Tips for Effective Mobile Marketing

& Sales

When you look at your mobile device –phone, tablet or any other digital sidekickof choice – what do you see? One answershould hopefully be “a gateway to onlineshopping. According to Internet RetailerMagazine, mobile commerce accounted for30 percent of all e-commerce sales in 2015.That’s a 38.7 percent increase over 2014,putting revenues to just over $104 billion.

How did we get to a time where mobilepurchases accounted for nearly a third ofall digital commerce sales in the UnitedStates?

With M-commerce on the rise, it’s notenough to realize how much M-commerceis growing. To be truly effective atmarketing and selling through this channel,retailers should be aware of the reasonswhy it’s growing in order to better engagecustomers through this shopping platform.

Smartphone Ownership

According to Pew Research, 68 percent ofAmericans owned smartphones in 2015 – afigure up from 35 percent in 2011. Withsmartphone ownership on the rise, it’s nowonder M-commerce numbers are risingwith it. Using smartphones to shop is onlynatural, especially since they’ve become

computers on-the-go. Now, the entire webis at consumers’ fingertips no matter wherethey might be and forward-thinkingretailers and app developers have come torealize that consumers want to shop usingtheir smartphones, the same as they wouldusing a computer.

Mobile-Friendly Websites

There used to be a day when a consumercould look at a website for their favoriteretailer on their phone, and be frustratedthat it wasn’t mobile-friendly. That’swhere tech-savvy retailers, who beganthinking mobile-first, began to transformtheir existing websites into eitherresponsive mobile designs, which adapttheir website appearance to the type andsize of a visitor’s device, or specialty

mobile designs, which are built specificallyfor mobile users with less overallfunctionality but improved design forpurchasing behaviors.

Similar Web issued a report in 2015 statingthat more than 55 percent of traffic totoday’s leading websites is from mobiledevices, an increase of 14 percent over2014. Google also released an algorithmupdate in April 2016 that penalizedwebsites in mobile search results that werenot mobile-friendly (though there is nocurrent impact to those same websites indesktop searches). This means sites arebeing rewarded if they offer amobile-friendly website, and is a greatmotivation to move into mobile-friendlyterritory.

Popular Industries

Which industries are attracting thegreatest volume of M-commerce traffic?Similar Web’s 2015 report lists thefollowing industries as the leaders andmost-visited by mobile users:

-> Beauty-> Garden and Home-> Health-> Animals and Pets-> Society and People-> Auto-> Hobbies and Recreation-> Sports-> Entertainment and Arts-> Travel-> Industry and Business

Consumer M-Commerce Habits

How are consumers engaging inM-commerce? It varies by industry, soconsidering a personalized plan for yourbusiness is one key to successfullyengaging consumers through this channel.Even if customers don’t purchase avacation, plane ticket, or car directly fromtheir mobile device, their mobile device isplaying a key role by giving that consumerthe necessary information to make apurchase decision.

“For consumers, mobile devices havebecome an extension of the research andcomparison phase of shopping, especiallyas they can quickly find products andreviews, as well as check their rewardsthrough loyalty programs or credit cardsvia their mobile device,” said Amy Parsons,Vice President of Global Commerce at

Discover. “Retailers should consider beingpresent in the mobile channel based onwhat’s best for their type of business,whether it’s an app, mobile-friendlywebsite, or social media channels, in orderto reach customers and deliver relevantinformation.”

This means that even if your business aspart of an industry where most sales arecompleted via desktop or even in-person,you should consider investing in themobile platform as a part of your digitalmarketing strategy, knowing yourcustomers will use mobile tools to come toan informed purchasing decision.

Key Takeaways

As the busy holiday shopping season nears,now is a key time to ask how you canimprove your brand’s efforts around

M-commerce. Do you need to hire aconsultant to help your brand meet yourcustomer’s mobile shopping expectations?How can you use your current websiteanalytics (such as bounce rates andpopular pages) to enhance your customer’soverall mobile research and purchaseexperience? Are you doing everything youcan to make it easy to be found in mobilesearches and to be user-friendly oncecustomers find you?

The easier it is for your customers tocomplete a mobile purchase, the sooneryou’ll start to build engagement amongthis digitally-demanding customerdemographic. M-commerce is on the rise,which means the “M” piece of your digitalshopping experience could reach newheights as well.

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