The most successful enterprises know how to handle today’s mobile revolution. They understand the current market trends and use the huge global proliferation of smart mobile devices to their advantage. By paying attention to Google’s preference for well-built mobile sites and by integrating real-time communications into their mobile apps, they tower over the competition.
The good news is that you don’t need expansive marketing teams to gain this same power. When you effectively address your customer’s preference for researching and shopping on mobile devices and diversify your marketing techniques, you can grab the attention of all generations of mobile users – especially the Millennials – and trump your competition in sales, customer support, and service delivery.
Google Punishes If You’re Not Mobile
Just one year ago, Google announced that it would build mobile preferences into its search index. This means that the biggest search engine in the world now considers whether or not your site is friendly to mobile devices. If you don’t make the grade, your search rank will suffer.
What can you do? First, check out the Mobile-Friendly Test over at Google. You can punch in your website to see if it measures up. If not, then check out the documentation on that same site to learn how to make the lives of your customers easier through better mobile navigation and ease of use. Customers want a smooth journey when purchasing products and searching for information. It’s your job to give them, and Google, what they want – which fortunately happen to be the same.
Shopping Is Now Mobile
A report from retail marketing firm InReality showed last year that 75 percent of consumers used their phones to research products while inside brick-and-mortar locations. Furthermore, 25 percent of those consumers said they actually make purchases online while inside stores. Mobile clearly has a place in the entire shopping experience.
Industry statistics have also shown that 91 percent of adults carry their phones with them 24 hours a day. Smartphones have become a natural extension of the self, allowing all of us to quickly move into the processes of product research and shopping – providing your apps and website perform well. The better your websites and apps assist customers, the more your customers will make purchases everywhere you offer goods.
Mobile Marketing Makes Money
InRetail further noted in a recent “Reality in Retail” survey of in-store shoppers that customers know advertisements can affect their purchasing decisions – 56 percent of respondents said advertising affects them. What this means for retailers is that, when considering mobile marketing, the use of the right loyalty programs and specialized deals can immediately flip customers from indecision to walking away with goods.
Your business can use targeted coupons within your app to spur in-store purchases and heighten brand loyalty. A single purchase can begin with a simple email or in-app notification that shows the customer a personalized coupon. The app in hand, the customer uses that coupon directly in the checkout line. Similar situations can even take place with online purchases.
When you streamline the entire process and make customers feel valued brand loyalty increases, and the whole process can begin again. That loop of easy service and personal attention can make brands shine.
Communications Through Mobile Apps
Once they start using your apps and website, customers will want help on their research and shopping journey. Whether or not you have a 50-strong team of customer service agents or a single home phone, a simple click-to-call button within your app can perform miracles. One tap will have a user’s smartphone automatically contact your business without leaving your app or website.
With a software development kit (SDK) for real-time communications, like those from communications company Agora.io, you can take this business-customer relationship even further. Dedicated customers will want to begin using your mobile app to complete their live shopping and service calls while staying in the app. Integration of these kinds of SDK toolkits gives your software developers the code they need to easily embed real-time voice and video communication capabilities directly into your app. By keeping customers inside your app when they interact, you make the process seamless for customers, while maintaining your brand throughout the process, and capturing end-to-end analytical data on the whole customer experience.
Know Your Audience!
Regardless of the type of goods, you sell or services you offer; you need to know your audience. All the above advice could be for naught if you don’t target the correct groups. For many, the Millennial generation – ages 18 to 35 years with high use of mobile devices (over 85 percent) – become that target audience. An Intelligence Group study showed that about 75 percent of Millennials complete online research before purchasing goods. This tech-savvy group will not settle for poor mobile design, but they will remain loyal to brands who give them what they need.
Is your business mobile, yet? If it is, are you utilizing these strategies get the most out it?
Hand presenting mobile communication concept
