Mobile phones have evolved at a rapid pace, transforming from a mere telecommunication device to becoming the centre of our lives within just the past 10 years.
Micro-moments shape the modern consumer’s journey now, and consumer-centric marketing has taken on a whole new meaning. But how do you know you’re implementing your integrated marketing tactics correctly?
Here are some important questions your brand should be asking itself:
Are you there when they need you?
90% of smartphone users expressed their uncertainty of any specific brands they want to purchase from when they begin to look for information online. This only means one thing: consumers these days are not as loyal a bunch. We now have, in our hands, a global search directory for every product — easily sortable and filtered by price, reviews, and how much value it provides.
When consumers pick up their mobile devices, chances are they already have the intention to learn, do, find or buy something that exact moment. Marketers today have to place your brands in these places where your consumers’ eyeballs roam. In the case of a skincare brand, how can you work on being there when your consumers search for brand-agnostic yet specific terms like “dry skin?”
Brands these days cannot survive by just being reactive. They have to step out and be proactive. Seek out the potential micro-moments for your consumers and anticipate them. When those moments occur, your brands should already be committed to help.
Studies have shown that by simply showing up in mobile search results, brand awareness can be increased by up to 46%!
Are you useful for your customers?
Showing up is one thing, but actually being useful is a whole other ball game. Other than anticipating those moments of need, being useful matters — more than half of all users have purchased from a company or brand over another based upon the usefulness of the information provided. If your site or advertisements do not provide any useful information or satisfies their needs, the consequences are dire too.
As a result of poorly-planned content, 40% of them will be less likely to return to your site, and 28% will become less likely to purchase from your company in the future.
Get into the psyche of your consumers and anticipate the kind of information they will be seeking and solve these problems.
Are they looking for reasons why your product is better than your competitors? Provide a comparison chart.
Do they need help locating your nearest store? List the locations of all your physical stores by proximity and include the opening hours.
Will they have trouble using your product? Have a useful how-to video of how to best use your product in different situations (even funny ones).
Are you quick enough?
Today’s consumers (you and I included) want immediate gratification and they are spoiled by the speed and convenience mobile devices have brought about. The time required for decision making has also sped up, with 60% of online users expressing that their purchase decisions are much faster compared to years ago thanks to advent of mobile-friendly research.
As a result, we now have an irrational, heightened sense of hurry. 33% of consumers are always in a hurry searching for a local business; 40% of them are in a hurry while looking for instructions; and 28% of them are in a hurry while completing a purchase on their smartphones. This is also why it has become so important for your brand’s touchpoints to be optimised for the need for max speed.
If you think a nice user interface is much more important than the usability of the website, here’s a statistic: , 29% of users aren’t shy to just hop over to another site if yours is hard to navigate or loads slowly.
Think ‘automatically-filled forms’, ‘one-click checkouts’ and ‘fast payment alternatives’. These eliminate any unnecessary steps and friction between your customers’ first touchpoint and end goal.
On the technical side of things, it certainly helps to make sure your page loads fast — specifically, three seconds fast. 40% of shoppers have expressed that they will wait no more than those first three seconds before abandoning that whole site entirely. Don’t lose these people unnecessarily to some fancy UI or autoplaying high-res 4K video!
Pocket-sized system, global opportunities
Mobile has completely changed the landscape, and brands should see this as the opening up of more opportunities, rather than threats towards their businesses. Capturing your audiences’ interests and attention at these critical touchpoints are crucial in determining if they follow-through with you on their buying journeys.
Try using the above checklists as an audit for your brand. Are you selling your customers short? Or is your brand well-prepared for life on mobile? Go forth and reinforce your brand’s position in the mobile landscape!
Written by Harris Lim
Updated by Hanson Ng (Nov 2019)
