How to Profit from the Benefits of Mobile Marketing

The benefits of mobile marketing are huge.

From a closer connection to your customers to creative marketing campaigns, you can do so much more through a personal device than a desktop.

Before we get into the benefits, take a look at these mobile marketing statistics to understand the big money in m-commerce:

Statista, one of the leading statistics companies on the internet, released a report titled “Mobile retail e-commerce sales in the United States from 2013 to 2020” stating that, in 2018, U.S. mobile retail revenues are expected to amount to 206.53 billion U.S. dollars, up from 80.94 billion U.S. dollars in 2015.

That’s over a 150{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} increase in revenue in only 3 years.

But it get’s better…

A report from Business Insider titled “The Mobile Checkout Report” states that In 2014, mobile comprised 11.6{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of the US’ $303 billion in ecommerce sales. By 2020, mobile will account for 45{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of the $632 billion in total e-commerce sales.

That means almost half of all ecommerce sales will be conducted from your customer’s phone.

If you want a piece of this growing pie and reap the benefits of mobile marketing, we’ll give you a few general strategies and go over some specific ways you can execute a better mobile marketing campaign today.

But first, let’s define mobile marketing.

What is Mobile Marketing?

Mobile marketing is the use of mobile devices to market your business.

The goal is to make your business as appealing, user-friendly, and helpful as possible to drive the most engagement and sales possible.

It can provide your customers personalized, location-specific, time-specific information and advertising that gives them what they need and want when they need or want it, wherever they are.

Benefits of Mobile Marketing

You and your customers will benefit from mobile marketing in a variety of ways.

But you might be confused about the specific benefits mobile marketing offers, and may not want to invest any more of your budget into marketing campaigns you don’t understand.

To help you see this opportunity clearly, here’s why mobile marketing could be so profitable for your business:

Constant Contact With Your Prospects

According to “The Mobile Fact Sheet” from Pew Research, 95{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of Americans own a cellphone of one kind or another, while 77{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of Americans own a smartphone.

Additionally, this report revealed that broadband services are diminishing and “smartphone-only” internet users are increasing. 1 in 10 Americans do not have broadband service and only use their smartphones to access the internet.

So not only do most people have a cellphone they carry with them wherever they go, some of them use it exclusively for all of their computing needs.

Increased Social Media Engagement

A report from Statista titled “Mobile internet usage in the United States” states that In 2015, the number of smartphone social network users in the United States was 149.5 million. By 2020, this number is set to reach 186.3 million monthly smartphone social users.

Online consumers who access social media through their mobile device are more likely to read, comment, like, or share content posted by a company than those who accessed social media from their PC, according to a study from Forrester.

For example, 46{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of smartphone users liked something a company posted weekly, while only 37{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of PC users liked something a company posted weekly.

This type of engagement could lead to a massive increase in your social media sales.

Opportunity for SMS Mobile Marketing

Since almost all of your customers have a mobile device on them wherever they go – whether it’s a smartphone or not – you have the opportunity to send them a text message about a special deal, a coupon, a sale, or any other promotion.

Your text messages could be about an impromptu deal, or it could get them ready for a big sale in the future.

You could even send out questionnaires, surveys, or polls to gain valuable insight into your customers thinking.

Advanced Location-Based Mobile Marketing

Since over 3 quarters of mobile device owners have smartphones, you have the ability to cash in on location-based marketing.

You could develop a Geofence that “pushes” a notification to their device, alerting them they’re in the perimeter of your location.

Similarly, you could use an iBeacon to push notifications, send a daily deal, or inform your customer that they’re nearby your store.

More Payment Options Through Mobile Wallet Marketing

By 2018, Forrester Research Inc. predicts mobile wallets will reach critical mass with consumers and become a high-value new marketing channel, according to their report “The Future Of Mobile Wallets Lies Beyond Payments.”

That same report identified the 2 features most customers want from their mobile wallets:

• 57{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of customers want loyalty programs
• 56{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of customers want coupons/offers

By 2019, Forrester predicts U.S. mobile payments to grow to $142 billion, according to their report, “US Mobile Payments Forecast, 2014 To 2019.”

From Apple Pay to Android Pay to Samsung Pay, your ability to deliver deals, inspire loyalty, and give your customers more payment flexibility has never been easier or more exciting.

Of course, the benefits of mobile marketing mean nothing if you can’t put them into action.

To help you grow your business through mobile marketing, we put together some proven strategies you can implement today.

Mobile Marketing Strategies for Increased Sales in Mobile Commerce

This is where the rubber meets the road (or, the marketing meets the phone to be exact).

You know you can increase your sales through mobile marketing, but you may not know the specific, data-driven strategies that make this possible.

Below are 5 proven mobile marketing strategies that will increase engagement, optimize conversions, and boost your bottom line.

