Mobile vs Desktop Conversion Rate

35 replies
Hey,

I am running bing ads for a make money online system and I've read to cut out mobile traffic and just use desktop as it will give me better sales conversions on the front end.

True or False? Just want more opinions!

If I do desktop only, traffic is more expensive, but will be worth it if it converts better etc.

Thanks.
#conversion #desktop #mobile #rate
  • Profile picture of the author tritrain
    I think you should test your idea by tracking the conversions based on the platform in which you're advertising. Use Google Analytics or another good statistics tracking tool to see which works best. You may even find that it's a matter of tweaking the ads a bit. Perhaps both are good.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sven300
    Personally I notice that my conversion rate is about twice as low on mobile as desktop. But I do not think that's a good reason to want to eliminate my mobile traffic!
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    The short answer (upcoming pun intended) is that size matters. (Translation: every single girl I ever dated was, it turns out, right. Balls.) Point is, the screen size. Whether or not your landing page is optimized for mobile traffic, studies have been conducted (landers, funnels, etc) that determine the greater screen sizes do appear to impact conversion. But it goes beyond just size. You have to consider the attitude of a person using a mobile. A person sat rooted to a desk (compared to someone idly surfing the web whilst shopping with the wife) is likely to be more focused on whatever it is that you present them and, more importantly, whatever it is that the person wishes to do with their time.

    All of which, really, is only food for thought. You need to split test quite thoroughly. I do find on MMO that desktop traffic yields conversions of around 300% better than mobile. Having said that, in other niches I do better on mobile, since those niches are more mobile-related. In your niche, I think you'll find that no matter how much you tweak your pages, you'll always get better results on desktop. Only you can really find out for certain, though. The both of us could be doing different things. Even something as minute as our keyword choice could be delivering less friendly mobile traffic. Upshot: probably desktop will turn out the best for you, but test away just to be sure.

    Cheers,

    Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    If you can't afford the high traffic cost from your frontend traffic, then what other choice do you have if you're going to continue running MMO ads on Bing Ads? Plus you're missing the bigger point. The money is made on the BACKEND.

    Simple solution: Run low cost desktop and mobile ads on Bing Ads - but dont rely on Bing Ads alone for this niche. Branch out and find other places to advertise at.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    With MMO, I decrease the tablet bid by 75% and the mobile by 90%.

    The obvious answer is to test a desktop and a mobile campaign.

    Brent
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    We've never had a website that converted as well on mobile as on desktop or tablet. The simple reason is that it is much too hard to enter all of the information on a tiny handheld device. It is also, as Tom Addams suggested, the fact that many people are just bored and browsing from mobile devices but are much more serious about buying when on a tablet or computer.

    Of course, there are some niches where just the opposite would happen, like if you were selling music downloads. I'm sure far more songs are downloaded on phones than on desktop computers.

    We always start off every campaign with a 80% reduction of bid on mobile devices. We then adjust that up or down depending on the conversion numbers.

    SIDE NOTE: We have noticed a trend in the past year where tablets have overtaken desktop as the best converter for many of our websites and now actually bid higher on tablets for those websites.
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  • Profile picture of the author echelon
    The best way to go about it would be to create 2 distinct campaigns. One campaign for mobile traffic and another one for desktop. The cost per click may be higher for one of the targeting but what really matters is the profit it generates for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Originally Posted by andybonse2018 View Post

    Hey,

    I am running bing ads for a make money online system and I've read to cut out mobile traffic and just use desktop as it will give me better sales conversions on the front end.

    True or False? Just want more opinions!

    If I do desktop only, traffic is more expensive, but will be worth it if it converts better etc.

