There is no disputing the fact that mobile usage is growing by leaps and bounds. Just a small bit of information the amount of data accessed (internet) on mobiles in 2012 is twelve times more than the internet usage on all other devices combined in the year 2000.
Some interesting statistics you should pay heed to:
- Close to 70% tablet owners make purchases on their tablets at least once a month
- A quarter of all purchases made in the UK were made via mobile devices
- Close to 80% people research products and services on smartphones
- Almost 30% of all site traffic in the UK comes from mobile devices
This is what mobile devices are doing to the internet, but here is the main issue. Businesses still are making huge mistakes.
Problem
The biggest problem is of pop-up ads every time someone accesses a website. This is a huge turn off. The second common problem is that in spite of having mobile sites most sites do not redirect their mobile visitors. The New York Times is good example of this. Another example is of Starbucks, it has a beautiful call to action button on its responsive website, but the button is buried deep below reviews. Some companies don’t even have a responsive website that will address the issues of smartphone users. May be they don’t see value in it. Or maybe they see value but don’t know where to start.
Here is what you should do:
Create a mobile friendly website
Create a website that is focused on mobile users. Do all the stuff like Responsive design, dynamic serving (adaptive design) or better still create a separate mobile website.
Search and discovery
Once you have a mobile friendly website now you need to focus on being searched and found by mobile users. Here is where you should focus on: Social media, Local Search, and Mobile SEO.
Social media is the best way for mobile internet users to find you and connect with you. Therefore do it right. All the content you have should be mobile friendly and easy to share.
Reaching your customers
There are several ways you can reach your customers without relying on search. Some of the easy ways are Exclusive mobile content, Apps, and Email marketing.
Exclusive mobile content is the trickiest of them all. Whatever content you have, make sure you are creative to the core. There are several applications where you can track your customers and send them automated messages to come and visit you and get a discount or a free gift or something that will please the customer. For example if you are a coffee shop owner and have an App that tracks your customer. Then you can start a campaign that if a customer buys 9 cups of coffee you give the customer the tenth one free. Or you could also offer a bonus for visiting your shop.
Innovative and creative Apps for your customers also increase brand loyalty besides they can also create handy content for you. As for email marketing, this issue has been dealt with in great detail in the past and you should be aware of all the tactics you should use, however, emails should be short, crisp, and mobile friendly.
These are some of the things you can do to fine tune your mobile strategy. However, make sure you identify KPI and keep measuring your strategy in case you need to do a course correction.