What you are probable thinking right off the bat after reading the title of this article is, “Oh great, another article about mobile optimization.” Well, yes this is about mobile optimization and how important it is, but this time eMarketer has given its readers some reasons why optimizing mobile can turn everyday internet surfers into customers. In their recent report, they mention another study that I wrote about last month;

According to a July 2012 survey of US adult smartphone internet users conducted by market research and consulting firm SmithGeiger and Sterling Research on behalf of Google, about two-thirds of respondents said they were more likely to purchase something from a mobile-optimized site, while three-quarters said they were more likely to make a return visit to the site.

That is definitely a huge reason to maybe think about changing some things around to make your mobile presence more user friendly if you ask me. However, according to this new information from eMarketer, your mobile presence can affect far more than the way consumers feel when they visit your site on their mobile browsers.

The main goal of most marketers, both on mobile devices and desktop platforms, is getting consumers to become customers of their respective business, brand, or product. Now, call me old fashioned, but my favorite way to be a customer is in person. Physically going to a store is still the favorite way to shop or buy for a huge margin of today’s consumers. Why does that matter? Well, eMarketer is now showing results that I must have missed before, from the September study sponsored by Google.

The result show that 74% of respondents said the main reason they visit a mobile site is to find directions or hours of operation for an actual store. After that, 64% of respondents visit a company’s mobile website in order to find information that will allow them to contact a store.  Also, 61% said that their main reason for visiting a mobile site was to find information on a product or to research a product before actually going out and buying it. Only 50% of these respondents said that one of their main reasons for visiting a site on a mobile device was to actually order or purchase a product or service.

So, if you are a marketer or advertiser trying to get customers to visit physical store locations and buy, which is still the favorite method for many consumers, then it seems that a mobile optimized site may be more important than it may have originally seemed. People today use their mobile devices as a sort of companion, helping them to figure out just where to go to get what they want and how to get there. If consumers cannot use their “companions” to find information on your business or store, then chances are they will not be going there. It is just one more thing to consider when trying to decide the importance of mobile optimization.

Written by Michael Levanduski

Michael Levanduski is a news reporter at Performance Marketing Insider. He’s been a writer at one level or another for the past 15+ years. He has three kids and lives in Grand Rapids, MI.

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