Tablets Offer Best Bang for Search Ad Buck

Tablets had a better return on ad spend (ROAS) for search advertisers in 2011 than computers and smartphones, finds Marin Software in a March 2012 report. Looking at 2011 data on a cost per conversion basis, the study finds that desktop computers had a 25% higher average cost per conversion than tablets, while smartphones had a 106% higher cost. Although computers had a slightly higher conversion rate (5.6%) than tablets (4.9%), cost per click (CPC) on tablets was 24.1% lower than on computers ($0.63 vs. $0.83). And while smartphones had the highest click through rate (4.1%) and lowest CPC ($0.53), they suffered from the lowest conversion rate (2%). (more…)