APAC ahead of US in mobile-first biz transformation
Mobile usage is constantly on the rise in APAC as the best web sites in the region see more than 50 per cent of their visitors coming from smartphones. APAC is ahead of US in key mobile metrics – smartphone and tablet visits, a new research from Adobe highlights.
Southeast Asia saw double-digit increases year-over-year in their share of smartphone visits, with an 18 per cent increase for best of the best websites and 11 per cent increase for average websites.
In terms of traffic from tablets, SE Asia had the highest share in all regions covered in the research, with a 40 per cent difference between the best of the best websites and average websites.
The report confirms that mobile is no longer an option and that marketers in Southeast Asia are increasingly focused on mobile as a highly effective form of customer interaction and engagement.
“The best digital marketers in Southeast Asia are delivering strong results in some key performance areas. Not only did we see the gaps increase for smartphone visits between the best of the best websites and the average websites, we congruently saw the ‘best of the best’ are also moving away from the average in terms of stick rate, indicating the direct correlation between mobile capability and consumer engagement,” said Tamara Gaffney, Director, Adobe Digital Index.
Loyal return visitors are more prominent in SE Asia than the US, both from average websites and best of the best websites, which equates to higher loyalty and reduced acquisition costs. However, despite the high website engagement, some of the weakest conversion rates are from SE Asia. This indicates there is a lack of understanding on consumer mobile and desktop activity and possible friction in the process and experience.
In terms of time spent on websites which is the best metric for site engagement, and the best of the best websites were 22 per cent higher than the average. All countries in Asia Pacific fared better than the United States. But the click-through rate was weak in SEA, showing a lack of alignment between consumer intent and advertising execution
“It’s clear mobile optimisation is no longer an option, and if businesses are under-skilled in mobile development, it will put them at a severe disadvantage. APAC is dominating when it comes to smartphone and tablet visits. We’re seeing the best websites in APAC coming out ahead of the United States, with more than 50 percent of their visitors coming from smartphones, and increasingly high success rates in areas like consumption and stickiness. The data is telling us that delivering seamless experiences across devices is the key to acquisition and engagement,” said Ms Gaffney.
