how mobile marketing is changing your marketing strategy

1HOW MOBILE IS CHANGING YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY ORM whitepaper / February 2013

HOW MOBILE IS CHANGING YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY

ORM whitepaper

February 2013


We can all remember the early days of mobile phones – from the basic handsets (mine was a Nokia 5110 when we founded ORM in 1999) through to feature phones with WAP browsers. But it wasn’t until 2007 when the smartphone (or specifically, the iPhone) appeared on the scene that mobile became a new gameplayer. Since then the smartphone has changed the market and our relationship with mobile, forever.

Peter Gough / Founder and design partner, ORM

Introduction

Rapid technological advancements, within the last six years, have seen new operating systems, powerful handsets, faster and cheaper data connections, touch interaction, 35 billion app downloads and more smartphone devices being activated worldwide each day than babies being born. Back then, what we couldn’t predict, was how our culture would change. Our behaviour, how we interact, look for and consume content has rapidly evolved. We live in a world where these smart devices are always with us, always on and we are always connected.

These are still early wild-west days for technologists and marketers alike. Mobile is an ever-evolving channel and we know it is fast becoming the main touch point for more than half the UK population.

In this short space of time the smartphone has transformed the consumer’s behaviour. This technology, that we have on us and in the home, is no longer about being a geek or an early adopter.

These mobile devices (like tablets, smartphones and wearable tech) are cost effective, lightweight and will overtake the desktop in the next few years, says Google.

Our phones are no longer used to just make and receive calls. They are a multi activity devices – used for communicating (emailing/social networking), staying informed (reading blogs/ news/messageboards) and entertainment (net browsing, playing games, listening to music, watching videos, reading a book). All of which generate trackable data that can be used to inform your marketing strategy.

About this WhitepaperIn this whitepaper we’ll consider how you can equip your marketing teams to reach your customers in the new multi channel world we live in.

Back then, what we couldn’t predict, was how our culture would change. Our behaviour, how we interact, look for and consume content has rapidly evolved. We live in a world where these smart devices are always with us, always on and we are always connected.

Peter Gough is the founder and design partner at ORM. Peter started his career as an apprentice graphic designer at 16 way back in the 80’s, going on to work and partner in a number of design and print groups. His love of graphic design and a fascination for the early internet and computer technology was the inspiration to set up ORM in 1999, to specialise in digital design for clients including Ministry of Sound and Channel 4.

Fanatical about the importance of user and brand experience design in emerging mobile & web technology, he is responsible for the design output of ORM – together with the business direction and innovation.

1999 / Nokia 5110


So work out what your customers need and want. Who they are, how they access your site (use your analytics to drill down to find the patterns) and what they want to do once they are there will determine the route you should take. As a guide, think about the following case studies:

Choosing a Responsive webite Take this option if your core users are looking for a similar mobile/desktop experience. A responsive site’s layout will change depending on the screen sizes to provide content on all platforms. Online publishers, such as Mashable, Smashing Magazine & The Guardian, have done just that effectively. Their audiences want news, trends and updates in a visual and intuitive way.

Choosing a Mobile website Take this option if your visitor wants a service or instant information. A mobile site is context specific. It focuses on a selection of core tasks and does not replicate the desktop website content. It gives your users quick, simple calls to action. National Rail is doing this well with its four main calls to action: “Journey Planner”, “Live Departure Boards”, “Changes to Train Times” and “Get me home”.

A top tip: have clickable phone numbers/interactive maps as a standard feature on your site.

It takes us 1.7 seconds to judge a website (a recent Yahoo.com study revealed). Survey after survey tells us that if a customer’s had a bad experience on a mobile site, they’re not coming back.But not every brand, company or organisation needs a responsive site. At the very least you need to make sure your website works on mobile. Context of use and creating a great user experience should be two of the core drivers behind your decision making.

In terms of context of use – Google says the majority (85%) of smartphone users are searching for local information and then (81%) acting on it. Search, GPS tracking and people’s willingness to share their location means you can target ads based on a set radius/profile.

Do you need a Responsive or Mobile site?

85% searching for local information

81% acting upon it through

location sharing


If some of your marketing budget has been put aside for creating an app you need to take stock and ask yourself for what purpose? What can you do to make your customer’s lives better, simpler and happier (that someone hasn’t already done)? Bearing in mind a person has, on average, 23 apps on their smartphone, of which 9 are regularly used, says Google.People will engage with an app on their daily commute or at snatched times of the day. So the best apps are quick, simple and life enhancing (because it entertained them/gave them important information/helped them in some way/enabled them to share something with friends).

