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Affiliate Window – Mobile results April 2012

By The Drum Team | Editorial

Affiliate Window

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Mobile article

May 15, 2012 | 5 min read

Mobile results from affiliate network Affiliate Window indicate growth in mobile traffic and sales for April, whilst the mobile conversion rate dropped, indicating a lack of mobile optimised sites.

Affiliate Window has spent the last eighteen months compiling extensive data to provide insight on the impact of m-commerce within the performance channel. Advertisers’ programmes are now marked as ‘Mobile Optimised’ if they have a mobile friendly site with advanced Affiliate Window tracking. Sales will be tracked whether the user interacts with the brand through a mobile device or computer. ”We’ve recognised that publishers and advertisers alike are missing out on significant m-commerce opportunities that have exploded in the last year or so,” said Kevin Edwards, strategy director at Affiliate Window. “We’ve made it our mission to lead the industry in showcasing the full range of activity mobile can offer as well as highlight the more enlightened advertisers who have added our tracking to their m-commerce platforms. Reporting was the missing piece of the jigsaw for us and I’m delighted we’re first to market with our new mobile reports that help showcase the strength of performance in the new frontier of mobile marketing”. Affiliate Window currently has over 50 brands with mobile optimised sites and affiliate tracking in place, including Debenhams, Groupon, Thorntons, Gap and B&Q, with a growing number of advertisers joining the ranks every month.Here The Drum presents a few of Affiliate Window's mobile statistics for April 2012.

Monthly traffic

The network has seen the share of mobile traffic continue to grow. In April mobile made up 11.61 per cent of all traffic through the network – up from 10.11 per cent in March, and compared to last year’s mobile traffic, which stood at 2.36 per cent of all network traffic.

Device breakdown (traffic)

Affiliate Window found little variation week on week, with Apple devices leading the way in terms of traffic; both the iPad and the iPhone accounted for around 40 per cent of total mobile traffic each week. Android accounted for between 14-16 per cent of mobile traffic each week whilst the BlackBerry and ‘other devices’ have both remained fairly constant, at a 2.5 per cent share of traffic during the period.

Sales

The percentage of sales Affiliate Window has seen through mobile devices also continues to increase. In April the network exceeded 7 per cent of all sales being driven by mobile devices. This compares to 6.6 per cent in March and 3.62 per cent in April 2011.

Device breakdown (sales)

The breakdown by device indicates where sales are coming from. The iPad is still dominant in the share of sales, with over half of all mobile sales being generated through this device. If focusing on true mobile devices (excluding tablets) and looking at handsets, the iPhone is again the dominant device in terms of transactions. Over the past four weeks the iPhone has delivered between 26 per cent and 28 per cent of all mobile transactions, while Android devices have made up between 10-11 per cent each week. Sales from BlackBerry have ranged from 3-3.5 per cent while ‘other devices’ account for under 2 per cent.

Device breakdown year to date

Conversion rates

Conversion rates through mobile devices dropped again in April. Mobile devices (including tablets) are now converting at just over 2.5 per cent. This is a drop off from March where we were seeing a conversion rate of 2.91% for our mobile traffic. With more traffic coming through mobile devices, an optimised mobile site places advertisers in the best position to be able to convert this traffic. A lack of mobile optimised sites coupled with those that do not have affiliate tracking in place explains the drop off in conversion rates.

Conversion rate by device

The conversion rate through mobile devices can be broken down by device in order to split out tablet traffic and compare each device against what Affiliate Window found for desktop. The above chart looks at the conversion rate by device for the year so far. Desktop traffic continues to convert at the highest rate, although this dropped in April. The iPad also experienced a drop in conversion rate, falling to 3.66 per cent. Of all the mobile handsets, the BlackBerry has consistently converted at the best rate. In April the gap between BlackBerry and the iPad closed further, with the blackberry converting at 3.52 per cent. The conversion rate for the iPhone dropped again and is now converting at the same rate as Android devices at just under 1.8 per cent. The drop off in conversion rate of the most highly trafficked handset is again indicative that advertisers are lacking mobile optimised sites/affiliate tracking.

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