Over two-thirds (72 per cent) of total website traffic in Asia Pacific came from smartphones in 2020, up +16 per cent globally from 2019, according to a new study by Contentsquare, the leading experience analytics company.
But despite the increase, the research reveals that half (51 per cent) of mobile users bounce after viewing just one page.
The ‘2021 Digital Experience Benchmark’ incorporates global Contentsquare session data from some of the world’s biggest brands.
The anonymised data set includes over 20 billion web sessions (4.3 billion of which were in Asia Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India and Japan) from over 900 websites around the world, providing unparalleled insight into previously misunderstood user behaviours.
Commenting on the findings, David Bochsler, Managing Director, APAC (pictured) said, “Mobile-first consumers in the APAC region are increasingly always-on and time-poor. For brands, optimising the mobile user experience is no longer a luxury, but a necessity to unlock the incredible potential of this user environment.”
“There is a need to evolve e-commerce players’ understanding of user experience and how they interact with brands on their smartphones.”
Contentsquare’s benchmark also found that in Asia Pacific, the luxury sector dominated mobile in 2020, with 80 per cent of the industry’s visits originating from a mobile device. Following closely behind were the telco and financial services / insurance industries, which had smartphone users make up 73 per cent and 72 per cent of all online visits respectively.
However, the research also reveals that desktop still dominates in the B2B (71 per cent) and real estate (56 per cent) industries, where visitors tend to access sites on work computers.
The report also highlighted the explosion of mobile app usage globally in the last year, which has seen mobile app screen views increase by +202 per cent. Time spent on mobile apps peaked at the start of the pandemic, with a +91 per cent increase in session time in March.
Niki Hall, CMO at Contentsquare added, “digital teams and business leaders are already familiar with the mobile imperative – one we’ve been designing for since Forrester started discussing a mobile-first approach almost 10 years ago.”
“The acceleration of smartphone usage observed in 2020 serves as a reminder that to remain competitive today, you need to offer a seamless experience on both your mobile site and app.”
“Smartphones are no longer just another way for visitors to interact and shop with your brand — they’re becoming the preferred way for consumers to discover and research new products and services. And with almost half of mobile users exiting your site before they make it to the second page, brands should lean in to customer intelligence to ensure the experiences they design match users’ goals and expectations.”
“Contentsquare’s annual benchmark of digital customer behaviors provides great insight into how web and app browsing trends vary sharply from one industry to another and from one device to another,” said Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst with ZK Research.
“Every brand is unique, of course, but this aggregated data set allows teams to compare the performance of their CX against their sector benchmarks, and to see if they’re ahead or lagging in the race for the perfect experience.”
