New research from Demandforce indicates that by the end of 2013, more people will use a mobile device to access the Internet than will use their PCs. Oddly enough, despite mobile’s rocket like trajectory, a very surprising 90% of websites are not optimized for mobile.
In order to understand what features are important for a mobile site, DemandForce has some great insight as part of their research. Most importantly, 78% desire a quick way to get to the information they are looking for with convenient navigation that requires the lowest number of clicks possible. This is closely followed by 76% who want the web site to fit their smartphone screen better and 74% who want a clean and efficient look and feel. Following just behind that in terms of importance to users, 73% want the ability to save information for future reference. Further down the list they found that 69% want to limit fat finger syndrome by being offered bigger buttons to use.
The problems of not having a mobile-optimized site are quite obvious. Your customers will go elsewhere, feeling frustrated, or feel that your company is not interested in their business. These are all things that can be easily rectified by offering your customers a site optimized for mobile devices. In fact, recent research from Google that states that when mobile users visit a non-optimized website from a mobile device, whether it’s a preferred brand or not, 50% will abandon it. So, by not adopting a mobile web presence, you’re not just turning away new customers, you’re also turning away part of your existing customer base. To make matters worse, 67% are likely to go on to buy from a site that is optimized for mobile devices.
Mobile optimized web sites currently present a terrific opportunity to increase market share over you competitors that are not taking advantage of the opportunity.
Mobile commerce isn’t the up and coming thing to be on the look at for and it certainly isn’t an opportunity for savvy business people any more. Mobile commerce has become a full fledged reality and in 2013 if you are not competing in this market space you are running a serious risk to being left behind.
Just this week, Intela, a key player in database marketing services, released a new report offering great insight into the growth of mobile commerce with the mobile web and mobile applications. It turns out that as of right now almost half of all Americans (44%) and 40% of UK consumers are likely to make purchases via mobile device.
Another key finding included in their report highlight the fact that email that has been optimized for mobile devices is key trigger for smart brands to cue smartphone owners to make purchases via the mobile applications or mobile web sites on their mobile phones. In fact approximately one third (36%) of Americans are finding this very effective.
Along with the growth of mobile commerce, we are seeing changing patterns in how consumers are paying for goods. Younger consumers seem prone to using NFC payment systems within focus groups of shoppers under the age of 40 (according to Mercator Advisory Group) and mobile payment options are resonating with this demographic very strongly.
Business mobile applications can no longer stand on the sidelines and be simply informative. Mobile consumers are ready to buy via their mobile devices and mobile applications should be designed to accommodate this trend. Additionally, mobile applications need to be developed to utilize mobile payment options and be attune to usage patterns with regards to their demographic.
In a recent study by Tapjoy, they had found mobile commerce is expected to grow by over an astounding 300% by 2015. While many analysts are starting to focus on the upcoming shopping season where many shoppers will brave the crowds at malls and local stores preparing for the holidays, we are seeing big growth in the number number of shoppers who will turn to mobile applications and mobile web sites for holiday shopping this year – or at a minimum they will be engaging in a great deal of mobile research to assist with their shopping. According to the new study from Tapjoy, 1 in 5 apparel buyers currently uses a mobile app or web site at least daily to buy or participate in research.
Some additional findings by Tapjoy point to explosive growth in the mobile marketplace. A full 54% of Tapjoy’s customers shopped via mobile in the previous six months and 45M smartphone users looked into the shopping app category in June of 2012 with almost half of them using these mobile shopping applications. But beyond just the numbers of users, what is powerful is the frequency of use among them with an average user accessing mobile shopping apps 17 times per month. A very solid 64% of those Tapjoy polled said they are going to make mobile purchases at some point during this holiday season.
Looking at the usage patterns of users while utilizing mobile devices and applications, users are comparing prices 61 percent of the time and accessing promotions/coupons 51 percent of the time for the most active areas of usage. We also see shoppers reading reviews, scanning bar codes and taking pictures of products while shopping.
Mobile deals is a big area to keep an eye on, according to the Tapjoy report, mobile shoppers are smart shoppers and they are looking for deals. Most often they look for free shipping deals, but nearly half also look for coupons or promo deals. One item that is good to note if you are currently planning a mobile application for your business is that less than 10 percent of users view mobile product videos, so don’t worry about video content as it isn’t a key factor and it will can eat up bandwidth quickly.
If you utilize these research factors in helping to plan your mobile application it will help you key in on the areas that will be most productive for your business buy helping you match existing usage trends. Clearly given the explosive growth of mobile applications and mobile commerce, you are putting yourself at a serious disadvantage if you are not yet taking advantage of this crucial medium of communication.