Why your mobile conversion rate is lower than it should be

Mobile accounts for more than half of paid search clicks in most accounts. If mobile converts at half the rate of desktop, you are effectively wasting a large proportion of your ad spend. The gap is partly inherent - mobile users are more often in research mode, sessions are more interrupted - but in most accounts I audit the gap is significantly larger than it needs to be because of fixable experience issues.

Page speed on mobile is the first check

Mobile connections are slower than broadband. A page that loads comfortably on desktop can feel slow on a phone. Run your landing pages through Google PageSpeed Insights and check the mobile score specifically - it is reported separately from desktop. Focus on Largest Contentful Paint. If your mobile LCP is above 3 seconds, you are losing a meaningful percentage of paid mobile traffic before they see your offer.

The tap target problem

Buttons and links that work fine with a mouse cursor may be too small to tap reliably on a touchscreen. Navigation links clustered closely together, small form submit buttons, and phone numbers that are not click-to-call all create friction. Walk through your page on a real device and tap everything interactive. Anything that feels difficult to hit accurately is a conversion killer.

Forms on mobile

Forms are harder to complete on mobile than on desktop. Every additional field increases abandonment on mobile disproportionately. Reduce form fields to the absolute minimum on your mobile landing pages. Consider showing a phone number prominently on mobile alongside the form - many mobile users prefer to call rather than type out a message on a small screen.

Click-to-call as a conversion path

Mobile users are significantly more likely to call than desktop users. If your landing page does not display a prominently tappable phone number, and if your campaigns do not have call extensions enabled, you are missing the conversion path that mobile users prefer. Add a click-to-call button near the top of your mobile page. Track inbound calls as conversions. In many service businesses, this alone can halve the apparent mobile CPA gap.