Did you know 97% of text messages are opened and read within minutes by the average user? Did you know that only 16% of people will give an app more than two chances if their first experiences were buggy or disappointing?
See, mobile is a great tool if it is used effectively. Pew Research Center reported nearly two thirds of Americans (64%) have a smartphone. With access to potentially millions of users and the low cost of mobile marketing, companies need to get on board and learn the ropes. One of the most important factors in a successful mobile marketing campaign is creating a customer-centric approach that looks at what your users need and not what your company wants to push.
Provide Something Unique
If you want customers to feel the value of your mobile marketing campaign, then you need to provide a value specific to the mobile campaign. Offer a special deal via text message or on your app that is not found anywhere else. Many companies offer the same coupons and deals in their email campaigns, on their websites and through their mobile marketing campaigns, but this does nothing to drive users towards conversion within a certain campaign.
Use Customer-Centric Alerts and Reminders
Using alerts, reminders and updates in your mobile marketing strategy is a smart way to get your customers back into your sales cycle. However, these updates and alerts need to be customer-centric. Too many companies are sending out generic information and creating company-centric alerts in an obvious effort to win back customer attention.
Rather than pester your audience, work to find updates that matter to them. The service industry is now using alerts to let customers know when the job is done or when they are due for a check up. Only create an alert if it is something your customer will actually want to be alerted about.
Use Data to Understand Customer Needs
If you are going to push for customer-centric alerts, reminders and experiences, then you will need to analyze what your users are doing. Use intelligent data, like location and previous purchase history, to help drive intelligent alerts that are individually pertinent. Data can tell you where your users are falling out of the pipeline, how many users are continuing to engage with your mobile campaigns, what customers are looking at on your site and more. Don’t just push your product of the day — use data to dig into your customer’s actions and then work to make every decision going forward helpful for the customer.
Understand Mobile 2.0
There is a new era in the Internet and mobile worlds that companies need to understand to be effective: this is a two-way street. See, back in the day, the Internet was more like one big brochure where companies could put their information out there and then direct users to their pages. But, things have changed.
Now, social media has caused the Internet to explode into an active space where users make up a big part of the process. Mobile has morphed into the same thing; customers expect to be included and considered, not talked at with some processed brand message. In order to create an effective mobile marketing campaign, you have to understand how to provide an experience and offer relevance for this new version of mobile use.
Merge Virtual and In-Person
One cool idea for making a different kind of mobile marketing campaign is encouraging users to participate in a real event. A flash mob is a group of people who meet virtually and agree to meet in-person to participate in something of common ground. You can use a mobile party to bring together your audience to demonstrate loyalty for your brand and to increase brand awareness for others. In order to make your mobile party a success, offer an amazing and exclusive deal for those who offer proof of attending the event (like a picture taken at the event and posted with a brand tag to social media).
Now you understand a few of the ways you can make your mobile marketing revolve around what your users are doing and wanting. Keep looking for ways to meet needs; brand advocacy and conversions will follow. Give your users what they are looking for and they will be the ones seeking you out and passing along the recommendation to their own contacts, followers, friends and family.
Image credit: CC by Erik (HASH) Hersman