Click here to read Online Strategies magazine’s August issue!
Posts Tagged ‘Mobile’
Mobile Rules of the Road for E-Retailers
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
Mobile devices like the iPhone and G1 are letting consumers take advantage of the growing number of high-speed networks, an opportunity that e-commerce retailers are recognizing as users are increasingly using websites for shopping from mobile devices. Some people are even using their mobile devices as their primary online browser.
Any retailer looking to the growing mobile audience for new revenue should deliver shopping sites that are mobile friendly. This means paring back content – or re-organizing it – so that users can access relevant items more easily.
While wireless devices have come a long way, their screen size limits what can be displayed and still be read by the average user. Features such as panning and zooming can only compensate so much for the smaller real estate available on handhelds.
Most websites are still using cascading stylesheets (CSS) optimized for personal computers. Designing and embedding CSS specifically for mobile users will help ensure that the user experience on handheld devices is high quality. The CSS Mobile Profile 2.0 developed by the W3C (the standard-setting World Wide Web Consortium) is now available, giving retailers a widely supported standard to follow.
Other common shopping features, such as large tables of product images and Flash animation, also need to be rethought. Just a decade ago, many websites were built successfully without these features. As screen resolutions and bandwidth grew, these were added to create richer online experiences. Handheld devices may not support all of these technologies, so the emphasis should be placed on simplicity, clarity and speed. And make sure that commonly accessed features, such as viewing the shopping cart are readily reachable.
While the technical aspects of mobile are important to consider, retailers must also focus on marketing fundamentals, such as understanding the needs of this changing audience. Research and analysis on what users want and how they want to interact with your site are critical. One quick tip: use the mobile device itself to gather research information, rather than relying solely on traditional research channels.
Retailers that can use messaging, web content, e-mail, and social networking in an integrated fashion, centered on the handheld device, let users engage with their brands. A basic practice: rather than just asking for e-mail addresses on your sites, permit users to give you addresses for text messages as well, and let them know about special mobile content.
One last piece of advice: do not let mobile marketing become a new outlet for spam. Mobile devices give unprecedented access to retail customers; respecting your customers’ time will lead to longer, two-way relationships.
David King is CEO of Fulcrum, a leader in advanced analytics, technology and multichannel program solutions for marketing.
Mobile TV: The Newest Frontier
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
Media buyers and marketers are looking at mobile TV to increase sales for clients.
Mobile TV is being viewed as a way of expanding brand and presents a unique opportunity when it comes to direct-response sales lead generation.
Traditional direct-mail marketers reveal that their response with print mailing has dropped to less than 0.1 percent. That means 99.9 percent of your client audience is not responding to the direct-mail piece you spent money on.
What makes mobile TV so attractive to advertisers? The emergence of mobile TV as a mobile medium also comes with some impressive applications. For instance, if you are seeing a Lexus commercial on your mobile iPhone while watching a local news program, you could potentially touch a Lexus icon on your phone screen to be connected to a live Lexus sales representative.
The real-time factor. Mobile TV provides the unique value of real-time marketing to consumers. Studies show they spend more when transactions are completed quickly before they have a chance to rationalize a purchase.
Even with all of these big changes underway, television is still a big layer in the media game. TV ads will continue to have loyal buyers.
Do you agree?
Peter Koeppel is a Wharton MBA and president of Koeppel Direct, a full-service media buying agency based in Dallas.
The iPhone Impact
Friday, March 27th, 2009
In my last blog post, I cited a factoid regarding 17 million iPhones having been sold to date. In fact, Apple’s App Store is downloading and/or selling approximately 3 million applications every day. Of course, this is America, and where would be without over-reactive pendulum swings? Some are asking if the App Store paradigm is the wave of the future and if the mobile web is dead? The answer, of course, is a resounding NO.
The App Store is not the future- it’s the present, and only with respect to the iPhone. The appeal of the iPhone is the App Store. To Apple’s credit, they were really smart when the copied their iPod and iTunes template when they launched the iPhone. Further, they were downright brilliant when they made each and every hardware component on that phone i.e. the microphone, speaker, screen, camera and GPS chip available to the developer community via open APIs and a well thought iPhone software development kit. Layer on Apple’s typically brilliant marketing and voila: two years later we have 17 million phones, tens of thousands of apps and another Apple success story.
Ok, so now let’s put this in context. First, while 17 million iPhones have been sold worldwide, there are more than 2 billion non-iPhones out there. Second, let’s be real, the App Store is a walled garden and walls are always salacious targets in the same way that buttons compel pushing. Think AOL… So, as we all think about developing our mobile applications, know that it is imperative to develop a WAP application first and foremost. I would of course, encourage the development of an iPhone app too as iPhone users are rabid consumers of applications and the mobile web. Also, cell phone manufacturers, take note: Start defining standards across your line of handsets. Publish APIs and SDKs that allow developers to write apps and/or mobile web applications. And watch the mobile web tsunami explode!
David Gould is CEO of mShopper.
Steelers, Doritos and DRTV
Friday, February 13th, 2009
Hailing from Pittsburgh, or should I say Sixburgh, I’m obviously still ecstatic at the outcome of this year’s Super Bowl. But for our purposes here, I’ll spare you the Steelers fan gloating. There were other winners on Super Bowl Sunday and they come from the advertising and marketing community.
According to USA Today, the Doritos crystal ball commercial was the favorite of the evening. I literally remember sitting in a room full of people before the first commercial break and someone managed to crack the joke: “Here come the blatant marketing pitches.†Maybe my sarcastic friend spoke too soon. As the now infamous crystal ball Doritos commercial ensued, the entire room erupted into laughter and one of my friends even said, “That makes me want to buy some Doritos for sure.†Mission accomplished.
