BoxStuff

Getting ready for our Mobile Future

Some of you may have noticed the recent skew towards mobile related blog posts over the last couple of weeks. Well that’s because we want to highlight the importance that mobile is going to play in 2011. As one well known digital marketer recently stated, taking a “wait and see” approach to mobile is no longer the way forward. Today’s consumer is already mobile and this strategy will only “land your brand squarely in the consumer’s rear view mirror”.

According to Gartner research, mobile will outpace the desktop web by 2013 with more mobile devices accessing the Internet than PCs. But if you’re thinking that 2013 seems a long way off, well think again. Here in the UK, mobile internet retail sales are already worth £123 million and are set to more than double over the next two years. According to the latest research by Ofcom, 23% of UK’s mobile phone users now regularly use their handsets to access the internet and as the uptake in smartphones increases so too will mobile internet usage. Already many mainstream UK businesses are reporting that between 5-15% of their overall site traffic is mobile based and with more than 50% of users aged 18-39 also checking their email on their mobile if you have an e-CRM programme there’s another channel that needs to be optimised for mobile!

So here’s a challenge for you: have a quick check of your site statistics. This will illustrate just how popular your website already is with mobile users. It could also highlight the need for a mobile-specific interface, especially if the mobile stats don’t paint a pretty customer experience e.g. a high bounce rate for key site pages viewed on a mobile device. Then have a look at your own company site on your mobile. For example, if your non-mobile optimised website has components that use Flash, any iPhone/iPad browsers will not be able to render the content ultimately resulting in a poor user experience.

Want to learn more? Need some help building your business case for your investment in mobile and for working out what the return on your investment would be? BoxStuff now offers a range of mobile services so get in touch now and talk to us about how you can ready yourself and your business for today’s rapidly developing mobile future.

The New Rules of Mobile Marketing

Here’s an article I found on Adotas written by Bryce Marshall. All of his rules ring true but it was particularly the first one that really struck a chord with me:

Old rule: Taking a “wait and see” approach to mobile, or employing an under-funded “toe-dipping” methodology.

New rule: The consumer is mobile. This is a reality. In 12 to 18 months, the mobile landscape will be forever changed. The “wait and see” and “toe-dip” approaches will land your brand squarely in the consumers’ rear-view mirror. At minimum, a brand’s mobile strategy and budgets should be aligned to create mobile-friendly experiences across key digital touch points and critical business services.