Mobile has changed the way we live. Next time you’re waiting in line at the grocery store, relaxing in a coffee shop, or sitting on the sidelines at a soccer game, look around. What are people doing? Most likely, they are gazing into the four-inch screens of their mobile phones.
“Most Americans would rather leave home without their wallets than their mobile phones.”
From our mobile devices, we organize our lives. We use our tablets and phones to connect with friends on social media, manage our calendars, make purchases, order dinner, pay for coffee, check our bank balance, find and map an address, read and respond to email, scan barcodes, research products and answer questions. It's not surprising that most Americans would rather leave home without their wallets than their mobile phones. Mobile phones are the ultimate business and life-management tool. They aren't going away.
If your analytics are typical, 20% of your site's traffic is already originating from mobile devices. It’s worth checking. Your existing customers and clients are very likely already connecting with you from their mobile devices. What are you doing to ensure their experience is seamless and positive?
In order to serve customers, sites, landing pages and even email must to be mobile-friendly. It's not an option anymore. We've all become frustrated while attempting to navigate a site with tiny or illegible fonts, minuscule links, wide margins and sluggish features from our smart phones. How many times have you just given up when you can't find the information you need quickly on a site that isn't optimized for mobile? If you’ve ditched a clunky site for an easier to navigate mobile experience, you're not alone. A 2012 study published by IABALM1 reports that 61% of people who visit a site that isn’t mobile-optimize will advance to a competitor’s site.
Mobile users are focused. If they are unable to access the desired information rapidly, they’ll move on. That said, they are motivated and ready to make quick decisions. They are more likely to act than they would from a desktop device. In mobile, first impressions are everything.
Mobile users are resourceful shoppers; they tend to integrate the features of mobile into their busy lives. According to a Comscore report in 2012, Greater than 50% of mobile users research and compare products while within a store with their mobile devices and use the information to inform buying their decisions.
While mobile search is global, it can also be hyper-local. How many times have you looked up an address when you were just a few blocks from your destination or tried to locate a gas-station or cafe?. Google Mobile Playbook’s states that half of all local searches originate from mobile devices. We use our mobile phones and tablets to simplify and organize our lives in the moment. We have trained ourselves to be reliant on mobile for in-the moment planning. We search for restaurants and movies on the fly, whereas not so many years ago, we planned our leisure activities days in advance. Remember when we called the movie theater to hear the show times on a voice recording? Mobile permits us to indulge our impulsivity by offering in-the-moment solutions at the point of decision.
It’s essential to remember that your mobile customers might be connecting with you while they are doing something else. They may have picked up their mobile in a spare moment. Thus, it’s essential you make it easy for them to complete all calls to action in a brief and simple interaction. If you send your customers an email and they open it on their smartphone, it's imperative that the link to the landing page, offer or website leads to a mobile-optimized destination. You can’t count on a mobile customer remembering to come back later. You have their attention now. Do your best to enchant your customers with quick and easy interactions. Become and remain a valued resource with an understanding of how to reach clients where they are. Make it easy for them to choose you.
- IAB Annual Leadership Meeting
An entrepreneur with an eye for good design and advocate of simplicity. He brings a fresh strategy and approach to every project and plays an integral role in clients’ accomplishments through collaboration and close integration. Through his hands-on experience in technology and marketing, he ensures user experiences and technology are on the leading edge.
