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How Important is Mobile Search?
The way we research the internet or find the information we need has changed. Mobile phones have been a great impact on our day-to-day research activities either at home through our tablets, or on the move via our smartphones. With smartphones taking over more than 50% of the world market (including underdeveloped or developing countries), we are constantly looking for more and more information. Whether we are looking for a restaurant, the latest news, watching TV, or running chores, we mostly do it via our mobile devices. On average 51% of smartphone users across the globe would be classified as ‘heavy search users’ on their mobile phones.
It is worth noticing that at least 1 in every 3 users check and interact with their mobile phones over the mobile web while watching TV where 50% of those surf the mobile web and 19% check information regarding the Ad or program they are watching. That changes the perception of how should brands do market their products and reach out to their audience.
How Important is Mobile Advertising?
Even though mobile internet activity is perceived as an action for both mobile devices and tablets, marketers have to take under consideration a number of core variables between the two platforms and their user behavior. Tablet users have a higher level of engagement in online video viewing than smart phone users. According to a study conducted by Covario, tablet viewers are far more engaged with watching promotional videos and adverts as much as 28% longer than those on mobile phones. Also, tablet users are more than twice as likely to look up product catalogue compared to those on a desktop, and 30% more likely than those on other mobile devices.
The constant evolution of the mobile web and the way people research information has also had a great shift in the purchasing decision and purchasing process. According to research conducted, more than 75% of mobile searches for products or local businesses result in immediate action. Whether this is a direct mobile purchase, a product reservation, click to call the business directly, or book tickets and restaurants.
There is an obvious change in the way people interact, buy and research on a daily basis. But what tools do they use when going mobile, and how much is mobile search marketing affecting their purchasing behavior?
Mobile Search Marketing in Action
So how do users conduct their mobile search and what engines do they use? Based on a recent report across all mobile operating systems and devices Google mobile holds the largest market share with 91.7% followed by Yahoo! with 5.02%. We need to take into account that even though both search engines do have a mobile-optimized site and therefore the research is conducted in a “mobile environment”, the end-to-user results are the same as on the desktop environment.
Having said that, a new mobile site search engine has made its presence enabling marketers and consumers to better research the web and retrieve mobile-friendly information at their fingertips. Mobile Environment researches the web-based on the keyword(s), providing users with mobile-optimized information that they can comfortably access through their mobile device. If a brand is not found in Everything. Mobile Environment marketers then need to reconsider their mobile search marketing strategy. As reported, 70% of the mobile users who visit a mobile unfriendly site are more likely to turn immediately to a competitor’s site.
The 4 Keys of Mobile Marketing
Consumers are constantly on the hunt for products and offers that will help make their purchasing experience through their mobile devices. How has mobile search affected the consumer purchasing decision? There are a number of areas marketers need to consider:
Product visibility
Make sure your product or brand is visible and stands out from the crowd by incorporating the right mobile advertising strategies that will put your brand on the map
Mobile store
Develop an easy-to-use and mobile-optimized store with a seamless mobile shopping experience with up to 3 steps. Experience has shown that drop-out rates tend to increase on the second and third page
Interactivity
As mentioned and above, mobile web searching and browsing are higher at home when users watch TV. People o search about the advertise product and therefore are expecting a rich experience in return. An interactive campaign can create 3 times the buzz around a specific product. Such case was the Old Navy campaign implemented through Shazaam
Accessibility
Making your brand or product accessible anytime anywhere and from any device is an important priority and tactic marketers need to consider. With hundreds of devices and various mobile OS, the need for accessibility is rather important. Users expect to retrieve the same information regarding a brand on any device, and with the same ease of use
Engagement – Brands and agencies have spent vigorous amounts of money to build their online presence and create an online ID. Most of the time this ID is fading out on the mobile experience due to a number of limitations. However, a new trend is making its move to the mobile environment. Screen scrapping is now used via a number of brands and retailers, enabling them to create a unique experience for all devices online and web. Screen scrapping is based on the notion that you only need to create a single destination and once the site is launched from a different device the design and layout adapt to the devise layout.