Understanding the customer and what motivates them to buy is always the million dollar question for businesses. Except today’s businesses have a new customer to learn about: the mobile customer.
Understanding the Mobile Consumer
In 2012, Google and Ipsos partnered together to learn about the mobile consumer so that brands could have a better understanding of how to formulate their mobile marketing strategies. The research spanned across 48 countries, collecting information from all parts of the world, including Japan, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.
When it comes to local searches, data shows that an impressive 94 percent of smartphone users search for local information. In doing so, 51 percent visit a store while 48 percent make a phone call. What this tells us is that users are depending more on their smartphones for localized results rather than generalized ones. The companies that have a comprehensive mobile marketing strategy in place will be most likely to win over new customers.
Google is Playing its Role
Thanks to new algorithms from Google, the search engines are doing a better job at understanding conversationalist language and can even answer questions accurately thanks to an increase in voice searches. If a consumer is searching for, “What are the best pizza places in my town?”, the search engine will understand the true meaning of this question and be able to relay accurate search results.
Obviously, those pizza places with the best mobile marketing strategies will be bringing in the new customers.
Mobile Apps: No Longer Luxuries
Having an updated and accurate local profile, while important, is only half the puzzle. You also need to have a mobile optimized website that won’t leave users frustrated. Clean and simple does it, with easy-to-press buttons.
Mobile apps are also gaining in popularity for grocery stores, big box retailers, specialty shops, casual dining restaurants and fast food chains. Apps create engagement and allow users to have a unique experience with the brand no matter where they are. In fact, a recent analysis from Digby found that 70 percent of top retailers now offer mobile apps.
Don’t Get Lost in the Shuffle
We’ve been talking about how important a mobile marketing strategy is for quite some time, but it’s only becoming more vital to the online success and presence of today’s businesses. The fact is that smartphone users are growing increasingly dependent on their smartphones to deliver personalized, location-specific results. If your brand doesn’t have a comprehensive mobile marketing strategy, you’ll get lost in the noise.
