Five steps to catch the modern customer using mobile

A recent survey by the Commonwealth Bank indicates as many as 90% of Australian retailers are not using mobile properly to sell to the modern consumer – and missing out on a huge business opportunity as a result.

The Commonwealth Bank’s recent Retail Insights report found “increasingly, online transactions happen on a mobile device, something many retailers recognise as the shape of things to come. Yet while the majority of retailers transact over mobile, only around one in 10 are investing in their mobile presence — an interesting contradiction.”

Combining analysis of $3 billion in transaction data from Commonwealth Bank credit cards covering 10 major online retail categories, the comprehensive report surveyed over 500 retailers.

Those surveyed nominated budgets and technological challenges as the main reasons they have not engaged with mobile.

If the findings accurately represent our retailers across the board, there are huge sales opportunities currently being squandered.

The standard smartphone user accesses their phone every six minutes. Around 91% of adults have their phone within reach 24/7. Mobile is where customers are living their life and it’s only natural that includes shopping.

People are consumed by their mobile devices, so retailers should not be hesitant about taking that first step into investing in mobile-first campaigns. 

However, there is a right and wrong way to do this. To increase your chances of establishing mobile solution that works, here is a five-step plan to follow.

1.    Take advantage of mobility

People use their mobile devices differently to how they use websites. When potential customers use a mobile phone, they are on a train, or are walking around. You don’t use your laptop when you are doing these things. So, if you are trying to sell a customer something, sell them something while they are walking around. Sell them something while they are on the train. You don’t want to compete with other visual channels that you may already have.

2. Quit the gimmicks

Attention-grabbing mobile solutions don’t work anymore. Don’t think the same as if you are making a TV ad. You are not trying to grab eyeballs; focus instead on trying to provide value.

3. Value means more information

Usually value comes in the form of more information. Perhaps it is your warranty or your product quality that sets your business apart. Support this and help the mobile consumer make a decision based on your strengths. If it is pricing, do a competition comparison; but if your point of difference is something else, like product quality, you should find a way to convey that.

4. Build in accountability

With you mobile solutions specialist, strategically analyse your objective, identify goals and targets, and then come up with the product that will achieve these objectives. Only then can you build a mobile solution that will achieve tangible, testable and measurable results.

5. Conjure some ‘mobile magic’

Because mobile customers are out and about, all smartphones these days have GPS functionality, meaning there are all sorts of location-based possibilities that you can take advantage of with mobile campaigns. Do you want the user to do something when they’re in a certain area or they visit a certain store? There are lots of “reality-based” conditions that you can implement in your mobile campaign.

A mobile phone is basically a hardware device that both contains, and is connected to, a lot of technologies capable of capturing multiple views of your potential customers at any point in time. This potential data about your customers ranges from location (GPS) to time to big data analytics such as their age, sex, interests, hobbies and friends (social networks). This information is invaluable to retailers.

Paul Lin is chief executive of Empirical Works, a mobile solutions agency.