30 Mobile Marketing Statistics to Inspire Your Strategy (+ Tips)

Tablets and smartphones have taken over the marketplace.

If you're not prepared to connect with your audience on these devices, you're missing out on one of the greatest opportunities to grow your business in the digital age. 

Don't take our word for it though. Let's review our comprehensive list of mobile marketing stats along with the benefits of mobile marketing and ways to launch mobile marketing strategies.

What Is Mobile Marketing?

Mobile marketing is a digital marketing technique that encompasses multiple channels and focuses on appealing to mobile device users. The goal of mobile marketing is to provide prospects and customers with personalized, local, and fast information so they can get what they need at any time, especially when they are on the go.

Mobile marketing includes digital ads that appear on smartphones, social media, tablets, or other devices. Each ad may show up differently and can be customized according to the marketing channel a businesses wishes to display the ad on. 

As you can imagine, engaging with your target audience through mobile channels comes with a ton of advantages. 

The Benefits of Mobile Marketing

People love convenience. Mobile devices provide that convenience by making it easy to search, shop, and consume various forms of media from wherever we are.

Effective marketing strategies find where the people are spending their time. That place is their mobile devices. 

Here are some of the top benefits of mobile marketing with stats to back up the claims:

It Reaches a Broader Market.

People like to share posts, emails, and videos with their friends and family. This means your mobile content has the potential to go viral.

This gives you a lot more exposure at no extra cost. It also helps you reach a broader audience that may be outside of your typical target audience.

It's Easy to Track Progress.

Another notable advantage of mobile marketing is the ability to track your progress through analytics tools that are often included within each mobile marketing channel.

For instance, Instagram and Facebook have real-time analytics for you to track and view that display plenty of demographic information as well as engagement dates and times. This helps you create more targeted ad campaigns in the future using the data you collect.

It Is Cost Effective.

One of the most important advantages of mobile marketing is its affordability and low impact to your marketing budget. Mobile allows you to target your ads to people who want to see them, and if they don't work, you can stop the ad and reduce the amount of money you would've spent otherwise. 

Other forms of advertising don't give you the option to stop campaigns when you want to. That's because you have to pay for upfront costs. Many social media ads allow you to post your digital ad and pay as you go.

It's Easy to Access Your Audience.

We can agree that our phones are by our sides most of the day. According to Pew Research Center, 37 percent of adults in the U.S. report using their phone primarily for accessing the internet, with 81 percent of Americans owning a smartphone.

This shows you that focusing on mobile advertising is a great investment so your campaigns can easily be accessed and seen by your users wherever, whenever.

It Encourages Social Media Engagement.

Individuals who access their social media through their mobile device are more likely to comment, read, like, or share content posted by a company than individuals who access social media from a desktop computer.

In fact, 46 percent of smartphone users like posts from a brand they follow about once a week, and only 37 percent of desktop users engage in the same way.

Marketing Statistics That Prove Why Mobile Marketing Works

Mobile is here to stay. The number of people relying on their mobile devices to meet their computing needs is growing.

As smartphone and tablet use continues to grow, mobile marketing is becoming a more important element in every inbound marketing strategy. If you're beginning a campaign, or are planning on directing more of your budget to mobile, here are some statistics to consider.

Marketing Statistics for Mobile Use and Growth

1. 80 percent of smartphone users are more likely to purchase from companies with mobile sites or apps that help them easily answer their questions (makeawebsitehub).

2. In the last quarter of 2023, mobile devices (excluding tablets) generated 58.67 percent of global website traffic (Statista).

Phones make it extremely easy to access the internet from wherever we are. People know this and they make use of it. 

3. 75 percent of Americans admit they bring their phone into the bathroom (Digiday).

We're more attached to our phones than ever before.

4. 40 percent of shoppers consult three or more channels before making a purchase (Mark2Media).

Consumers will stand in your shop and check prices on their device before committing! This number is up from just two percent in 2002.

5. 90 percent of consumers use their smartphone for shopping (Comscore).

Smart retailers are offering discounts and coupons targeted to these shoppers.

6. Mobile drives 23 percent of clicks on paid search (Gartner).

Mobile use is driving the PPC segment as well as general search.

7. By 2019, average daily media consumption on mobile surpassed desktop media consumption by 37 percent (Broadband Search).

People consume media like podcasts, news articles, blogs, and videos from their mobile devices more often than they do on a desktop. 

8. Average smartphone users used their phones for more than four hours a day. 

Mobile users are generally farther along in the buying process and ready to buy as opposed to those researching on a desktop or laptop.

9. Mobile commerce is expected to rise at a 25.5 percent compound annual growth rate from 2019 (Business Insider).

By 2024, 44 percent of all ecommerce will be mobile. 

10. 50 percent of people start using their smartphones before they brush their teeth in the morning (Quoracreative).

