Is it time for a mobile site?

Lately, one common question marketers have is "Is it time for a mobile site?". Most regular websites render fine on a smartphone, but may have a lack of conversions for mobile users, as well as a high bounce rate.

Generally, a page that can be enlarged can be read on a mobile device. What you run into for the user is a lack of functionality and interaction with the site. Dropdown or slide out navigation is nearly impossible to click on; if you’re using video or Ajax functionality it can be lost or not noticed on a mobile device.

When is it time to consider taking things one step further, you can look to your analytics data for indicators. The data can then tell you if it’s time to move into the mobile realm. 

If a conversion is set as a goal, you will also be able to see that data. Now you can compare normal Web users to mobile users and the likelihood of a conversion from each. If you don’t have a mobile version of your site, conversions from mobile are likely pretty low or non-existent.

Mobile site should have a simplified navigation. Extra colors are also stripped out to allow for faster loading, as well as an easier to read page. An easy scroll up and down is all that is needed, no need to resize the site at all. For a simple demonstration, visit http://www.modisclub.com on both your desktop and a mobile device.

There are a variety of ways you can compete in mobile. These days, most designers and marketers advocates of a complete website overhaul that makes a moving from a desktop to mobile site seamless. Responsive design can automatically render your current website’s content in a mobile friendly manner.

Sometimes, a complete overhaul just isn’t in the cards. It might be expensive, logistically very difficult, or you might need to take some steps to show management that the investment is worth it. If a full overhaul of your website isn’t in the cards, a mobile friendly site can be built on a separate domain or a subdomain which should cost less than a website. Scripts can be placed that automatically redirect mobile devices into the correct website. Whatever option you choose, good content, calls to action and user experience is vital to success.

If Not Now, When Will It Be Time?

These days, most of the Web is accessed via mobile phones. Email is accessed via a mobile at a rate of 36% and growing according to a Knotice study from earlier this year. Making calls is now the 5^th most popular action to take on a mobile phone. The #1 use for a mobile phone is surfing the Internet.

A study from April 2012 listed China as the top country for mobile Web users. Globally, the percentage of pageviews attributed to mobile nearly doubled from 6.5% in October of 2011 to 12.3% in May of 2012.

Can you afford to not have a mobile solution, likely not. These tips were designed to help you convince the skeptics in your organization to give it a try.

Stay tuned for our blog on the benefits of a mobile website conversion. For information on this article or to have your website assessed for a mobile friendly version, please contact us or visit http://www.modisclub.com.

Brands Shift Focus of Mobile Outreach

Agencies say more clients are interested in Android devices and SMS advertising

As more consumers interact with brands via both smartphones and feature phones, marketers are approaching mobile advertising in new ways.

STRATA, a software company for media buying and selling, polled agencies about their clients’ preferences in Q1 2011. When it comes to mobile advertising, 37% of respondents said they are creating display advertising the most, and 25% noted SMS advertising. This is compared to 63% for display advertising and 15% for SMS advertising in Q4 2010.

Location-based advertising also doubled as a priority, with 7% of respondents saying they are mostly creating location-based advertising for clients, up from 3% in Q4 2010.

While the iPhone and Android devices receive a lot of press, the reality is that most consumers still have feature phones. And while smartphone owners are more engaged with their devices, many feature phone owners are also willing to interact with brands via mobile.

“SMS often gets overlooked, but the vast majority of users of all ages are texting,” said David Berkowitz, senior director of emerging media and innovation at digital marketing agency 360i, at the 2011 Public Relations Society of America’s Digital Impact Conference in May.

In September 2010 eMarketer forecast that SMS would be the biggest single mobile advertising format in 2011, with a 38% share of mobile advertising spending.

Not only are marketers shifting their advertising focus, but they are also open to working with various mobile devices. According to STRATA, 76.3% of respondents said their clients are most interested in advertising on the iPhone, down from 80.6% in Q4 2010. Android devices are also popular and 46.1% of respondents said clients were interested in advertising on Android, up slightly from 45.8% in Q4 2010. Interest in BlackBerry as an advertising channel, at 51.4% in Q4 2010, dropped to 35.5% in Q1 2011.

As mobile advertising becomes a bigger focus for marketers, they are diversifying their programs, and working with more devices and various types of ads. As consumers increasingly use smartphones or become accustomed to interacting with brands via SMS, marketers can reach specific groups and target audiences by using a mix of advertising and working with several platforms and devices.

