Every ad channel allows you to target mobile and desktop devices. Knowing which device to target at different points of your funnel is critical to seeing a positive return on ad investment.
If you’re always unsure about which devices to target, I’m going to share with you my thoughts to help you make up your mind.
Mobile users are much more difficult to retarget
Not all mobile devices support third-party cookies.
This means if a mobile user visits your website, your Facebook pixel or Google tag may not be able to capture them.
If you run paid media on Facebook targeting a cold audience and retarget a segment of the first audience who visited certain product pages, you won’t be able to do that to users who landed on your site using certain mobile devices.
Keep that in mind when running cold adverts when your goal is to retarget them later.
Check Your Google Analytic Goals
If you’ve setup goals in Google, you can see which goals are completed on desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
Here’s goals for an online ecommerce store which reveals that mobile traffic is the worst device type for generating sales:
However for lead capture it converts near enough the same as desktop and surpasses tablet users:
For this particular business it would wiser if they focused adverts on the lower-level of their funnel for desktop and tablet devices (product ads), and target upper-level content such as blog posts and squeeze pages to include mobiles users.
Mobile devices have a smaller screen which makes buying products a lot more difficult, whereas opting in or using the contact form is rather simple.
Targeting mobile devices on Facebook
Facebook doesn’t let you select between mobile and tablet devices, you either have to select them both or neither:
For the business above that generates 4.3% of conversions on tablet devices but 1.7% on mobiles, do they target mobile devices or not?
This will ultimately depend on whether their adverts are returning a positive ROI targeting mobile devices at 1.7% conversion. Create new test campaigns targeting only mobile devices and measure the results to see whether it’s viable to serve lower-level funnel ads to mobile devices.
If you have low conversion rates for mobile devices, I strongly suggest ticking the Only when connected to Wi-Fi option. This will greatly reduce the amount of clicks from people who are just browsing their phone at work or during their commute when serving ads with the objective of increasing conversions.
If they are connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot there’s a good chance they are at home and have a computer or laptop nearby to visit your site and make the intended action.
Mobile devices are powerful for local businesses
Bricks and mortar businesses who use online marketing to drive more prospects to their store must make the most of mobile users. Google states that 50% of smartphone users will visit a store within 24 hours of searching compared to desktop searches (34%).
Mobile users who are searching for local businesses have a greater intent of taking action. Many are looking for directions, a phone number of a map to view what’s closest to them.
Complex ecommerce stores with hundreds of product may not convert mobile users as much as their desktop counterparts, but local businesses will certainly drive more people into their stores targeting mobiles devices.
Summary
Mobile phones and laptops have almost become an attachment to the human body. Whenever we need something, they are often the first two places we go to look for it. Look deeper into your Google Analytics and see how mobile and desktop traffic interact on your site.
Asides from looking at your Google Goals, create separate campaigns for mobile and desktop users and see how they compare with each other. Some businesses will find mobile traffic to be a goldmine, while for others it will be extremely unprofitable.
Nick Bridges
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