    Thanks.
    It always depends on the offer and if the merchants page is optimized for mobile. Your best bet is to split test and let the results confirm your approach.
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  • Profile picture of the author davidricherd
    Website traffic through Desktop have more chances to convert it into leads because Responsive website can be access from all devices But We get full satisfaction when we check all about products. Which is possible only through PC.
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  • Profile picture of the author hasanraza
    Conversion rates on mobile vs desktop are depended a lot on the product offered, for example as I have seen if a product is like a service specially a software service like managing, creating hosting etc than conversion rates through desktop are high and if the product is physical like clothing's etc than conversion rate through mobile is high.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ketan Pande
    Yeah! I think desktop users give better conversion rate. But, it depends on niche and age group that you are targeting.
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  • Profile picture of the author sujann
    Dear
    you contact to the expat person . Do the mobile traffic expensive.
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  • Profile picture of the author DURABLEOILCOM
    Desktop viewers are more likely to follow through with an actual purchase. Most mobile traffic are just people killing time on their phones browsing with zero intent of buying.
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  • Profile picture of the author faisalmaximus
    The final goal should be profit. You can do beta testing with few desktop and mobile ads, which ads give you better conversion, increase their budget and stop the other ads. This will be the best practice.
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  • Profile picture of the author nemn
    Have you tried to differentiate iphone users from android users? iphone owners have much more money to spend!
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  • Profile picture of the author Maxxx333
    You the only one who can really check it out dude, cause what i know is that mobile works well, but you should try to track and have a better view where your traffic is coming from, and like that you could know better how to set your campaign.
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  • Profile picture of the author SBR
    I think you should test out both of them and track your campaigns to see which traffic converts better (Mobile/Desktop) and which works best with your offer. That way you can drop the loser and scale the winner.
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  • Profile picture of the author DigiTrend6
    First of all test both platforms (Mobile & Desktop), then see the report that which platform is bringing you more conversions. If Desktop is bringing more conversions then focus on desktop platform.
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  • Profile picture of the author SiteNameSales
    If my own experience with mobile and desktop offers any insights is that even if I find something of interest on the phone, I will always send a link to my desktop to explore further and possibly make a purchase

    Yes, yes I know mobile is here to stay, but the experience reminds me of being online in the pre-internet days. And why sites like Instagram seem to be mobile only is unfathomable to me. I know they are profitable, but why limit access to anyone? Not only is it an irritant to some of us, but it doesn't make very good business sense.
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  • Interesting, I am a odd ball again. Aside from pay per call, which is obvious mobile, I do a lot of different lead generation, and ecomm for many cosmetic companies. I have almost ditched all desktop traffic completely because of low conversions.
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  • Profile picture of the author DURABLEOILCOM
    I follow a 90% reduction on bids for mobile and tablets. Desktop users are usually ready to follow through with a purchase.
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  • Profile picture of the author DaryaNazarova
    Hi, @andybonse2018
    As it was already noted above, the best solution would be to test both desktop and mobile traffic and then, when you have some data on their performance you could decide what is more profitable for you.
    This is actually the case when a good tracking software helps a lot. As you can create one Campaign (with your Bing ad, for example) and within this campaign set up 2 streams:
    1. stream that will accept mobile traffic
    2. stream for a desktop traffic only
    While running the Campaign with 2 streams for each traffic type you would receive a comprehensive understanding of the performs of each stream, i.e. traffic channel. To understand better what I mean, check RedTrack.io - affiliate marketing tracking software. You can test it for free
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  • Profile picture of the author DripRevenue
    It's completely going to depend on the offer. VSLs convert better on desktop and page submits convert better on mobile.
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  • Profile picture of the author VishalMittal
    Without any doubt mobile searches had overtake desktop searches in this year. So now every digital marketer should focusing on mobile optimization.

    About your query desktop traffic is more expensive, yes it could be but as i mentioned above now more people are involve in searches via their smart phones so there are more chances to generate your business through mobile ads.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
      Originally Posted by VishalMittal View Post

      Without any doubt mobile searches had overtake desktop searches in this year. So now every digital marketer should focusing on mobile optimization.
      Mobile optimization is certainly more important today, but not because of conversion rates.

      Originally Posted by VishalMittal View Post

      About your query desktop traffic is more expensive, yes it could be but as i mentioned above now more people are involve in searches via their smart phones so there are more chances to generate your business through mobile ads.
      The number of searches on mobile vs. desktop has NOTHING to do with how often your ad may be seen... much less how often your ad may be clicked. People don't "search" for ads. They search for information.

      Ads on desktop traffic are more expensive for a very simple reason... they are more effective. Advertising platforms charge less for mobile traffic simply because advertisers won't pay as much for "junk" traffic.
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      • Profile picture of the author VishalMittal
        Hi Sid,

        If visitors will something about their query on Google then definitely ads will appears on the top results and no one can stop them, first of all they would like to get information from these ads only and if they will not get the enough info from those ads then they will go for some more search results.

        About the "Junk" Traffic
        There are pros and cons for many things and similar to that without any doubt mobile searches are overtaking desktop searches and it's depend upon a advertiser how they will get the business leads from the "JUNK TRAFFIC". If they know the deep strategies then definitely they will get the best results from mobile traffic.
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        • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
          Originally Posted by VishalMittal View Post

          If they know the deep strategies then definitely they will get the best results from mobile traffic.
          I guess I just don't know the "deep strategies".