Broadly an app’s purpose can fit into these three functions:• Connectivity: Makes it easier for registered users to connect back to

a core service - such as Facebook, Twitter and Dropbox. • Content: Delivers and broadcasts content: news, pictures, videos etc

such as BBC iPlayer, 4oD and Netflix. • Enterprise: Created for a specific B2B or internal business purpose.

Such as an app we created for Visa that helped its corporate sales team access interactive data during pitches to large organisations.

All the best apps follow these 6 basic rules:• Simple design. • Have 1 or 2 features that work really well. • Different apps for each function or service of a business. • Don’t use complex menus and multiple windows. • Make it fast – let users do what they need to do. • Optimise the function to the device.

For inspiration here are some of our team’s favourite apps:

App or no app?

Instagram: Its primary feature allows you to take an image and post it on its service or to other networks. There’s no confusion. Its secondary function does not detract from the core purpose.

Barclays Pingit: Barclays separated its Mobile Banking app from its Pingit service—partly so non-customers can use it for peer-to-peer payments—but also to avoid confusing the brand experience.

Shazam: The speed of the app is everything. Its main purpose is to identify, tag and then share music with friends. It can identify a song, provide artist details as well as providing a link to buy the album.

Clear: This is a “to-do” app. Swipe, pinch and pull to complete, add and delete items easily. It’s simple to navigate. You can save to-do lists remotely so they’re updated on multiple devices.

Behance: Similar to Pinterest—this is great tool to manage and showcase your work. It’s a paired- down version of the desktop and does just the basics, but very well.

Average, 23 apps on smartphone only 9 are regularly used


10:30–11PMSmartphone

Checking news & emails

START

2PMSmartphone & desktop

combination

7AMSmartphone

Checking emails

7:30AMTablet


7:45AMSmartphone


9AMSmartphone & desktop

combination

11AMSmartphone

Browsing, calling & messaging

11:15AMSmartphone & desktop

combination

12:30–2PMSmartphone

Mobile internet usage at its highest

6PMSmartphone

Checking news & emailsBrowsing & researching

7:30–9PMTablet

Prime time tablet useSecond screen & purchases

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Our design team have created this simple and effective infographic. It shows you how our devices keep us connected 24/7. And this is shaping our daily habits.The data we’ve collected highlights that the time of day will determine what device a person is on. Throughout the day smartphones and tablets interchange between being primary, then secondary screens. User engagement with these devices has four clear peaks: The commute (at both ends of the day), lunchtime and prime-time viewing in the evening.

The mobile revolution struck home on a recent early commute to work. Looking around the small train carriage—six of the seven passengers were glued to their smartphones (I was the seventh

on a tablet). These people were not talking on their phones. They were all consuming content—be it emails, news, videos or a combination of all. This was at 7am. And it wasn’t a one off.

As marketers you can now reach and connect with people in their pockets, at their desks and whilst they are watching the television. This everywhere and anywhere culture is what consumers are now expecting. You can use your analytics to give people what they want, when they want it. As marketers there’s now a greater opportunity to connect the dots and follow these consumers across all channels. You can then deliver consistent and relevant messages.

A day in the life of a smartphone & tablet user


Recipients of emails have got savvier. Statistics tell us that the impact of the email on desktop is in decline. Even sectors where the email response rate was at its highest, such as for charities, have admitted there needs to be a new gameplan. Along comes the smartphone. The infographic previously demonstrates that people are using their commute to filter and check their burgeoning inbox – starting from 7am. During this period people scan messages, send holding responses, clock anything interesting to reopen back at their desks and delete, delete, delete.

So the pressure is on for marketers to create content that is personalised, tailored and quick to read reflect this new consumer of email.

Here we’ve come up with a dos and don’ts guide for creating the perfect emailDo• Write a short, snappy 30 characters subject line. • Give a reason to open such as a daily deal/money.

off/something for today. • Create vertical text, make it easy to scroll down. • Incorporate pictures for added emotional engagement. • Include “calls to action buttons” such as press here/share

now/donate here/buy now. • Have a responsive template. • Record and understand behaviour—first opened on email,

reopened on desktop.