Design a Mobile-Friendly Website

The purpose of your website is to provide easy navigation for your customers, especially if they’re visiting your site on their mobile device.

Cluttered icons, confusing menus, and distorted images will cause your customers to quickly close your website and visit someone else’s.

Here are a few surefire guidelines for creating a mobile-friendly website:

• Use simplified drop-down menus instead of a full menu bar
• Use high-quality images for everything from your About page to your product pages
• Write detailed, in-depth product descriptions
• Make your website mobile-responsive so that it automatically adjusts for a mobile user

For additional tips, check out this guide from Moz on optimizing your site for mobile devices.

Optimize Checkout

Once potential customers have filled up their carts and are on the checkout page, it’s critical to do everything you can to prevent shopping cart abandonment.

For instance, don’t force customers to create an account just to buy your products.

A case study from User Interface Engineering found that by removing the “register” button from their client’s checkout page (a major ecommerce retailer), they increased conversions by 45{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3}, resulting in a $300 million boost in the retailer’s sales.

You could also display the shopping cart at all times. This ensures quick access to the checkout page.

Try to auto-detect their city and state immediately after they input their ZIP code to make it easier and faster for them to enter their information.

Offer free shipping if you can, or, at the very least, calculate shipping immediately after your customer selects a product so that the costs are transparent.

58{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of online shoppers abandoned their cart because the cost of shipping was higher than expected according to Business Insider.

Create and Optimize a Mobile App for Your Business

A mobile app is a must-have if you want to take advantage of all the benefits of mobile marketing.

Here are a few phenomenal reasons why mobile apps are one of the best tools for mobile marketing courtesy of Criteo’s “State of Mobile Commerce 2016”:

• Apps convert 3.5x more consumers than mobile web-browsing
• Apps deliver up to 54{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of all mobile transactions
• Advanced capabilities like home screen presence, instant loading, offline content, push notifications, personalization, and access to native functionality could create a 15{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} increase in transactions year-over-year
• Apps convert 3x more product viewers than mobile web
• App users continue to browse more products and purchase more than on the mobile web and desktop at every stage in the funnel
• Apps deliver 2x the new user retention power
• New app users are twice as likely to return within 30 days vs. mobile web users

Apps also allow you to take advantage of iBeacons and Geofences since you’ll need an app to push a notification to your customer when they’re in range of your store.

Use Video Marketing

According to “Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2016–2021,” global IP video traffic will be 82 percent of all consumer Internet traffic by 2021, up from 73 percent in 2016.

So, over 3 quarters of internet browsers will be mostly watching videos on the internet in just 4 years.

Plus, it turns out that 4x as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. This comes from a study conducted by Animoto. Here are 3 more stats from the same study:

• 1 in 4 consumers lose interest in a company if it doesn’t have video
• Customers are nearly 50{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} more likely to read email newsletters that include links to video
• 4 in 5 consumers say a video showing how a product or service works is important

Create an SMS Mobile Marketing Campaign

SMS mobile marketing offers an exciting opportunity to smart businesses ready to profit from this low-tech strategy.

To give you an idea of the benefits of SMS mobile marketing, check out these stats from the 2nd edition of the “Mobile Intelligence Review”:

• 90{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of text messages are read within 3 seconds
• 29{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of those targeted with an SMS advertising campaign responded to the message
• 47{cb377218d5687e54e8ee9149518f87201a393a7c1db5e8076e9d750029ec0dc3} of those who responded to the message went on to make a purchase

Follow these tips for a successful SMS mobile marketing campaign:

• Always get consent from your customers to send them text messages, otherwise, they will be angry, and you may lose a customer for life.
• Start the text ad with a compelling offer such as “Buy 4 pots get 1 FREE vase!”
• Make the deal seem exclusive by telling the customer they belong to a seemingly elite group named “Platinum Text Club Members” or something similar.
• Make the text time-specific and give it a deadline to add urgency to your message by telling them “this offer expires on October 15th at midnight,” for example.
• Tell them the location of your store where they can redeem the offer.
• Give them a call-to-action they can execute immediately, like “Stop in today and show this text at checkout to redeem this exclusive deal!”
• Don’t send deals more often than once or twice a month to avoid being spammy and annoying.
• Always include an unsubscribe option so that your customers can opt-out anytime.

Time to Reap the Benefits of Mobile Marketing

You know what mobile marketing can offer your business.

You know the strategies you can use to create a killer mobile marketing campaign.

Now, you just to need to go out and apply this information.

Just remember, mobile marketing should be one part of your entire omnichannel ecommerce strategy.

Test everything, use what works, discard what doesn’t.

By using what you’ve learned today, you’ll be well on your way to profiting from the benefits of mobile marketing.