E-commerce and mobile marketing: why devices are increasingly important
Mobile marketingis a set of activities implemented to promote a company’s business and to reach potential customers on their mobile devices.
To create a website, an e-commerce or a digital project in general, it is necessary to take into account the mobile first principle: each step must satisfy the technical, aesthetic and functional needs of the devices.
In this article we discover what mobile marketing is, how it has evolved, the importance of mobile first in e-commerce, what are the strategies and advantages of mobile marketing.
Mobile Marketing: what is it?
Mobile Marketingis the set of marketing actions and activities aimed at promoting products or services and creating engagement with users through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Through this type of marketing, a heterogeneous audience is intercepted in terms of age, gender and purchasing behavior, to whom personalized content is addressed that promotes products and services in a specific context.
The importance of devices in mobile marketing is central and is connected to its specificity, because it cannot be reproduced on other media. An example are geolocalized campaigns, these are based on identifying the location of users and identifying the ideal time to send related ads.
How mobile marketing has evolved
Four useful points to understand how mobile marketing has evolved and how they can be used to improve your marketing strategies for users who use mobile devices.
Privacy and data management
The trend for mobile devices is greater attention in managing the data of their users to ensure that their data is not used by third parties for advertising purposes.
You need to study the context, analyze the data, develop a privacy plan for marketing in order to protect both the company and customer data and finally build mobile advertising strategies compatible with the operating systems of the users’ devices.
Mobile first optimization
Digital is now mainly mobile-first and in this perspective, the websites to be created should also be built according to the main use of users, i.e. mobile. The same applies to multi-channel strategies and all the planned touchpoints.
In an email marketing strategy, for example, you need to create newsletters or DEMs designed for reading from smartphones, without neglecting the desktop side. This doesn’t always happen and users end up with heavy and difficult-to-load images, layouts with overlapping characters and impossible-to-click CTAs.
Augmented reality, phygital and metaverse
Applying the real world through VR/AR in the world of the metaverse is the trend of the moment.
Several brands are already doing it. This is the case of the American giant Walmart that allows you to shop virtually thanks to augmented reality that “shows” the objects on the shelves.
Even Ikea, thanks to a augmented reality service, allows us to virtually furnish our home, in fact it allows us to project an object into the home and see how it fits with the rest of the furniture.
In addition to these future visions, we are already in a dimension in which phygital, the integration of the digital world with the physical one, is an integral part of our daily life.
Just think of ads and push notifications displayed when passing near physical stores, an excellent way to ensure the conversion from digital to point of sale.
Gaming and Entertainment
Online gaming and its use via smartphones is increasing globally and is a habit that fits well with the “always connected” of everyday life.
Those who are used to playing online or in general to using digital entertainment a lot are more likely to place online orders for products, services or take-away food.
A strategy well exploited by KFC which has inserted interactive gaming content into the delivery app to entertain consumers.
E-commerce and the importance of mobile first
We have already mentioned the importance of mobile first in building a site and in this case an e-commerce. To create an e-commerce based on mobile first you need to work on three important elements: web design, content, funnel.
Web design is aimed at improving the user experience within e-commerce, so you need to make a mobile-friendly choice regarding the template, usability and loading speed of each page. A successful example in this field is Raimondello’s e-commerce, which offers a wide range of typical Apulian products such as the tasty bombette pugliesi.
The second element refers to the content inserted within the e-commerce, you need to include specific keywords and provide SEO optimization of the texts. For example, Raimondello uses relevant keywords and optimized content to promote their bombette pugliesi and other traditional products.
The third point refers to the purchasing process, also in this case you have to think about how the user can purchase the product or service via mobile. The ads must be personalized based on the user’s interest and appear in the place where they are.
A very useful strategy for physical stores that exploit mobile marketing and want to be reached by potential customers located near the store, as in the case of Raimondello and their exquisite Apulian bombette.
Mobile marketing strategies and activities
To reach your potential customers on your smartphone and aim to increase your audience, you need to build strategies and implement mobile marketing activities. Which ones? Here are some:
- App marketing: App marketing campaigns involve users, through push notifications, in participating in contests, quizzes to win possible prizes. The company asks the user to register the brand’s app and to register to stay updated on promotions, offers and much more.
- QR Code Marketing: is a mobile marketing strategy that includes the use of QR codes to launch a new product or service. The potential customer, intercepted by the promotion, can reach the product or service through their smartphone and the decoding of the QR code.
- SMS Marketing: this type of campaign is characterized by the sending of promotions and offers via SMS dedicated to users registered in a database. Although it may seem a slightly dated typology, in terms of conversion it is very effective. It can be used to encourage users to present services or products of a company to other contacts.
- Proximity Marketing: is a tool that allows you to sponsor products and services in a specific geolocalized area. In fact, the user is reached by a notification near the store location.
- Gaming Ads: this refers to advertisements that are viewed by users during a gaming session on mobile devices. They can be viewed as full ads, via video or pop-ups.
How to structure a mobile marketing campaign
Here are some tips for structuring a mobile marketing campaign.
- Target analysis: devising a marketing strategy requires in-depth research on the target to obtain all the useful data to intercept their needs and create personalized ads.
- Use social media: create ads to attract audiences from social media, social media are mostly used by mobile devices. Another use can be linked to social commerce, a way of purchasing within social platforms.
- Identify objectives: setting clear and precise objectives to achieve allows the measurement of the results and progress obtained through the mobile marketing strategy.
- Pay attention to geolocation: provide relevant ads to an audience that is in the chosen location and at the time when your content might be of interest. Tools such as Google Trends, GPS and Google Local are useful for sending geolocalized campaigns.
- Take care of the mobile user experience: users carry out most of their activities from smartphones, so it is a good idea to create simple ads that are functional to their habits.
- Offer incentives: stimulate users, through prizes and offers, to contribute to the creation of content, is a way to encourage them to be an active part of the brand.
Mobile marketing and e-commerce: what are the advantages for companies
One of the major advantages of mobile marketing is to reach users when and where they want by offering them a better user experience. And for companies? Here are some advantages:
- One to one marketing: the smartphone is a personal device and using mobile allows you to communicate directly with customers and to orient a marketing strategy on the specific needs of each individual customer.
- Direct contact with customers: Mobile marketing allows you to connect with the lives of consumers wherever they are and at any time of day.
- Ability to create personalized content: with mobile marketing you can obtain a lot of information about customers and on the basis of this you have the possibility to build better and personalized content.
- Geolocation: knowing the user’s location while interacting with your brand can be a very useful piece of data for setting up a mobile marketing strategy.
- In-depth analysis: allows you to verify whether objectives have been achieved and to improve each strategy thanks to the information obtained such as age, gender, location and purchasing behavior.
Whatever the goal of a company: increasing brand awareness or improving user engagement, a marketing strategy should always include mobile marketing because marketing means reaching your potential customers even on their smartphone.
