Mobile web analytics

Mobile web analytics studies the behavior of mobile website visitors in a similar way to traditional web analytics. In a commercial context, mobile web analytics refers to the use of data collected as visitors access a website from a mobile phone. It helps to determine which aspects of the website work best for mobile traffic and which mobile marketing campaigns work best for the business, including mobile advertising, mobile search marketing, text campaigns, and desktop promotion of mobile sites and services.

Data collected as part of mobile analytics typically includes page views, visits, visitors, and countries, as well as information specific to mobile devices, such as device model, manufacturer, screen resolution, device capabilities, service provider, and preferred user language. This data is typically compared against key performance indicators for performance and return on investment, and is used to improve a website or mobile marketing campaign's audience response.

The majority of modern smartphones are able to browse websites, some with browsing experiences similar to those of desktop computers. The W3C Mobile Web Initiative identifies best practices to help websites support mobile phone browsing. Many companies use these guidelines and mobile-specific code like Wireless Markup Language or HTML5 to optimize websites for viewing on mobile devices.

To begin with, the way users interact with a cell phone or a tablet differs immensely from the way they interact with a desktop or laptop. The action of clicking with the mouse has been replaced with the action of swiping with a finger. Scrolling through longer pages with all the relevant information in one place has replaced top heavy navigation styles. These factors greatly influence the click-through rates, and consequently, the way web analytics can be used.

Collecting mobile web analytics data has proven to be less straightforward than traditional web analytics due to a few defining factors.

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