          I hate to repeat myself, but...
          Advertising platforms charge less for mobile traffic simply because advertisers won't pay as much for "junk" traffic.

          And do you know why advertisers won't pay as much for mobile ad placement????

          Because it is so much less effective
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          • Profile picture of the author VishalMittal
            Hi Sid,

            May i know do you have any data about the "Junk Traffic" & if a advertiser running display ads campaign then i don't think so there is a question of a junk traffic in that.
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            • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
              Originally Posted by VishalMittal View Post

              May i know do you have any data about the "Junk Traffic" & if a advertiser running display ads campaign then i don't think so there is a question of a junk traffic in that.
              The "data" has already been collected and (more importantly) analyzed by the advertising platforms (i.e. Google, Bing, etc.).

              We can readily see from the disparity in the pricing that desktop ads convert much better than the ads shown on desktop devices. That's why the advertising platforms charge so much more for the display of ads on those devices (and why advertisers will pay so much more for those same ads).

              If you could get that level of detailed data, you could do that same analysis of the conversion rates, but it really isn't necessary. Google (for example) has already analyzed the raw data for you, and reflects their analysis in the rates that they charge for the ads.
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              • Profile picture of the author VishalMittal
                Hello Sid,

                I have few questions & i hope you will give perfect answer for them also:

                1. If mobile ads gives more junk traffic then why it's overtaking desktop searches & i think you know well Google had accepted mobile searches has overtook the desktop searches already.

                2. How much percentage data is true on Internet like on Google, Yahoo or Bing?

                3. If Google knows mobile search drives more junk traffic then why Google is giving priority to mobile searches and recently Google had rolled out an update for those websites which are not responsive.
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                • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
                  Originally Posted by VishalMittal View Post

                  1. If mobile ads gives more junk traffic then why it's overtaking desktop searches & i think you know well Google had accepted mobile searches has overtook the desktop searches already.

                  2. How much percentage data is true on Internet like on Google, Yahoo or Bing?

                  3. If Google knows mobile search drives more junk traffic then why Google is giving priority to mobile searches and recently Google had rolled out an update for those websites which are not responsive.
                  The fact that the number of mobile searches have overtaken the number of desktop searches has NOTHING to do with the conversion rate of the ads shown on those platforms. That's precisely the point I am making.

                  While most would assume that more searches = more clicks...
                  you have to think about WHY mobile search is becoming predominant.

                  I assure you that it is NOT because the mobile visitor can find ads while walking around town.
                  For the most part, nobody buys a newspaper or magazine to read the classified section

                  The introduction of ads to the search engine results (as pseudo content) was simply Google's way to monetize their search results - the same reason a newspaper contains classified ads section.

                  As for Google giving priority to mobile searches...
                  that's not quite accurate.

                  What they are doing is considering mobile responsiveness when determining a web page's position in the SERPs. By giving mobile ready web pages better placement, Google is increasing their chances of delivering results that are acceptable for both desktop and mobile. In other words, further ensuring their acceptance (by web visitors in general) as the search engine of choice.
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                  Sid Hale
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                  • Profile picture of the author VishalMittal
                    My dear friend,

                    Google has announced so many times why they are working on mobile algorithms in other direction because they know well what would be happen in future about the ratio of mobile searches. So these why they are focusing more on mobile algorithms.

                    Google can do number of thing is their search layout either on desktop or on mobile. Around in January 2018 Google has updated a roll out about local listing, earlier you have seen Google shows numbers of Local Business Results whenever you search for any product or service but now only 3 results would be shown.

                    So may be in upcoming time Google can show paid ads in more better ways than desktop version in mobile searches.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Originally Posted by andybonse2018 View Post

    Hey,

    I am running bing ads for a make money online system and I've read to cut out mobile traffic and just use desktop as it will give me better sales conversions on the front end.

    True or False? Just want more opinions!

    If I do desktop only, traffic is more expensive, but will be worth it if it converts better etc.

    Thanks.
    There are many facts that lead into this. Typically for most niches (for me) for Bing, mobile tends to (typically) be lower. But the niche, demographics, targeting, etc can change this.
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  • Profile picture of the author zinakalna
    Definitely mobile searches had overtake desktop searches this year
    Best solution would be to test both traffic and when you have some data on their performance you could decide what is more profitable for you.
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    • Profile picture of the author VishalMittal
      Yes might be it should be work in better ways.
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