Nielsen: Mobile Websites Beat Apps

It should come as no surprise that smartphone users are constantly interacting with their device – sending emails, checking social media, sharing photos, downloading apps, and checking websites.  But when shopping and viewing retailers, do you use a mobile site, or an app?

Nielsen conducted research from this past holiday season with 5,000 metered smartphone users and discovered that users prefer a mobile website over branded apps.  However, users who downloaded the app spent more time in the app than the mobile site.  Basically, mobile sites mean more traffic but less engagement, and apps mean fewer users but more engagement.

That’s important data when you are a small business that’s considering how to tackle mobile traffic.  If you know how you’ll measure your ROI, this information can be quite valuable.

About Greg Cruce

As a programmer-turned-Interactive Marketing Executive, Greg has 17+ years of Internet and technical experience to guide his projects through. In his role as an IME, Greg communicates with clients and keeps projects moving forward with ongoing marketing efforts for clients such as search engine optimization, pay-per-click campaigns, email newsletters, and more.