Keep your business ahead of the digital curve. Learn more about SMS marketing and the tools that can effectively help you reach and engage your audiences now.

Referenced Article from eMarketer

Gaining Consumer Trust Online and Offline

Marketers must leverage trust, not just popularity

Trust and credibility are the gold standards by which relationships are measured. This is true of personal relationships as well as connections between people and brands.

The rise of social media has reinforced the importance of trust. Successful and enduring social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn are built on a foundation of trust and transparency. But social media has also distorted the notion of trust and put an emphasis on the size of a person’s network and connections.

“Marketers seeking to maximize their reach should focus on the quality of social network connections rather than their sheer size.” said Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst.

According to Invoke Solutions, quantitative measures such as the volume of content and participation, the length of time people have been fans or followers, or the raw number of followers or fans mattered far less in inspiring trust than the openness of the dialogue, the quality of the comments, and the responsiveness of the sponsor or author.

And Vision Critical found that among US consumers overall as well as daily social network users, friends and family were trusted for product recommendations far more than brand-originated content or people consumers did not know.

And marketers around the world agree that popularity does not equal influence on social media sites.

“The level of influence over one’s friends, followers or fans is the real key, and influence does not necessarily correlate to the size of the network,” said Verna.

In addition, there is a feedback loop between online and offline word-of-mouth, and marketers must understand the connections and differences between the channels.

For more information on how to build trustworthy connections with your audiences, visit our SMS portal or contact us.

Source: eMarketer

MODI$club is helping save the planet one text at a time

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MODI$club is helping save the planet one text at a time

CALGARY, AB, October 12, 2010 – Waste Reduction Week taking place from October 18-24 acts as an annual reminder to reduce, reuse and recycle. With ever increasing awareness of the environment and pressure upon organizations to demonstrate social responsibility, more and more people are gravitating to products and services that subscribe to the green philosophy. One such product that is growing in popularity is MODI$club. The website offers mass SMS (texting) technology as a greener method of business communications and marketing.

SMS marketing has the lowest carbon footprint of all types of mass advertising. Environmental benefits include the reduction of paper usage, elimination of toxic printing ink, omission of gasoline usage in the distribution of printed materials, and so on. The opportunities to reduce cost and reduce waste through this communication tool represent incredible ROI for marketers and recovery for our environment.

“In this ever-more socially conscious and digitally focused world, mobile marketing can’t be beat for its ecological benefits and speed of communication,” says Kean Tan, co-founder of MODI$club. “With the widespread adoption of text messaging, to leave SMS marketing and its benefits unattended, will cost many organizations their future.”

MODI$club is a “freemium” website that businesses and organizations can use at no-cost. It is an easy tool that can be used to target and engage audience beyond traditional media - a new mix to conventional marketing and communication campaigns. It caters to any business, regardless of size or industry. MODI$club is currently being used by many industries, including retailers, restaurants, expos/tradeshows, golf courses, distress centres, health and body companies, charities and non-profits. Some of the more familiar brands are Habitat for Humanity, SwizzleSticks SalonSpa, Yamaha Music School, Chianti Italian Restaurant, Honens International Piano Competition, Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo and Calgary Mens Expo.

Canadians sent a total of 4.2 billion text messages in March 2010 and 538 million text messages were sent to mobile campaigns. Clearly organizations need to start investing in SMS marketing to appeal to the technology savvy and social conscious audience. Mobile giving, an innovative mobile donation campaign and AMBER alerts campaigns are just some of the latest activities in which Canadian cell phone customers are now participating. Also, more and more Canadians are embracing SMS marketing since the industry established a strict anti-SPAM regulation.

SMS marketing makes sense in this day and age, and MODI$club is here to offer the tools for businesses and organizations to make an impact in many ways. Not only does SMS marketing make a positive impact on the environment, it is also changing the way we save time and money. For more information, visit www.modisclub.com.

ABOUT MODI$club
MODI$club is a product of a full service marketing, design and technology company that started in 2000 called nexusV. It helps brands find a place within the wireless (mobile), online (web) and offline (print) environments where they can connect and engage with customers.

Other services provided include:

• Brand strategy, logo and stationery design, print publications and other graphic design services;
• Website design and development, content management system (CMS), email management system, timesheet management system, custom web application development, web hosting and more;
• Traditional (print and radio) and internet marketing (SEO).

