Going Mobile, Things to Consider

Mobile websites. Mobile applications. Mobile marketing. It’s a little tough to know where to begin.

As more and more people browse the Internet with their mobile devices, every company is faced with the question of what, if anything, they should be doing about it. The timing seems early, the opportunity seems large, and the ”cool factor” is through the roof. But prudence suggests that thoughtful entry into this market will deliver the best results.

Here are some things to consider when discussing mobile strategies in your organization.

 1. How much of your current customer base is actively using mobile devices?

Regardless of whether you service thousands or millions customers, knowing the potential size of your mobile market within your customer base is the first place to start. Reviewing your site analytics is a good place to start, but that number might be low as some of your customers might not yet have had a reason to access your site on their mobile device. Conducting online surveys and polls will help quantify the number of customers that could interact with you using mobile devices. Remember to grab demographic data as well so that you can anticipate growth in your mobile customer base by watching how quickly the various demographic groups adopt mobile devices in the future.

 2.  How many of your customers are in the mobile demographic “sweet spot”?

Owners of smartphones, such as the iPhone, Blackberry, and Palm Pre, are driving mobile growth. They are accessing the web and interacting with brands in ways that were not even conceived of a few years back. Who are these people? They are predominantly male, between 25-34 and make more than a $100,000 year. (Nielsenwire, September 2009) As prices drop and older audiences adopt smartphones, look for this sweet spot to widen. But in the meantime, if a large potion of your customer base is within this range, you are at an advantage with your mobile initiatives.

3. What do your customers want to do on your mobile presence?

Even if many of your customers use mobile devices, success of your mobile initiatives is not guaranteed. It is one thing to know that they will come; it is another thing to know how to serve their needs . Similar to your main website, success in mobile means learning directly from your customers what they want from your mobile presence, including what they would want to do and how they want to do it. Building a mobile site or application that does not contain the content or features that your mobile audience needs or desires results in more than a loss of time and resources. Poorly conceived and executed mobile initiatives could also damage the brand image, and leave your customers with no desire to try the next iteration of your mobile initiatives. Conduct interviews and surveys with your customers to learn what they would like to do on their mobile devices. Such research activities should be considered as “insurance” in your mobile investment.

4. How important is it for you to be seen as a leader?

Sometimes image is more important than ROI. If your organization can generate revenue by enhancing its image, perhaps you should consider mobile even if some of the above guidelines do not apply. Being a leader in your industry, or demonstrating that your organization is part of the future today, can be enough of a reason to jump into mobile and get your presence known. Remember that you should still discover what your customers might want in order to protect your brand from a mobile destination that your customers do not want to use.

Notice that determining how much to spend, which technologies to use, and whether to build in-house or outsource did not come up in my initial list of questions that companies should ask themselves before beginning mobile initiatives. There are numerous partners that can help with the “what” and “how” of building a mobile presence, and budgets can be adjusted for the relative priority of mobile within the organization’s overall marketing strategies. However, even with the right technologies and the right funding, mobile initiatives will only be successful if they resonate with your customers. If they don’t, you are risking your investment, your brand, and possibly their attention the next time around.

Matt Rehkopf is a Sr. Information Architect for Fry, Inc.

Sources:

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/with-smartphone-adoption-on-the-rise-opportunity-for-marketers-is-calling/