Over the past couple years the trends have been obvious when it comes to mobile devices… Big is in.
It seems like mobile phones get bigger every day. These phones have captured the interest of the market and seem to be in the driver’s seat.
Interestingly larger phones create several opportunities for marketers as these devices show some exciting trends. For instance, larger screen sizes strongly correlate with increased minutes of app usage. (Modida) These larger screen devices increase engagement and increase engagement creates revenues as well.
Remember that what worked when you originally released your app for the iPhone 4 may not be the best solution now. Its time to update your app and rather than just giving it a minor facelift, you may will want to look at changes in the market and adapt. You will reap the rewards of doing this before starting your mobile application development project.
Big phones and phablets are everywhere we look, but how do brands and marketers take advantage of this trend?
Use the space
You have more space—use it. When it comes to mobile applications this trend presents some exciting new opportunities for mobile application development. More space means more opportunity – go bigger and go bolder. Don’t be afraid to make navigation or social buttons big enough to tap with ease. Interactive features and calls to action should be easy to spot. No user likes to accidentally click the wrong button and you don’t want to put them into the position to do so.
Let creative stretch its legs with big, bold offers and recommendations. The space is there so you might as well use it.
Understand the size difference
Often users use larger phones or phablets different than they would a smaller device. Make sure you keep that in mind as you layout navigation and organize your application. A layout that worked well on an iPhone 4 may not be optimum for the current market. Don’t just stick with what worked in the past. You may want to consider moving important controls from the top of the screen down to improve reachability.
Look at your media
Users love watching videos on phablet and tablet screens—don’t leave them wanting. Mobile is maturing and so should your applications and media. Not only do your controls need to take into account the larger device size but you need to consider that users will interact with a larger device differently and have different exceptions from it content wise as well.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns (Flikr) http://bit.ly/1FQlPIy
When it comes advertising, context is king.
Simply having a bunch of people see your advertising is no longer good enough; your message now can, and should, be sent to reach the right people in the right place. Your ad impressions will mean something in the eyes of the right audience.
Fortunately with the growth of mobile, this is easier than ever before with Geo-targeting. Mobile and geo-targeting allow you to deliver personalized content at the precise moment the user might need it, while they are at a location that presents an opportunity for them to do so.
There are many ways to set up location based marketing programs. From the device’s own GPS to exciting opportunities with Augmented Reality the sky really is the limit right now for clever marketers. Add to this the opportunities to leverage near field communication or beacons and some incredibly powerful marketing opportunities exist.
One of the more clever location based marketing programs has come from Guatemala, where sneaker store Meat Pack has released a discount finding app called Hijack. Hijack will basically start a sale for a customer when they enter in a competing outlet. So if you were to enter a sneaker store in the same mall as Meat Pack, Hijack would send you a discount for sneakers of the same brand. The discount then goes down one percent per second so the faster you can get to Meat Pack to redeem the offer, the more you save. Meat Pack reported that more than 600 customers redeemed offers within a week.
On the other hand, Chrysler saw poor results when delivering ads near competitor’s locations. Purchases that require extensive research such as a new auto are different than impulse buys like shoes and marketing must be done differently. You will need to evaluate your business and competition to see what is best for you. Experienced mobile application developers can help, but be sure to take a good look at your product and customers before implementing a location based marketing program.
Chrysler saw success delivering messaging on their own lots. In fact, mobile has been so successful for Chrysler that 45 percent of the brand’s traffic now comes from mobile.
Keep in mind that offers don’t need to be targeted quite so precisely to be effective. Research has shown that ads delivered with a 2-5 mile radius of a business is optimum for performance. Meanwhile ads delivered 6 or more miles away saw rapidly reducing effectiveness, which just points to the power of location based marketing.
Photo: Vincent Lee (Flikr) http://bit.ly/1dsk3SM
Smartphone use has become an important part of our modern lives and has become “the way we do things”. According to a recent study by GlobalWebIndex, 80% of all online adults now own a smartphone. Additionally their research discovered that “75% percent of smartphone users are accessing mobile internet services on their smartphones.”
Clearly if your business isn’t presenting a mobile friendly face right now it is missing out on a sizable opportunity to interact with your target consumers and increase sales. Mobile isn’t something you need to think about in the future, mobile is right now.
Moving forward, how do you get the most of your mobile web site and or mobile applications?
1. Start with Strategy
Start with an understanding of your objectives. Any good strategy begins with objectives, but be careful not to only consider your business’s objectives. Any good mobile strategy will be sure to consider who the end users are and what their objectives are going to be as well. In fact, placing a priority on a customer based focus will pay dividends.
You will also want to analyze technical issues as well such as whether you should hire in house talent or look for a mobile application developer to help you with your project. Other technical considerations such as choice of platform should be part of your strategy as well. Are you going to be building mobile applications or a mobile web site? Or both? Your choice can depend on your business and the goals of its mobile program.
If you are looking to deliver data such as locations or reviews to help customers and potential customers while they are on the go, then mobile web sites are a terrific way to deliver that information due to the proliferation of mobile searches. On the other hand, if you want to stay connected to loyal customers and increase engagement with them, then mobile apps are definitely the way to go. Ideally modern businesses would make make both options available.
2. UX is a Priority
Regardless of which strategic choices you make above you will want to make sure you prioritize user experiences as part of your project. Your mobile web site and mobile application will need to provide information to users in a clean, easy to understand format. The smaller size of mobile devices, along with the fact that they are often used on the go, make ease of use a priority that cannot be ignored. You must make information easy to access and easy to consume.
3. Personalize the Experience
Never before have marketers and businesses had access to provide personalized experiences they way they can with mobile. Mobile devices allow consumers to access information instantly creating a great deal of change in consumer expectations towards retailers. Today’s consumers want to be able to choose whether or not they receive notifications and if they opt-in, require that a business is delivering relevant personalized content. One-size-fits-all is not how consumers think and businesses should not try to paint them into that box with their mobile offerings.
4. Alerts and Notifications
Modern consumers are regularly checking their mobile devices (often whether they get an alert or not). We have become somewhat tethered to our devices. Since people are regularly checking their mobile devices, it would be silly not to send out alerts and notifications to increase engagement with your mobile application or business. But please be careful that you do not annoy your customers by sending out too many notifications, sending out notifications about trivial items that will make customers feel like you are wasting their time or sending out notifications at inappropriate times. You will also want to make sure you provide an easy way to opt out or refine the delivery to personal tastes.
5. Leverage Location
By using geo-location, you can generate location-based ads, alerts and notifications that can send out targeted messages to specific customers. Beyond personalizing a user’s experience and content you can also make it contextually relevant by delivering it based on location as well. It is estimated that fewer than one quarter of the offline businesses are making effective use of location based marketing so there is ample opportunity to gain advantage over your slower to adopt competitors.
Photo: Marco (Flikr) http://bit.ly/1I4MstH