Since AdWords allowed advertisers to specifically target “smartphone” users, mobile PPC has been getting a lot of well-deserved attention. So why all the fuss?
Mobile Is a Horse of a Different Color
Typical PPC ads reach users in two ways. They show up on search engine results pages (and I’m lumping in search partners here) or as AdSense ads on content pages of other sites. The user sees these ads in a standard browser (IE, Firefox, Chrome or Safari) while seated in front of a computer. They’re on the internet for a reason and you can decipher at least some intent with keywords and ad copy. This is the PPC world in a nutshell and it’s awesome for people who know what they’re doing. But mobile doesn’t fit the mold.
Mobile users see PPC ads (and landing pages) in a much different way. First, the screen is much smaller. For some phones this means that the #1 ad on Google's SERPs is 20-25% of the space above the fold. For other phones this means that many users will never even see your ad even though you got an "impression." Second, smartphones have browsers that do all kinds of weird things. Some can handle Flash, some can't. Some have Javascript enabled, some don't. Some are full HTML browsers, some aren't. So not only could your PPC ads being shown in vastly different ways, but imagine what is happening to your landing pages. That video or Flash content may be worthless. Your images might be taking too long to download. As you can see, mobile needs to be treated differently.
Is It Worth the Effort?
The AdWords blog has a case study from Razorfish that shows a 7.5% lower cost/conversion on mobile advertising and a conversion rate boost of 9.3% for their mobile-specific ad copy. So in this situation, yes, the effort definitely paid off. If you’re still not convinced, here are the most critical areas to consider:
- Intent – Mobile users are probably looking at your site for different reasons than a desktop user. They may be looking for a phone number, address or hours. They likely won’t be going through a lot of page views (3G is fast, but not that fast) so think of what tasks that eliminates and what is left.
- User Experience – I will reiterate, smartphones are slower than computers so consider a mobile-friendly subdomain (ie http://m.linkedin.com) to serve a better user experience.
- Situation – The definition is in the name: MOBILE. These users are seeing and clicking your ads in a much different physical situation. Speak to that in your messaging.
What have been your experiences with mobile?
About Robert
Hi Robert, interesting post. I blogged on this very topic yesterday, with a slightly different take: http://beyondthepaid.blogspot.com/2010/03/ppc-campaigns-on-mobile-devices-good-or.html.
In general, I agree with you – but it does depend on the advertiser.
Hey Robert,
I’m most excited about the click-to-call phone function. I haven’t seen too much activity from mobile phone users in terms of searches. And when clicks do occur few conversions are occurring. Additionally, in viewing my clients’ analytics there isn’t enough traffic to justify creating mobile sites.
Click-to-call is great because it gets the phone number out there and makes it easy for the user to click (tap).
Mobile advertising would continue to grow as more and more mobile phone users get hooked on texting and mobile browsing.:“