During another part of the evening, a commercial played for an upcoming feature film. My friend who interns for the studio made sure to hush everyone as the spot played. Being that it was a preview for a comedy, the room’s continued silence was not a good sign. “Damn, that cost a lot of money,†my friend said to disapproving stares. On the up side, she used our live, informal focus group the next day during a meeting to let her supervisors know that the preview did not go over well with our crowd.
But if anything, the Super Bowl proved that there is still a place for advertising and marketing in a fast-forward world. From 3-D glasses, to impressive strides in mobile campaigns, marketers are still cleverly rising above the clutter. In industry specific news, the Super Bowl even had a DRTV spot for Cash4Gold that played to rave reviews and even rivaled Doritos as the night’s favorite.
“Super Bowl 43 was memorable for several reasons, so much so that the media world is still buzzing about it a week later. It was arguably one of the best games ever, and certainly one of the most exciting fourth quarters in recent history. A record number of viewers tuned in as well — Nielsen’s final report put it at 98.7 million, up a full million over last year. Unprecedented economic times meant no ads from perennial sponsors General Motors and FedEx. But despite the loss of these brands, NBC successfully sold all 65 spots for a record $206 million, with in-game ads running at $3 million apiece. That is up 11 percent from last year’s Fox rate for the game,†according to Video Insider.
Furthermore, a recent study actually shows that watching ads increases the pleasure of the TV viewing experience. Maybe consumers are especially willing to watch ads during the Super Bowl because they know that ad execs are at the top of their game. Perhaps the lesson for advertisers should be to act like it’s the Super Bowl every day. As a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, I can assure you I certainly will.
Pat Cauley is Electronic Retailer magazine’s eMedia editor.
Does Anyone Doubt That Mobile Has Arrived?
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009
First, I’m honored that ERA asked me to blog about the mobile commerce space in advance of the upcoming eRetailer Summit. I promise to keep my blogs short. I will do my best to keep them pithy and relevant.
I know we have all heard so much about the mobile channel over the last few years. There has been a lot of hype. There have been several false starts. But, I can tell you in all honesty that mobile is here, now. A lot of research will be published over the next months that detail how important multichannel marketing has become in terms of customer retention, conversion rates and ROI. Best-of-breed retailers all have multichannel strategies in place and are myopically focused on how to expand the scope and efficacy of that strategy. Mobile has become a critical component of such a strategy.
I thought I might offers some great statistics, each released over the last few weeks, that can help as you think about your mobile strategy and allocation of marketing budgets. In these extraordinary times, cost/benefit analyses are a must. Every dollar spent will be scrutinized for ROI and necessity. Still, there seems to be little doubt that mobile has arrived in a big way. Retailers who do not incorporate a mobile solution as part of their multichannel strategy do so at their own peril.
• 17 million iPhones have been sold to date
• 500+ million apps have been downloaded from Apple’s App Store, with more than 200 million downloaded since December
• Visa is launches mobile payment solution using Google’s Android technology
• Mobile devices are expected by many to be the dominant method of connecting to the Internet
• More than 270 million estimated cell phone subscribers in the United States
• Mobile is a trillion dollar business! Some context here… automobiles are a half trillion business, IT is a half billion dollar business, TV and radio combined, half a billion, advertising, half a billion
I could go on for a long time like this, but I hope we all get the picture.
You can meet with David Gould of mShopper live at the eRetailer Summit’s Solution Zone on Sunday, March 1, from 12:00 p.m.—3:00 p.m. Register here!
R.I.P. Yellow-Pages?
Thursday, November 20th, 2008
On the heels of a Wall Street Journal article that basically paints a funeral for Yellow-Pages publishers, Google has announced a new initiative that shakes up the game for when people aren’t at their computers searching for phone numbers. Now in direct competition with other varying 411-type resources, Google has launched 1-800-GOOG-411.
Only time will tell if Google’s new, free, mobile utility will be the final nail in the coffin for other phone listing services in a down economy.
What are your thoughts?
Pat Cauley is Electronic Retailer magazine’s eMedia editor.
Spreading the Gospel of New Media
Friday, June 13th, 2008
New media evangelism in the direct response industry begins to remind me of biblical tales of woe, the Old Testament tales where prophets are slaughtered or exiled or something along those lines. Or at least roundly mocked. It’s part of my personal story and also part of the state of the industry, and it’s truly unfortunate.
For those of us who embrace risk and are joyful and passionate in our approach to new media, evangelism can be the most grueling, frustrating part of the game. Trying to make a twitter proselyte out of someone who can’t figure out e-mail attachments? Yeah, it gets old.
Time after time when talking to DR agency folks, I’ve run into an impenetrable wall of mythology about new media. It’s fear-based, it’s preventing progress for all the worst reasons, it’s causing forward-thinkers to be punished, and it’s simply untrue. The mythology includes the ideas that mobile commerce isn’t functional, that social media isn’t measurable, that R&D can’t lead to ROI, etc.
Recently, an agency CEO quipped about media/tech adoption, “You can lead a horse to water…â€
Alright, so publications such as Electronic Retailer are leading the DR horse to water through education. Firebrands such as Marty Fahncke, Dana Todd, and a slew of others are leading the horse through sometimes-rabid evangelism. Research firms publish data saying that consumers are ready for new media. Clients are beginning to ask for more creative digital solutions.
I do begin to wonder: What’s it going to take to get that horse to drink…Damn it.
Jolie O’Dell is a mobile, social and evolving search enthusiast.
