Mobile is to blame for Conversion rate declines

We need to have a conversation about conversion rate.

On the heels of talking about the failure of mobile optimization, there’s more to say.

Sure, it seems like old news. ‘Mobile keeps growing’ doesn’t grab headlines anymore, especially with buzzier topics like AI, TikTok, and retail media taking all of ecommerce’s oxygen.

So, here’s a reason to care:

Over each of the last 5 quarters, overall conversion rate has fallen by ~5% YoY.

And mobile is ENTIRELY to blame.

Here’s what happen in Q4, YoY:

Overall, conversion rate fell: -4.7%

Mobile increased in traffic share from 75% to 78% (3ppt or +4.0% change)

Mobile converts at ½ the rate of desktop (51%, more accurately)

Mobile conversion rate fell -3.6%

The result of all that: mobile’s influence on conversion rate was -5.5%

Mobile was THE cause of CVR change.

More than 100% of the blame for CVR’s decline can be pinned on mobile.

Quick summary without the math:

More traffic moved to mobile >>

Mobile converts at a lower rate than desktop >>

Mobile conversion rate fell YoY, too.

There’s more in the stew, of course - mobile attracts far more social traffic, and that traffic performs *really* poorly. The context of the shopper is different. The list can go on.

So the path to conversion rate optimization is facing a gust of headwinds from mobile.

We've talked before about missing the mark on mobile optimization: tl;dr of that: we're too hung up on solving the screen size problem than the real challenge: the shopper's context and journey is far different on mobile.