Observers paying attention to Etsy’s Q2 2015 conference call may have picked up on a little tidbit in CEO Chad Dickerson’s remarks. Etsy is capitalizing on mobile commerce and crediting it to the experience offered by their mobile app – and it’s working with Google features such as deep linking to optimize results.
“We know that our mobile apps offer a better shopping experience than mobile web, so we’re taking advantage of two key technologies that drive usage from the lower-converting mobile web experience to higher-converting mobile apps,” Dickerson said. He credited Google App Indexing and deep linking here as the two in question.
“App indexing means that users running organic Google searches on mobile web on their phones will go directly into the Etsy Android app when clicking on search results,” Dickerson said.
A case study provided by Google on the topic offers additional information. The App Indexing and deep-linking come into play when someone searches for a desired item on a mobile web browser, and clicks on an Etsy result.
If that person has the Etsy app on their phone, that click will take the visitor to the app. Etsy has credited an 11.6 percent increase in average daily traffic from referral links to App Indexing. The main idea in play is to get a shopper from the mobile web into the Etsy app.
Etsy provided EcommerceBytes.com with some additional details about this. The company said as of June 28th the Etsy app had been downloaded nearly 28 million times. Most importantly for sellers, they benefit from the interplay between Etsy and Google seamlessly.
“Etsy apps have the highest engagement for the 60% of our visits that happen on a mobile device. Deep linking, and therefore moving buyers into the apps, means a better browsing and buying experience; users stay logged in, can easily make purchases and check out, and can get notifications about convos and shipping updates,” an Etsy spokesperson said.
“Nothing has changed in the way seller’s listings show up in Etsy search. Deep linking brings a shopper seamlessly from a web search (for example, results for “personalized necklace”) to the right page within the Etsy app. Sellers do not need to do anything differently to be visible via deep linking.”
“We believe that shopping for unique goods via our mobile apps presents the best Etsy shopping experience on mobile devices, so if we can transition buyers to the app with no extra effort on their part, they will have the best experience.”
Etsy was careful to differentiate between sellers showing up in search results versus how deep linking brings consumers from a search to a listing in an app. Sellers want to be visible to searchers, and Etsy has suggestions on the topic.
The rise in mobile commerce, pegged at 60 percent of all Q4 2014 online shopping according to comScore, suggests an increasing number of shoppers will use their portable gadgets to browse and buy. By leading visitors from the mobile web to their app, Etsy said they can offer an experience similar to the desktop site, including “search and discovery, curation, personalization and social shopping features.”
Interested in learning more about App indexing and deep-linking? Check the Google Android site for more information.
