Mobile Trends and How to Make the Most of Them

Mobile marketing is all the rage theses days and for good reason! There have been plenty of surveys (like this one and this one and this, too!) and the results all point to the growth of mobile/smartphone use by consumers. In a post on StrongMail’s blog, Justin William points out three trends:

Trend 1: More consumers are shopping and purchasing on their mobile device, regardless of location: Your customers and prospects are shopping, comparing, downloading and redeeming coupons from their mobile device. They are doing this everywhere—in retail locations, on their couch, and anywhere else they use their mobile device.

Trend 2: Consumers are growing more responsive to SMS offers, and they are redeeming more email offers on mobile devices: 26% of consumers receiving text message promotions say that the information has led them to take advantage of the promotion, according to a recent survey. Further, 25% say they at least buy something from the store that sent the promotion.

Text promotions, however, cannot thrive alone. Consumers trust emails and websites more than text messages. These tactics should not be viewed as separate silos of distribution. Rather, the consumer wants them to exist in a way that he or she can fluidly use any option.

Trend 3: More consumers are expecting that their shopping needs can be met on their mobile platform: Across the consumer lifecycle—from searching for a store and making a shopping list, to considering offers, to making a purchase, to sharing offers with friends, all the way to maintaining loyalty program accounts—shoppers want the flexibility to use their mobile devices.

To find out more about putting these trends to use for you, read the post at Strongmail.com.

Be sure to check out the infographic in May’s WebCents for more info on reaching mobile customers.

How-To: “Like” a Facebook Page on a Mobile Phone

Not everyone has a smartphone these days (although more than 40% of American adults do), so finding a way to include all mobile phone users in your campaign for gaining Facebook Page “Likes” is important. Facebook, of course already of thought of it and has a nifty little way to encourage mobile phone users to “like” your page, no matter where they are.

For example, Sally Sewist has visited your store and really likes it. She wants to keep up on what is happening at the store and you can encourage her to both sign up for your newsletter and “like” your Facebook page, where you regularly post events, sales and projects (hint hint).

You don’t want to hope that she remembers once she gets home and to her computer (she probably won’t). But she can do it quickly and easily via text, with just one caveat. She must have already connected her mobile phone number to her Facebook profile. If she has, she can send a text to 32665 that says “like yourpagename” for the message.

You can find the correct profile name by looking at the URL of your Page. Your name is the end of the address: www.facebook.com/yourpagename . Ours is www.facebook.com/webcents.