Most people's mornings start off with their smartphones. They scroll social media, text, check their email, shop, and consume other media right when they wake up.

Marketing Statistics for Mobile Advertising Spending 

Marketers recognize the importance of mobile for their overall advertising efforts. As a result, spending on mobile advertising is anticipated to continue to grow into the future.

Here are stats that address mobile advertising spending:

11. In 2019, worldwide mobile advertising spending equaled $189 billion U.S. dollars and is expected to amount to more than 240 billion dollars by 2022 (Statista).

Mobile advertising has been growing excessively over the past few years, but it is projected to slow down by 2022.

12. Google and Facebook were expected to capture 60.3 percent of mobile ad dollars in 2020 (eMarketer).

Google and Facebook are the powerhouses of mobile ads. Most companies choose to place their mobile ads on their platforms.

13. 70 percent of mobile users report disliking mobile ads (HubSpot).

Mobile ad blocking has risen 90 percent year-over-year.

14. 33 percent of consumers skip search engines and go directly to the site they want (Smart Insights).

This statistic is why it makes sense to increase content creation to make it easy for your potential buyers to find you.

15. 73 percent of searches for businesses are for food and beverage, and 68 percent are sports or health related (Net Gain SEO).

If your business is in one of these industries, your advertising dollars would be well spent on mobile.

Mobile Marketing Statistics for Social Media and Email

Mobile devices and social media go together. As we become more of an “immediate” society, mobile devices allow us to communicate with family and friends as events unfold.

16. 80 percent of social media time is spent on mobile devices (comScore).

Make sure your social content looks good on mobile devices. People are more likely to view it on a mobile device than on a desktop.

17. Pinterest is the most mobile friendly social network, and 64 percent of referral traffic comes from mobile devices (Mobile Marketing Watch).

Facebook and Twitter get plenty of mobile traffic but if you're targeting mobile users, look at Pinterest as well.

18. Mobile email opens have grown by 180 percent in the last three years (Email Monday).

If your subscribers aren't opening your marketing emails on their device, the problem lies with you.

19. About 60 percent of emails are opened on mobile (Campaign Monitor).

Depending on the industry that is sending the emails, most of them are opened on mobile devices. 

20. 70 percent of consumers immediately delete emails that don't render well on a mobile device (Blue Hornet).

Yet another reason to render your emails for mobile devices.

21. 79 percent of people use their smartphone for reading emails. This is higher than the percentage of people using their phones for making calls (Email Monday).

Marketing Statistics for Mobile App Users

Optimizing your content for mobile is a smart strategy that can help to increase mobile engagement.

To add another level of mobile user engagement, create an application. App use is growing among consumers, and having a proprietary app can increase leads, sales, and engagement. 

22. Mobile users spend 87 percent of their time on their apps, as compared to just 13 percent of their time on the web (Comscore).

People are using their apps on their phone far more than using their mobile browsers. This is why app development is still a major focus for so many businesses. 

23. Two-thirds of internet users report using mobile apps for shopping (Datareportal).

Mobile apps for shopping have risen in popularity in recent years. Apps are often more responsive, and some brands provide their customers with awesome rewards when they shop with them.

24. 89 percent of mobile browsing time occurs in apps (NetGain).

Only 11 percent of mobile browsing occurs in mobile web browsers.

25. 46 percent of shoppers are less likely to shop around if using a company's mobile app (socPub).

A mobile app can instill trust in users and make them more likely to remain loyal to a brand.

Misc. Mobile Marketing Statistics

26. Mobile browsing peaks during off hours (NetGain).

Most web browsing happens on desktop and laptop computers during the nine to five.

27. 57 percent of users won't recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile website (socPub).

Take the time to optimize your website for mobile or you'll lose business.

28. Over half of smartphone users grab their device immediately when they wake up (Express Pigeon).

29. Mobile advertising accounts for over 50% of ad spend (Luisa Zhou).

Mobile marketing is so powerful that companies are specifically dedicating resources to develop this area of their inbound strategy. Mobile is here to stay and should be a component of every inbound marketing strategy.

30. 48 percent of mobile research begins on a mobile search engine (NetGain).

Thirty three percent starts on a branded website, and 26 percent starts on branded apps. So SEO remains critically important when creating content.

Make sure that you always follow best practices when creating content, as well as when optimizing content for mobile.

5 Types of Mobile Marketing Strategies

Here are five key mobile marketing strategies you may consider adopting before you launch your new mobile marketing campaigns:

1. Voice Search Optimization

Smart devices with voice search have made their way into many people's homes. Many people use these devices to search for the things they need so they can contact a business or find out its location.

It is projected that a little more than half of all households will own voice-enabled technology by 2022. This is good news for your business because voice search can drive sales. 

