In Germany, Encountering a Problem Means Switching Devices
Most issues send internet users from one screen to another
January 14, 2016
It’s little wonder that the path to purchase has become an omnichannel one with the rise of digital and mobile channels of product discovery and purchase—especially when an array of problems can send internet users running to a different device.
Internet users in Geramny surveyed by Edelman Berland for Adobe in September 2015 were more likely to switch devices when they encountered various problems with digital content than they were to either give up entirely to try to power through on the original device.
The most common reason for switching to a different device was noticing that the experience would simply be improved on a large screen, suggesting users were starting out on mobile phones or perhaps tablets. An equal share of respondents, 58%, said they switched devices if what they were looking at did not display well on the device they were using.
There were only a few cases where doing nothing, or giving up, was preferable to trying an activity on a different device. Respondents who wanted to show the content to someone else frequently did not change devices. And if respondents just thought the content was too long, they were equally likely to give up or do nothing differently—slightly ahead of the share who would switch devices to read longer content.
Internet users in Germany have plenty of devices to choose from if they do need to switch. eMarketer estimates that 75.9% of internet users in Germany will go online via mobile phones at least monthly this year, and 54.0% have a tablet.