With the use of mobile devices increasing at a breakneck pace, eticketing and mobile accessibility is an absolute must-have for any event.

According to this recent Mashable article, mobile web adoption is happening eight times faster than traditional web adoption during the late 1990s. That’s a statistic worth keeping in mind when considering how to sell tickets to your upcoming event.

This exponential growth in mobile usage brings with it new user behaviors and consumer trends. The article lists five important things to know about the changing mobile commerce landscape.

1. Customers spend more time on their mobile devices than desktops. With tablets joining smartphones as mobile devices, more and more consumers are using them for both research and making purchases. A 2011 study by Adobe reported that 52 percent of tablet owners prefer to shop online using their tablets, while 40 percent preferred using a traditional computer.

2. Mobile shoppers are more focused. Mobile searchers and shoppers are task-focused and more specific in what they’re seeking. When users search with a mobile device they are looking for information or assistance to help them make decisions quickly. In fact, 88 percent of consumers searching on a mobile device will make a purchase within 24 hours. Besides emphasizing the importance of providing mobile accessibility, this also means mobile commerce sites should be simple and focused, without the extraneous content that can be found on the full website.

3. Click-through rates are higher on mobile. Consumers are more likely to click on search results ads when using smartphones or tablets than when using a desktop or laptop. The higher click-through rates mean that the searches of mobile and tablet users are more likely to be commercial or consumer in nature.

4. Mobile shopping peaks at night. People search using different devices throughout the day. During the workday, more searches come from computers. Tablet usage, on the other hand, spikes dramatically at night. Mobile phones are used throughout the entire day, with use growing steadily as the day goes on and peaking around 9 p.m.

5. The mobile web is important. With the tremendous popularity of mobile apps, the significance of mobile websites is sometimes overlooked. But 30 percent of all social media traffic originates on mobile devices, and in 2011, over 42 million people accessed social networks using mobile browsers, while just 38.5 million did so via mobile apps.

According to the article, by 2015, more internet users in the U.S. will access the web through mobile devices than through PCs. Already, sales of smartphones exceed that of all other types of computing devices combined. And tablet ownership in the U.S. nearly doubled from mid-December to early January.

The number of eTickets that are purchased over mobile devices is rapidly increasing. Every SimpleTix site includes a separate, slimmed down mobile version that’s designed specifically for users on the go. In addition to ordering tickets, your customers can view their eTickets and quickly get directions to the venue. With eTickets they will never have to deal with printing out tickets or losing track of them. Whether they purchase tickets on your regular website or your mobile site, they can access their eTickets on the mobile site.

Contact us to learn more.