The world of mobile technology is at the same time a problem to tackle, and the biggest opportunity for your business. Crack it, and you can find it’s a treasure trove of rewards in the form of leads and sales – but get it wrong, and you can find your marketing plans disappearing up blind alleys. Mobile is now the leading search platform, and requires its own strategy of email marketing, PPC, SEO, social media and remarketing. Digital engagement is vital to your business, and mobile is the key – neglect it at your peril.
We are still making the mistake of viewing mobile marketing as a second-rate marketing and revenue stream, even when confronted with statistics like ‘over 55% of retail traffic now takes place on mobile’. Another great insight, published by Google almost 2 years ago (dealing with what they refer to a “micro-moments”), has now become explicit behaviour:
- Of leisure travelers who are smartphone users, 69% search for travel ideas during spare moments, like when they’re standing in line or waiting for the subway. Nearly half of those travelers go on to book their choices through an entirely separate channel.
- Of smartphone users, 91% look up information on their smartphones while in the middle of a task.
- Of smartphone users, 82% consult their phones while they’re standing in a store deciding which product to buy. One in 10 of those end up buying a different product than they had planned.
- Of online consumers, 69% agree that the quality, timing, or relevance of a company’s message influences their perception of a brand.
The successful brands of tomorrow will be those that have a strategy for understanding and meeting consumers’ needs in these micro-moments.
Believe me, I was here looking at this, the above was cutting edge reality in 2015 but now we only need to look at our own behavior for verification that it is no longer micro-moments but just the moment.
Where to start if you have neglected this or have vainly thought that what you are currently doing will be magically automated to mobile friendly revenue. Look at the big retailers and visit their site on your phone – then go to your site and go through the checkout or forms process. This user experience is proportionate to the conversion rate through mobile. We have been given an almost insurmountable bar to reach for which is Amazon’s 1-click checkout – the epitome of buyer’s remorse, but I can tell you they have the highest conversion rate of any site.
I was listening to an interview with the CEO of a large UK retailer on talk radio (yes, I am guilty of still listing to talk radio from time to time), and he stated that over 70% of purchases over the past fiscal year were made using a mobile phone. I heard that and immediately thought what are the overhead compresences to their high-street shops and their website.
Back to where to start: first off, I would suggest talking to a respectable digital agency. Any good agency will give you some advice and point you in the right direction. If you are just starting to think mobile, you need to make sure that your site is responsive. Make sure that you take the time to go through it meticulously on mobile. If the user can not convert with three thumb clicks you will increase the drop or bounce rate by a healthy 10% at least. Your SEO strategy and PPC account need to be optimised for mobile. Look into Social advertising as over 90% of social engagement is through mobile, and if Social is a good fit for your business get aggressive on this; it will pay off.
We should all be looking at mobile engagement strategy just as we once looked at the digital marketing strategy, holistically. I would also recommend splitting the digital budget accordingly – yes, there will be a great deal of overlap to start but once you start defining the mobile strategy, it will become easier to allocate a suitable budget strictly for that.
More than 60 percent of e-commerce visits now start on a mobile device – consumers turn to them first to buy from Amazon, eBay and other e-commerce platforms. Both the largest businesses such as Walmart and the smallest are recognising this, and making sure that their websites are designed to be user-friendly for mobile devices. If you haven’t caught up with this trend before, you need to do so now – businesses that develop integrated mobile campaigns guiding customers from product introduction to the sale are the ones that will see a considerable boost in revenue. If your mobile engagement is poor, you need to invest in in a mobile engagement strategy as a top priority for your business; only by keeping on top of this will you develop your online business in an increasingly competitive market.