I’m not sure for how many years I’ve been told by various digital agencies that “this year will be the year of the mobile”. However, year after year, it never seemed to materialise, until now.
Mobile commerce in the UK is becoming big business and anyone who thinks that consumers don’t want to purchase products via a mobile device (either a smartphone or tablet) is missing a trick.
Here are a few numbers that demonstrate the importance of mobile, and highlight that companies not only need to be in this space, but need to be doing it well.
- Affiliate Window has announced that mobile sales as a proportion of their total sales in 2012 year to date have already beaten the total mobile sales in 2011, equating to 12.63% of traffic in June
- eBay sells something via a mobile phone every two seconds
- Over 50% of the UK population now use smartphones
- There are more mobile phones in the UK than people – an estimated 80 million
- Q1 2012 saw an average of 17% of searches being carried out from a mobile device
- The amount of searches via mobile or tablet doubled from 10% in December 2011 to 20% in June 2012
So how can companies maximise the opportunity that mobile devices provide?
A few tips worth considering:
- Appreciate that consumers use mobile devices differently to their PC and adapt accordingly. Consumers want to get the information they require as quickly as possible so providing them with a clearly visible search box enables customers to get to the relevant section of your website as quickly as possible.
- Consumers using a mobile are likely to be on the go therefore give them the information they need. This can be easily achieved by utilising the click to call function within your ads. You can also provide your customers with directions using the GPS on their phone helping them to find your business quickly and easily. Another example of adapting to users being on the go is to offer reserve and collect as well as the ability to purchase via the mobile. Many consumers are still not comfortable putting their payment details in via a mobile so by enabling reserve and collect customers can get what they want and pay at the point they purchase in store.
- Set up separate PPC campaigns for both mobile and tablet as consumers have different search behaviour on the different devices. From research we’ve carried out, not only does search behaviour vary by device, but also by how the device is used. For example, consumer behaviour varies by those using Wifi and 3G. Getting granular with your campaigns will enable you to optimise accordingly leading to an overall better performing PPC campaign meaning higher conversion rates and greater efficiencies. Check out our Top 10 tips for optimising your mobile PPC activity.
- Ensure you have affiliate tracking on your mobile website. At the end of the day if affiliates aren’t credited with the sales, then they won’t push customers to your site.
- Optimise the journey for customers when they get to your website. Generally speaking sending consumers to your normal website won’t provide them with a good experience. Make sure your mobile optimised website is easy to use for consumers. Simply put make it simple and give the information people need to make a purchase as easily as possible. Customers don’t want to be faced with a lengthy multiple page purchase process. If you really can’t simplify the journey for customers then it might be best to provide them with a phone number for your call centre rather than force them through an arduous and painful online route.
