Best Practices for Mobile Retail Strategy

Efforts should address each stage of the purchase funnel

Mobile devices accompany consumers everywhere throughout a busy day. Through mobile initiatives, retailers have unique opportunities to engage with consumers as they move through each purchase phase—whether they’re in a store, in transit, at work or at home.

Data from InsightExpress showed that during the holiday 2010 season, smartphone owners used their devices at different stages of the purchase funnel: to receive sale alerts (awareness), look for better prices and product reviews (consideration) and redeem coupons (conversion). This gives retailers many opportunities to connect with consumers and encourage purchase and loyalty.

Forward-thinking retailers are devising mobile strategies to address each stage in the consumer purchase funnel—awareness, engagement, consideration, conversion and loyalty. For example, retailers are use mobile to aid in the awareness stage, enabling consumers to research and learn about products via SMS and mobile websites. They can facilitate engagement via the mobile channel through targeted coupons and special offers as well as invitations to opt in to sweepstakes and contests. And retailers drive consideration via mobile by offering complete access to product ratings and reviews, promoting free trials or samples and links to social media feeds so that consumers can see what friends have to say about potential purchases.

For many retailers, mobile remains a work in progress. Among US retailers polled in the fall of 2010, 60.7% reported planning to beef up their existing mobile web presence or SMS campaigns. Nearly 40% of those polled planned to launch more SMS campaigns or test various mobile initiatives. “It’s clear that retailers need to do more than dip a toe in the mobile waters.” said Tobi Elkin, eMarketer writer/analyst and author of the new report “Mobile Web: Best Practices for Retailers.”

Also read our blog on topics like:

1. How are businesses using text message marketing to boost sales?
   

2. Five Social Media Projections for 2011

3. Untapped Potential for Mobile Loyalty Programs

For more information and help on starting your own mobile strategy, please contact us or visit our website.

Source: eMarketer

Untapped Potential for Mobile Loyalty Programs

Interest is high, but few brands take loyalty to mobile devices

As smartphones and the mobile internet increase penetration among Americans and Canadians, shoppers are relying more on their phones while out and about to get product, store and price information to help them make decisions. Loyalty programs can also be tied to mobile, giving customers an easy way to access points and coupons—and retailers an easy way to capture customer data.

When surveyed in October 2010, more than a third of US mobile phone owners said they would be interested in a mobile loyalty program from a trusted brand. But just 9% were already participating in such a program. Majority of respondents said their favorite brands did not market to them at all on their mobile phone, suggesting companies may be leaving valuable opportunities on the table. Shoppers already involved in mobile loyalty programs were highly satisfied: 90% said they had gotten value from being a member.

Overall, interest in mobile loyalty programs was about the same found in 2009, but respondents’ desire for mobile coupons had gone up over the same period. Nearly two in five US mobile phone owners were at least somewhat interested in receiving mobile coupons, up from 18% the year before. And nearly half were at least somewhat likely to redeem them, a rise of 3 percentage points.

A September 2010 survey of US shoppers by the In-Store Marketing Institute found a similar level of interest, with 34% of respondents interested in mobile coupons—likely somewhat lower because the survey included consumers who were not mobile users. That poll also found a third of shoppers were interested in mobile coupons that could be sent to their loyalty card, and half wanted coupons that could be sent to their loyalty card in general.

For more information on how your brand can instantly go mobile offering mobile coupons, sales alerts, event reminders and more, visit MODI$club.

Source: eMarketer

Targeting Parents with Mobile Alerts

AUGUST 19, 2010

Busy parents of young children seek to simplify with SMS.

Marketers looking to convince mobile subscribers to opt in to SMS marketing campaigns should look to target parents, especially those with young children, based on research conducted by Harris Interactive for mobile marketing platform Placecast.

The May 2010 survey found that among US mobile users with children, 33% were at least somewhat interested in receiving mobile alerts from their favorite merchants. Among those without children, just 26% were equally interested. The age of children in the household also had an effect on user interest levels; the presence of children under 6 boosted interest levels most, while those with teenagers in the house acted somewhat more like couples with no kids.

Parents considered several mobile activities at least somewhat important at higher rates than mobile users without children, including searching for retail locations (57% vs. 42%), making purchases (40% vs. 26%) and accessing the internet in general (63% vs. 48%).

Most of parents’ desire for mobile text alerts points to time-strapped families looking to save money. Grocery coupons and promotions were the most popular text alert among all parents, including among the subgroups with older children and teens. The biggest interest of parents of the youngest kids was in products like movie tickets. The only promotions that appealed more to the child-free were deals for coffee and travel.

The typical early adopter of consumer electronics may be male, but its families who have the most potential to drive mobile marketing efforts based on opt-in text alerts.

Keep your business ahead of the digital curve. Learn more about becoming a MODI$club client today.

Article Source: eMarketer

Mobile Users Ready for Location-Based Text Marketing

JULY 6, 2010

Mobile marketing is not just for smartphones

Though smartphone shipments are rising and expected to surpass shipments of feature phones in 2011, according to Morgan Stanley, feature phones are still the devices in the hands of most mobile users. An April 2010 ExactTarget study found 58% of all US internet users ages 15 and older had one, compared with 31% who had a smartphone.

That means a large swathe of mobile users cannot be reached by more sophisticated mobile marketing efforts like sponsored apps, in-app ads or campaigns on the mobile web. According to location-based advertising network 1020 Placecast, opt-in text alerts are the smart way to target a fuller mobile audience.

A May 2010 survey conducted for Placecast by Harris Interactive found that while most mobile users still have not signed up for any text alerts, there was a small rise in interest since a similar poll in 2009: 28% were at least somewhat interested in the alerts, up 2 percentage points, and 8% were extremely or very interested, up 3 percentage points. For under-35s, interest was significantly higher.

Those who wanted the alerts were most interested in coupons and promotions from grocery stores and restaurants. Respondents who had signed up for text alerts said it made them more likely to visit the company’s website (34%), visit the store (33%) and purchase the product being promoted, either in online (28%) or in the store (27%).

Many agreed that making those text alerts location-based, so that recipients would get the right offer at the right time, could make the channel more useful or interesting.

While awareness of location-based text alerts is still building, there is the potential to reach a broader audience than with check-in apps such as foursquare or Gowalla, which are designed with smartphone owners in mind. And despite negative attitudes of many mobile users toward SMS marketing, Placecast reports low opt-out rates among recipients.

SMS alerts in marketing is viewed by the brand faithful as a service, not just marketing or an intrusion, according to Placecast. To learn more about SMS marketing, please contact MODI$club.

Source: eMarketer