All the stats and the research would suggest that consumers are moving more to mobile for researching product reviews, recommendations, loyalty coupons etc in the pursuit of value in their purchasing. Certainly in the consumer sector, mobile now leads the way in current marketing strategy. The simplest and easiest way to look at it?—- Just in the way that different groups of consumers read different types and styles of online newspapers and magazines. Now, different consumers search for information from desktop, laptop, tablets, iPhone, Blackberry etc. With newspapers, there was a lifestyle profile that could tell you who reads what. However, lifestyle groupings are not established for mobile users, if they ever will!
In order to be seen, and to have the chance of interacting with those customers out there, mobile strategy needs to now lead your ecommerce presence. This requires a change in thinking and to embrace the technology changes, costs and resources involved in developing different platforms and screen stages. Some ideas to think through:
Understand your markets – who uses what, how and when to access products? – good analytics and interpretation of data.
Awareness – are we there, are we visible, are we maximised for mobile and for the customer in transit, and does the page load quickly enough for the mobile user?
Content – words, photography, music – the strength of the download is so great now that we are seeing demand for more content on a month by month basis! QR codes provide another access point.
Call to action and sales – – can the customer interact easily?
Payment – is it truly simple, safe, trustworthy in the mind of the consumer.
Repeat purchase – do we collect data to ensure we have initiated future interactions?
The above questions are a taster, but the topic really puts strategic marketing thinking at the centre of the business. RFM have a downloadable checklist which is fairly comprehensive covering all the options we think have to be covered. As part of our marketing mentoring programme, we provide this to clients.