You remember dial up, don’t you? The AOL disc they mailed you, the You’ve got Mail message with the open mailbox? It’s been a while and things have definitely changed. Now, you can have a conversation while looking up movie show times to coordinate with your dinner reservation and text your baby sitter – all at the same time. Times have changed.
As time changes and trends service, businesses must keep up. We all know the necessity of a business website, but what about a mobile site? With the world gone mobile should you follow suite? Let’s look at the numbers.
Mobile Usage Worldwide
- 80% of population owns a mobile device
- 5 Billion Mobile Phones
- 1.08 Billion Smartphones
Mobile Usage in America
- 91.4 million smartphones
Smartphone Popular Activities
- Texting: 92%
- Web Browsing: 84%
- Email: 76%
Smartphone Penetration by Age Group
- 13-17: 18%
- 18-24: 54%
- 25-34: 62%
- 35-44: 53%
- 45-54: 39%
- 55+: 39%
71% of smartphone users who see TV, press, or online ads perform a mobile search for more information! (Source) And an astonishing 91.4 million Americans own a smart phone, with 84% using their phone for web browsing – that means 76.8 million Americans are searching the mobile web! Now, the question is whether or not your target market is a smart phone user. If your target market is from 18 to 44 there is a good chance they might search for your business via mobile. Well over half of all smart phone users turn to the mobile web to inquire about ads/businesses.
Is it absolutely essential for you to have a mobile website right now, maybe not. Most of your newer desktop websites are somewhat mobile competitive but the end users is getting accustomed to mobile access, and with consumer expectation comes responsibility for business owners. Monitor your target market closely. If they are searching the mobile web, be there!