2. QR Codes

QR codes are a game changer in mobile marketing. The QR stands for "quick response," which takes away the need for your prospects to search for your site or navigate your site to find what they need. 

Instead, they can scan your QR code using their smartphone's camera to be taken to a listing or some other item on your website right away. 

This can help speed up your site if you have a lot of data to transmit, which makes it more accessible for mobile users. You can generate QR codes through a sites like Kaywa.

3. Location-Based Marketing

Location is everything for real estate agents and for marketers. Leverage the use of location-based marketing in your mobile marketing strategy to increase your customer base and engagement.

One location-based technique is geofencing, which allows businesses with a mobile app to target mobile users in a certain area. This is great for brick-and-mortar stores as well as ecommerce sites that provide local suggestions, such as travel services or food delivery.

4. Social Media Advertisements

Social media is kind of a big deal. As you saw in the social media stats above, most people are actively involved in one or more social media channels. It remains a leading marketing channel for small businesses and startups to focus on.

Selecting the right social media channels to promote your business on is essential to the success of a social media ad campaign. Conduct A/B tests to find out which platforms get you the best results.

Social media is a great place to showcase your brand story and to display posts that feature your product and the lifestyle your product or service inhabits.

Adopting a social media marketing strategy can increase your sales. About 76 percent of people have purchased something because a brand they are interested in featured it in a social media post.

5. Text Message Marketing

Text message marketing campaigns have a phenomenal open rate because most people read them within a couple minutes of receiving them. In fact, people read around 100 percent of the text messages they receive.

A great text message marketing campaign starts with providing your customers and prospects with the option to opt in to messages.You can often entice them with some sort of discount or perk if they opt in for text messages. 

In fact, digital coupons or sales sent through text are used 10 times more often than coupons from other marketing methods. This is a great way to boost your conversion rate and get more sales. 

5 Steps to Launch Your Mobile Marketing Strategies

Don't let the large amount of mobile marketing strategies discourage you from getting started with your new marketing techniques. With these five steps, you can launch your mobile marketing strategies with ease.

1. Understand Your Target Audience.

There are so many mobile marketing strategies out there that can benefit your business, but not every strategy will work well with your target audience. That is why you must first understand what mobile platforms your audience engages with the most before you can launch your mobile marketing strategies.

You can understand your target audience by collecting data from analytics tools or surveys that detail how, where, and when they engage with mobile devices, apps, and other mobile platforms most often. 

Use the information you collect to select which mobile strategies to launch first. 

2. Set Mobile Friendly Goals.

The key to any successful marketing strategy lies in defining the end goal. You must set the right goals before you launch your marketing strategy. 

For instance, if your current sign-up process is long and difficult for users, they may end up bouncing from your site. One of your goals can be to increase sign ups by offering shorter forms that are mobile friendly and by allowing social login through Facebook or another social media platform.

3. Build a Mobile Friendly Website.

If you want to have a successful mobile marketing strategy, you must have a mobile friendly website that is responsive across various mobile devices. 

Most site visitors' first impression of your site is on mobile when they are searching for basic information, like your business address, contact details, and to get a general idea of your pricing.

A website that is not mobile responsive typically has higher bounce rates because it may be slow or fail to engage site visitors altogether. This may cause a drop in search rankings and traffic.

A mobile friendly site is user friendly, simple, and optimized for different screen sizes.

4. Focus on Mobile SEO.

You probably already know the importance of SEO to drive your overall website traffic, but mobile SEO requires some more steps that go beyond traditional search engine optimization.

For instance, you can optimize for mobile by including local SEO. Mobile users often search for information when they are out and about. This means your business should be easily discoverable for geo-specific search queries, such as "near me." 

Search engines like Google also reward you for simply having a speedy mobile ready site. Consider optimizing your site for speed to take advantage of this perk.

5. Experiment and Adapt.

Mobile marketing strategies require you to think differently about your approach than if you were applying traditional methods. They often require you to adapt to the market changes and dynamics that come along with mobile technology.

This can be a great thing for your marketing strategy since it provides you with ample opportunity to test out your innovative campaigns and ideas in the market. Evaluate your experimental campaigns by using real-time analytics from different marketing channels to evaluate the campaign's performance.

Then you can modify your marketing efforts accordingly to make them more effective.

Marketers are increasingly optimizing and focusing on mobile marketing as a growth area. In fact, the majority of resources spent on digital marketing is being directed toward mobile.

It only makes sense. More people prefer reading emails, engaging with their social networks, and beginning research on their mobile devices, and this number will only continue to grow.

The growth of mobile is being driven by the numbers. These statistics can help illustrate the many reasons why you need to develop mobile as a major segment of your inbound strategy. Luckily, the statistics show that investing in mobile marketing can pay off big for most businesses.