Mobilegeddon: The Future of Mobile Marketing

The Jetsons, a show that left generations of children in awe of what the future might hold, provided a mere glimpse of what we’ve come to know. Half a century after the show’s debut, technology has eclipsed just about everything George and Judy ever had at their disposal.

Since smartphones emerged, the transition to a mobile-friendly environment is an important one for any marketer to consider. Put another way: if you intend operating a successful e-commerce website, or any website for that matter, you must cater to the mobile consumer. Not doing so is to ignore a substantial portion of your market. With 68 percent of companies integrating mobile marketing into their business, it seems downright archaic not to follow suit.

Not only are a significant number of people accessing the Internet from their smartphone or tablet, but they are also doing so with the intent of making purchases. On Black Friday — for the first time ever — mobile sales exceeded the billion dollar mark, with $1.2 billion coming from phones and tablets. That’s a 33 percent year over year growth when compared to the year before.

Knowing this, it’s your responsibility to create a shopping experience that will appeal to your mobile customers. 40 percent of users resort to a competitor’s website after an unfavorable mobile experience. Even those shoppers who go into a brick and mortar store often turn to their mobile device when making purchasing decisions. In 2015, 80 percent of customers used a mobile device inside a physical store. While the reasons varied, many people wound up making price comparisons, reading shopper reviews, and looking for different store locations.

So where to from here? Were we to bring the Jetsons up to speed, what technology would we imagine for them now? Here are some predictions.

Personalization will become even more important.

While appealing to the mobile customer may create the illusion of an impersonal approach to doing business, the exact opposite is needed. Knowing that competition is plentiful, consumers demand more bells and whistles for their money. This means you’d best use analytics, segmentation, and targeting tools to understand your customer base. It’s important to give consumers what they want by way of being there when they need you. Your availability to answer questions immediately, and having answers available online that are easily searchable is crucial these days.

Proximity marketing will be key.

Location-based marketing is an important form of personalization. It allows you to target advertising toward the people in your immediate proximity, thereby increasing the likelihood of a conversion from a passerby to a customer. While there are several ways of doing this, the most popular is through the use of beacons.

Visuals will drive marketing campaigns.

More people consume media using their mobile devices than they do on televisions, computers, or radio. Using this marketing tool to your advantage will be paramount to success. Video currently appears in 70 percent of the leading 100 search results listings. Additionally, consumers are 64 to 85 percent more likely to make a purchase after watching a product video.

Like it or not, marketing trends are rapidly shifting to the mobile world. As a business owner, it’s critical to keep your finger on the pulse of progress. If you don’t, you may just end up out of business.