5 Reasons Why You Need to Be Mobile Ready for 2014

Across the web, there are countless articles and presentations that share why the imminent future is mobile and how to initiate and track mobile marketing and advertising. So, yeah, mobile phones is pretty big.

And yet there are still some businesses that seem to be happy to rely on desktop visits and interactions, regardless of the preferences of their customers. While this is entirely their prerogative, it’s also potentially dangerous thinking, as a recent joint study between Google and Nielsen shows.

1. Mobile phone and the Research Stage
As Sam Fiorella and I talk about in the Influence Marketing book, understanding where your customer is in the purchase life cycle is key to understanding what message needs to go out to them, and how it should be delivered. Unsurprisingly, with the uptake of mobile browsing, research is a key action for mobile customers.

• Mobile consumers spend more than 15 hours a week researching products, deals, services and more; *59% visited a business’s website;
• It takes up to 6 visits to a site for a mobile consumer to make a purchase;
• Mobile website browsing is almost on a par with mobile app usage (7.3 hours per week for the former, 8 hours per week for the latter).  

These are just some of the basic statistics around mobile browsing when it comes to the research stage. Taking a look at the figures, more than half the mobile audience visit sites on their phone, and make return visits to confirm/validate product research on your brand elsewhere.

If you’re not making it easy for your customers to carry out these actions, you’re simply turning them away to a competitor who will.  

2. Mobile and Search
Tying in naturally with the usage of mobile for Research is the action of Search. Despite the fact that mobile websites browsing and app usage accounts for a good percentage of consumer habits around your brand when it comes to research, mobile search still leads the way.

• 74% of consumers used a mobile search engine in the overall shopping process;
• The breakdown of mobile search versus corporate branded properties (site or app) sees mobile search lead with 48%, compared to 33% on business sites and 26% on mobile apps.

This not only helps brands answer the question of whether they should have a mobile optimized site or app, but also how they should be planning out their mobile ad and marketing campaigns when it comes to raising brand awareness at the point of search.

3. Mobile and GeoLocation Benefits
There’s been a bit of a backlash against geolocation marketing in the past 12 months or so. Platforms like Foursquare and Facebook Places have come under fire, with many questioning the benefits of mobile check-ins at physical locations and if they drive any real benefit.

While there might be some merit to this form of geolocation, today’s mobile consumer wants to know that a researched location is local when it comes to actual purchases.

• More than 2/3 of consumers (69%) expect a business to be within 5 miles of their radius when carrying out a search;
• 10% actually expect businesses to be within just one mile;
• Store locator details on websites and searches are key, with 71% using this feature to locate their nearest location.

While both Foursquare and Facebook have mixed reviews when it comes to their geolocation services, the point is people are looking for businesses and services based on location and proximity. Having Foursquare Ads tied into geographical searches is one way for local businesses to benefit.

And with Google’s continued evolution of its search algorithms, its own Google Places for Business solution is expected to play an even bigger part for logged-in Google Apps users when using mobile search.