iPads: one of the highest converting devices

The great thing about working in an agency rather than in “isolation” is the access to dozens of Analytics accounts. Each month we aggregate customer data from those accounts to ascertain average conversion rates, mobile visitation and various other metrics to try and identify trends over time. And I thought I’d share one with you.

One metric we’ve been tracking is eCommerce conversion rates by “operating system” and the results have been quite fascinating.

In the last few months the iPad has consistently led the way in terms of conversion rates. Note that while revenue numbers for the iPad haven’t been anywhere near as high as Windows or Firefox, the upwards traffic trajectory from iPads is rising almost as quickly as smartphones were just a few short years ago.

If you sell online, then iPad optimisation should be taken seriously as a revenue opportunity. Here are some examples showing the iPad leading the way (mostly) in eCommerce conversion rates… 

You can see in the eCommerce conversion rates in the middle column, and the percentages of revenue in the right column. As I said earlier, iPads certainly don’t drive the lion’s share of total revenue yet – Windows and Mac’s do – but as a percentage it’s increasing. I guess the question one must raise here is why is the iPad such a high converting device?

I’d argue that it’s because iPad owners probably have higher disposable income, might be time poor and perhaps be under pressure to complete online transactions fairly quickly? Anecdotally, it seems that iPad owners are less in “work mode” and more in “relaxing” mode. So maybe they’re more open to retail therapy? Hard to tell.

Perhaps iPad owners are being inspired by advertising on telly? In the US, 70% of people play with their iPad and watch TV at the same time. With 15 million iPad’s sold worldwide and over one million sold here in Australia, I’m personally surprised Ad Agencies aren’t encouraging people to respond to TV ads with more calls to action go online.

Watch the iPad.

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Chris Thomas heads up Reseo, a search engine optimisation  company which specialises in creating and maintaining Google AdWords campaigns and Search Engine Optimisation campaigns for a range of corporate clients.