I saw some startling statistics on smartphone usage yesterday in a DiGiDAY article and it got me thinking about all the ways mobile is changing our lives. And how we, as marketers, must change our thinking. Here are just six of the ways mobile is changing our lives.
1. Everyone is Expected to Work Always. The DiGiDAY article cited research from ExactTarget. The first statistic they mentioned was that 28% of smartphone users use their phone to email constantly. I readily admit I'm one of those people. My work email is connected to my Blackberry and I check it whenever that little red light blinks at me. I stopped in the middle of writing this to check my email on my phone – rather than clicking over to outlook on my desktop I was using at the time.
A lot of people are like that. Which means we're always at least a little bit on – work-wise. And there is an expectation that when someone comes in the next morning that they had kept up on their emails before arriving. At least when they rolled out of bed, if not in an ongoing fashion. Like it or not, if you don't people who do will probably think less of you – even though they shouldn't. It changes your psyche someone to always be on. That's not even taking into account that now workmates can call you any time and probably get a hold of you. Does this always connectedness make someone more or less likely to react positively to an email offer from a brand they like? Do the time-honored best times of day to send a sales message via email shift now?
2. We're Willing to Share Private Information – Especially if it Means a Deal. According to the same research, over a quarter of the people had used a geo-location app (Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places) to check in somewhere. Surprisingly, way more women (37% compared to only 21% male) were willing to reveal their location via their smartphone. And it turns out that many of them did so to receive a deal offered for their checkin. I know the first thing I see when I go to checkin on Foursquare is a bright orange bar across the top that says 25 Specials Nearby. Clicking on it shows me all the places close by that will give me a deal for checking in there and what the deal is. Think that may become significant for marketers as smartphone and tablet penetration rises? I do.
3. We Plan Ahead Less & Carry Less Junk. Last weekend I was up in Charleviox, MI for a little family reunion. As we were in the local fudge shop, my sister and her husband were trying to decide if they should check on their hotel reservation. She turns to me and says,"you have a smartphone, can you look up the number for us?" They didn't have to worry about printing out the confirmation or carrying it around. I did a quick search, read off the number and my brother-in-law dialed it on his mobile phone.
This concept applies to shopping and going places to. If you're out and you decide you want to find a new lawn mower or go see a movie – you can spur of the moment. Just do a quick search for your nearest Home Depot or Movie theater. Or search lawn mower or movie deals. I heard a podcast recently where they were debating if you needed an entirely different search strategy for mobile than for computer usage. How can you pull in a customer on the go who can act on their whims?
4. We Comparison Shop While in the Store. Used to be, once you got someone into your store, the bulk of the work was done. They were not as likely to leave and shop around at other stores. Now they don't have to. They can use a bar code scanner app, scan in the item they're staring at in the store and do a search right then and there for a better price. If the ticket item is big enough ant there's a big enough difference in price – you've lost the sale. If you're the store, how do you engage the in-store customer to stay and buy? If you're the competition, how do you use this info to poach someone's customers?
5. We Have Access Where We Never Had it Before. Years ago, we created a series of Advercasts for a number of retail clients, that were basically an email campaign with a video and online catalog component. It got incredible results for the client in Chicago but didn't do nearly as well for one scattered throughout a much more rural area in the South. The problem was that much of their area outside of the city limits, especially in the foothills of the mountains, weren't wired for broadband yet. Even short videos took forever to load via dial-up. Today, besides better penetration of internet access, many people in those areas can now access the web via their mobile devices. Now, that client has a strong SMS (texting) campaign and can once again start using video. This means the power of online video can now be harnessed my more marketers in more areas. One other thing – more texting than talking takes place on these phones – don't rule out a good SMS campaign.
6. Our Friends Are Always With Us. Another statistic in the ExactTarget study said that 17% of users checked Facebook "constantly" on their smartphone, 35% checked it "several times a day." With all the apps connecting us to the social web on our phones, we're always connected to our circle of friends. We can ask them where they think we should go to dinner, see what bar they're at, post a picture of two outfits and ask which one we should buy… the possibilities are endless and are only going to increase as brands create apps to enhance the social sharing experience. Even search is starting to show us what our friends think in the results. Does that mean, not only do we have to cultivate relationships with our customers, but we have to do the same with their friends? How can you create great social experiences with your product that will positively impact your bottom line?
These are just a few ways mobile is changing our lives and marketing landscape. They raise as many questions as answers. But they also provide great opportunities for companies willing to grab them. What other ways is mobile changing your life? And how do you see this impacting your marketing plans?
Mike McClure, Always Connected, Always Working, Always Exploring.
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