Methodology

• We pulled YTD Google Analytics data for 15 eCommerce and Lead Gen brands operated in the United States.
• Each of those brands was doing at minimum $20m per year in top-line revenue annually and had a full Universal Google Analytics configuration (mind you UA is being replaced by GA4 soon-ish).
• We pulled conversion rate data for all traffic and we pulled filtered data for Direct, Organic Search, and Paid Search. We recognize that Paid Social traffic grossly over-indexes mobile and so we wanted to look at those other traffic sources to see if the same conversion rate ratios held once that paid social/mobile effect was controlled for.

Results

On average, desktop conversion rates for all traffic were 1.9x that of mobile. Obviously, in the data above you can see a ton of variance from brand to brand. That said, intuitively 2x seems like a solid rule of thumb.

Below are the filtered results by Default Channel Group which more or less confirm the same ratios:

Direct

Organic Search

Paid Search

Conclusion

So there you have it! If you ever are pressed for the classic desktop vs mobile conversion rate comparison I think 2x is a solid and reasonable answer.

PS: As always feel free to message or email me at adam@thesistesting.com to talk about growth via paid channels, SEO, CRO, etc!

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