tablet devices and are excited to share these research insights with you.

Posted by: Jenny Gove and John Webb, User Experience Research, Mobile Ads