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Kean Tan
MODI$club
403 209 5988
keantan@modisclub.com

Why Many Teens Are Moving on from Facebook and What they are saying about mobile phones and texting

JULY 12, 2010

The main reason? They just lost interest

There’s no question of Facebook’s position at the top of the social networking space, and one thing that makes the site so powerful is that when it comes to social networking, a user’s friends must be users too. But among some teens, Facebook may be losing its stickiness.

According to a study from OTX and virtual fashion site Roiworld, nearly one in five teens with a Facebook profile had decreased or discontinued their use of the site as of April 2010.

What’s more, the decreases seemed to speed up in recent months, with two-thirds of the lapsed users having turned away from the site in the past six months.

In addition, 9% of teen internet users said they had a Facebook profile but had completely abandoned it.

This turnover does not approach the level of MySpace, where 22% of teens had completely stopped using a profile. YouTube and Twitter both sported relatively high 15% abandonment rates.

In Facebook’s case, decreased usage does not appear to be related to the privacy issues raised in spring 2010, or even to the influx of older users on the site. Instead, the plurality of lapsed users simply find the site boring.

Reasons for using Facebook less, Apr 2010 (% of US teen lapese Facebook users)

• Lose interest/it's boring 45%
• More interested in visiting other websites instead 28%
• Too many notifications 27%
• Most/all of my friends do not use Facebook 21%
  
• Got tired of typing to keep up with all the activities 21%
  
• Too many ads 20%
  
• Had trouble finding people I know 18%
• Most of my friends are using other social networking sites 16%
• Other social network sites are better now 16%
• Facebook does not offer the features I want 16%
• Because my parents joined 16%
• Facebook has lost its novelty 14%
• Too many adults/older people 14%
• Uncomfortable people seeing my personal stuff 13%
• Do not like the change Facebook has implemented 12%
• Did not like the people I met on Facebook 11%
• Other 5%

Source Roiworld and OTX "Teens & social networks study" June 30, 2010

Keeping fickle teens’ interest will be important both for Facebook and the marketers who want to connect with them where they are - their mobile phones.

Nearly half (47%) of US teens say their social life would end or be worsened without their cell phone, and nearly six in 10 (57%) credit their mobile device with improving their life, according to a national survey from CTIA and Harris Interactive.

Four out of five teens (17 million) carry a wireless device (a 40% increase since 2004), finds the study titled “Teenagers: A Generation Unplugged,” which probes how the growing teen wireless segment is using wireless products and how they want to use them in the future.

Impact on Teen Life

• A majority (57%) of teens view their cell phone as the key to their social life.
• Second only to clothing, teens say, a person’s cell phone tells the most about their social status or popularity, outranking jewelry, watches and shoes.

Providing Entertainment and Security

• More than half of the respondents (52%) agree that the cell phone has become a new form of entertainment.
• One-third of teens play games on their phone.
• 80% say their cell phone provides a sense of security while on the go, confirming that the cell phone has become their mobile safety net when needing a ride (79%), getting important information (51%), or just helping out someone in trouble (35%).
• Teens carry cell phones to have access to friends, family and current events.
• Though only one in five (18%) teens care to pinpoint the location of their family and friends via their cell phone, 36% hate the idea of a cell phone feature that allows others to know their exact location.

Texting Replacing Talking

The study also confirmed that texting is replacing talking among teens. Teens admitted spending nearly an equal amount of time talking as they do texting each month. The feature is so important to them that if texting were no longer an option 47% of teens say their social life would end or be worsened - that’s especially so among females (54% vs. 40%).

Teens say texting has advantages over talking because it offers more options, including multitasking, speed, the option to avoid verbal communication, and because it is fun - in that order, according to the study.

With more than 1 billion text messages sent each day, it is no surprise that 42% of teens say they can text blindfolded, the study found.

“Teens have created a new form of communication. We call it texting, but in essence it is a reflection of how teens want to communicate to match their lifestyles. It is all about multitasking, speed, privacy and control,” said Joseph Porus, VP & chief architect, Technology Group, Harris Interactive. “Teens in this study are crying for personalization and control of exactly what a wireless device or plan can do for them.”

Devices of the Future

The survey asked teens what future changes they’d like to see in wireless services and devices and found that respondents want cell phones that break boundaries and are personalized to fit their lifestyles.

Teens remain excited and open minded about the wireless possibilities and their ideal future mobile devices would feature five applications - phone, MP3 player, GPS, laptop computer and video player, according to Harris.

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