Don’t • Use a person’s name in the title—it’s their account, their

inbox, they know their own name. • Include a link that doesn’t work. • Send people to your main/payment site if it’s not been

optimised for mobile. • Be too impersonal or generic—people expect more. • Email the wrong message at the wrong time (for example if

someone has just bought a coat—they don’t want to be emailedabout other types of coats).

• Try using FW: in your subject to imply it’s come from a trusted source.

The perfect email for mobile

Using data to create the perfect emailEngagement with email on smartphones is high— with roughly 72% of all users checking their inboxes regularly. Conversion rates are greater if companies use data to craft the perfect email.

Domino’s Pizza is one such success story. It uses data, combined with personalisation to target mobile users to increase conversion rates. Its click through rates are huge, for example, on the “4 for 2” offers that are sent to a specific demographic on the afternoon of a premier league football match.

With £10m of sales via its iPhone app since 2007 and a massive 500,000 app downloads—it’s doing something right.


We are all witnessing a huge change in human behaviour. Devices that we didn’t know we needed 10 years ago are dominating our lives (the UK has seen the largest increase in smartphone use in 2012). Smartphone and tablet users describe having a strong bond or affinity with their devices—many seeing them as a natural extension of themselves.

This fast growing group of consumers interact, and are highly engaged, with their handsets, tablets - and brands that have been quick to meet them there. They describe feeling closer to, and more personally involved with, brands that were fast to create mobile apps and services.

Business models are changing as we are becoming a mobile-first society. The tech blog, formerly know as ReadWriteWeb, recently rebranded as ReadWrite and designed its new layout for tablets and smartphones first. Linkedin, with 11 million UK members, said it was a mobile first company. Social networking giant, Facebook, also said it would be focusing its efforts on mobile.

Mobile marketers still have a lot to learn – and the cogs in the wheels of the larger organisations will need to move faster to keep up with consumer demands. This means cleansing data and using it form the basis of your marketing strategy. Companies thinking smarter, such as differentiating between smartphone and tablet users, and tracking consumer patterns and behaviour will be the winners in this race.

Of course, there are still barriers to collecting and using this data – antiquated systems, manual and internal processes, data overload, the wrong skill-sets working in key areas of the business. And the all too familiar conflict between the IT department’s aversion to risk and a marketers inclination towards innovation.

ORM, as a creative and technical digital agency, understand these conflicting issues. We want to help our clients blend these very distinct areas to maximise their effectiveness and minimise risk.

In doing this we foresee creating and shaping a new hybrid marketing/technologist role: that of the Chief Marketing Technologist. This person will have creativity but also a deeper understanding of the technology, its possibilities and the budget to spend.

The Future of Marketing


Cut out and keep

• Mobile is a different channel - just porting desktop content to mobile isn’t good enough – you’ve got to think more about the context of use.

• Condense your emails – you’ve only got about a 30 character subject line – people are getting through them very quickly.

• Make sure your designs, layouts and content are responsive, fluid and work well on whatever device your consumers are using it on.

• Don’t direct potential customers to your home or payment page until you’ve optimised it for mobile and tablet users.

• Remember mobile is location based, it’s always on, you’re in someone’s pocket – you can engage with them when they are out and about and can push offers/vouchers to get them into your store.

• 85% of search is for the moment – people looking for maps, telephone numbers, price comparisons, product reviews.

• Make mobile part of your editorial process and workflow – co-ordinate your activities so content can be delivered to multiple channels and tailored for each.

To book a free website or digital strategy [email protected] +44 (0) 20 7939 9540 ormlondon.com ORM 156-170 Bermondsey Street London SE1 3TQ United Kingdom

You can also find us here

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@ormlondon

linkedin.com/company/orm

A mini guide to marketing on mobile

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ormlondon.com


We blend strategic thinking with creative and technical expertise to engineer delightful digital experiences.

Whether these experiences are on mobile, on web or on touch, our experiences are measurable, they’re joined-up and maximise your investment in digital.

We provide full end-to-end service, from design through to development and support for mobile applications, websites and online products – we provide strategic services including digital strategy development, mobile UI/brand guideline development through to User Experience reviews and usability testing.

We are renowned for creating superb user experience design informed and validated by insightful and incisive research – this is combined with engaging brand visualisation and creative. Our technical design and development provides robust solution delivery that is trusted and depended upon by some of the world’s most recognisable brands.

About ORM

We’re about experiences – from strategy through to delivery, we make your business digital.


Thank you for reading

[email protected] / ormlondon.com

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how mobile marketing is changing your marketing strategy

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