Almost two thirds - 64 per cent - of total website traffic came from smartphones in 2020, according to research from experience analytics company Contentsquare.

This represents a 16 per cent increase compared to 2019, but despite this, the research said that 49 per cent of mobile users bounce after viewing one page.
The research looked at Contentsquare’s session data from over 20 billion web sessions sourced from over 900 websites globally.

Contentsquare’s research also said that the luxury sector was dominated by mobile in 2020, with 76 per cent of the industry’s visits originating from a mobile device.

This was followed closely by the beauty and apparel industries, in which smartphone users made up 72 per cent and 70 per cent of all online visits respectively.

However, the research also revealed that desktop viewing still dominates in some industries, with 57 per cent of those in financial services and 81 per cent in B2B industries choosing this method.
Contentsquare suggested this was due to visitors in these industries accessing sites on work computers or preferring a larger screen size to complete transactions.

The research also highlighted the explosion of mobile app usage in the last year and said overall mobile app screen views increased by 202 per cent.
In addition, the research said time spent on mobile apps peaked at the start of the pandemic, with a 91 per cent increase in session time in March.

“Digital teams and business leaders are already familiar with the mobile imperative — one we’ve been designing for since Forrester started discussing a mobile-first approach almost 10 years ago,” said Niki Hall chief marketing officer at Contentsquare.

“The acceleration of smartphone usage observed in 2020 serves as a reminder that to remain competitive today, you need to offer a seamless experience on both your mobile site and app.”

“Smartphones are no longer just another way for visitors to interact and shop with your brand — they’re becoming the preferred way for consumers to discover and research new products and services.”

“And with almost half of mobile users exiting your site before they make it to the second page, brands should lean on customer intelligence to ensure the experiences they design match users’ goals and expectations.”

“Contentsquare's annual benchmark of digital customer behaviours provides great insight into how web and app browsing trends vary sharply from one industry to another and from one device to another,” said Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst at ZK Research. “Every brand is unique, of course, but this aggregated data set allows teams to compare the performance of their CX against their sector benchmarks, and to see if they're ahead or lagging in the race for the perfect experience.”

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