How would you manage if you had to go without your smartphone for a day? How about a week? If you’re anything like me, it wouldn’t be long before you started to get twitchy. Most of us choose to be constantly connected, and surveys show that most of us keep our devices within arm’s reach at all times. In fact, I was presenting some research at a conference recently that showed Millennials reach for their phones, on average, 150 times a day. I challenge you to count how many times you grab your phone – on any given day – I think it might surprise you.
This constant connection is having a tremendous impact on the way we do business, in every sector and across every vertical. And for businesses, that means that everything you do should be with a mobile first strategy in mind. If you’re in marketing or sales, you need to stay laser focused on mobile and consider it with regard to every aspect of customer engagement — as part of a customer’s path to purchase, your internal customer service efforts and also as part of your customer retention strategies. That’s why this webinar, How To Create A Winning Mobile Customer Engagement Strategy, is something you might want to make time to watch, especially if you’re in sales or marketing. It’s a free on-demand webinar offered by my pals at IBM that’s available until the end of June.
Jennifer Wise, an analyst with Forrester Research, and Josh Rochlin, IBM’s global business leader for mobile customer engagement, will explain how you can:
- Leverage today’s mobile communication channels to increase brand engagement and differentiation
- Continue customer dialogs seamlessly across devices, and
- Increase customer understanding through the use of mobile behavioral analytics.
Why You Need To Pay Attention To Mobile Communication Channels
In the not too distant past, the business/customer relationship ended when the consumer walked out of the store; you didn’t have many options to do anything differently.
Today, however, there’s a huge opportunity to keep that relationship going — and mobile marketing may be the key.
The Pew Internet Project reports that 9 in 10 Americans own a mobile phone, and marketing research by IBM found that as many as a third of sales are happening online.
There’s no doubt your audience is using mobile. But the key to successful mobile marketing is finding a way to effectively connect with your audience and engage them in a way that keeps them coming back.
Keep Your Online Experience Seamless
It doesn’t matter how old your customers are: nobody wants to navigate a website with a desktop layout on their mobile screen. Instead, you need to be prepared for your customers, regardless of the device they choose to use. Research shows that:
- More than half of consumers — especially those aged 25 to 34 — use multiple devices when they’re shopping for a product, according to a survey by Sociomantic.
- People use different devices for different things: analysis of online holiday sales by IBM found that people browse with their smartphones, but are more likely to buy via tablet.
Having a responsive website — one that adjusts to match the device being used — and applications that make buying online straightforward and easy can make a measurable different to your bottom line.
Hitting the Target: Get to Know Your Customers
Customers love to associate themselves with their favorite brands. The technology we use and the clothes we wear all say something about our character and personality.
But that kind of loyalty doesn’t happen on its own. It’s getting easier to get personalized service both in-store and online, like recommendations based on past purchases or reviews from other customers who have purchased similar items — and customers increasingly expect a more customized experience from the brands they patronize.
They don’t just expect a more personalized experience — they respond to it. A recent JiWire study found that 75 percent of shoppers acted after receiving a location-based message, proving that targeted promotions are a powerful way to engaging customers.
To keep up with this demand for a personal touch, you need to learn how to combine cross-channel data sources to gain the kind of valuable insights that can help you make your customers feel appreciated.
So what are you waiting for? With an effective mobile strategy, you can develop lasting relationships and inspire brand loyalty. To get a solid start, head over here and watch How to Create a Winning Mobile Customer Engagement Strategy — it’s only available until the end of the month, so get there before you forget about it!
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.
How to Reach and Engage Mobile Customers [Webinar] is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency
