By Kam Phullar, lead strategist, Feed
Mobile marketing has become one of the most powerful tools for small-and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in recent years. And with more than 70% of web traffic expected to be from mobile devices by 2025, SMBs should be looking to mobile marketing to help empower them and drive conversion with new and existing customers.
But what exactly should small businesses be focussing on right now?
Customer Experience
With physical retail experiencing lockdown limitations, we’re seeing brands innovate their mobile sites and app experiences to create more engaging mobile environments for customers’ brand interactions. So, now more than ever, we’re seeing increased consumer demand for personalised and highly informed brand interactions through integrated mobile campaigns, and brands that don’t offer that risk losing market share.
Having a mobile-friendly website or store is a good starting point, but the customer journey doesn’t stop there – it can be filled with moments of indecision or a need for additional information. For instance, what happens when a customer needs help choosing the right products, or they have questions about shipping and returns?
Many larger retailers produce content and messaging to help customers move seamlessly from consideration into conversion, but those techniques can be adopted by SMBs as well.
We advise clients to always put themselves in the shoes of the customer, thinking what, where, and when the best time is to insert useful content to help reduce barriers to purchase.
Sometimes it’s as simple as providing more detailed product descriptions or a clearer understanding of how purchase policies work. But, in most cases, we advise that a business looks at their digital footprint and checks for a consistent brand experience – from every social post to CRM email, the tone and experience should feel authentic, real and valuable; signalling that it has come from one brand voice.
Social commerce
When a business is considering the opportunities to showcase inventory to customers, social media should be high up its list.
Facebook has boosted the role of commerce in its platforms. Instagram recently introduced e-commerce features including shoppable posts, video ads and, its latest addition, the ‘Shop’ feature.
Businesses should consider how social media can be a more personal and less formal platform to showcase brands and champion their more aspirational or purposeful relevance.
It’s also vital for a business to look at its organic engagement policy; the time it takes to get back to a customer and to troubleshoot a problem often determines whether that customer will return to an online store. But, beyond that, using fans’ content (UGC) or partnering with influencers or ambassadors that embody the brand ethos are excellent ways to create more emotional connections with products and help elevate them beyond a purchase and into a desirable lifestyle must-have.
New smart device formats
A study by eMarketer revealed that the average mobile user spends 90% of their time within apps versus the mobile browser. An app is a constant and daily reminder to the customer and can be embraced by businesses of all sizes.
Tech is a driving force in helping brands with on-the-go consumption – allowing idle thumbs to be occupied with impulse purchases and easier product research and recommendations.
We encourage clients to think beyond what their customers may be thinking about when they’re in a shopping mindset, and to think about ‘always-on’ in a holistic way – how brands can show up and strike relevance anytime and anywhere.
With increased sales of smartwatches, we’re inevitably going to see ‘mobile’ customer experience break new ground in terms of real time notifications, preference, and choices. And it’s not just smart watches, home assistants like Siri create ideal situations to be front of mind and shopping list.
So, thinking more about how accessible a brand is across new tech can only help drive further adoption and sales. It could even be the competitive edge a SMB needs against potentially slower to move bigger brands.
