04 Jun Mobile Search, Apps and Marketing – The World Has Gone Mobile

We have gone a long way since the very first mobile phones, which were something we now consider as outdated as the typewriter. The sad fact is that today’s technology will be forgotten as well in the next few decades. Everything we think we know is changing, and if we don’t keep up with the latest technology trends, the technology itself is going to run us over. This especially goes for businesses, because they, above all, need to keep up with the technology their customers use.

A few decades ago, the right place to find a book-loving audience and target it with ads was a library and a book store. Nowadays, they can primarily be found on different forums and social networks, discussing and promoting what they like. So, marketing has adapted to that fact. What is happening now is an adaptation of a similar magnitude. The method of advertisement targeting is beginning to change, because the places and the time for desktop or laptop usage differ significantly from the same parameters related to mobile devices and tablets, which are growing in popularity every day.

Nearly 60 percent of all activities on mobile devices are search related, and 4 out of 5 consumers will use mobile search and their smart-phones to shop. Twenty five percent of consumers shop online only if they are using their mobile. Nearly 116 million Americans will use a smart-phone at least monthly by the end of this year, which is an increase from 93.1 million in 2011. By 2016, nearly three in five consumers will own a smart-phone. (Source: Mobile Statistics – Digbuy.com ). Only in the last year, there has been a 20 percent increase in shopping related searches. We can go on and on with the statistics, and all of it would speak in favor of mobile devices. Don’t you think it is about time to start thinking about adapting your business to this trend if you haven’t already begun doing that?

The Impact of Going Mobile (search-related)

The means we use to search for information is changing as so is the search itself. The most probable outcome of the mobile vs. desktop fight for prevalence will end up with the mobile winning, at least in the domain of search. Mobile searchers behave differently and often perform the search for different reasons. Some of the main characteristics of mobile search as noticed by Jason Wells are:

• Mobile search is growing rapidly.
• Mobile searchers are more ready to buy, presumably because they have already done their research.
• Mobile search often results in a phone call directed to a company of interest.
• Mobile SEO is harder, because you are even more pressed to achieve the best possible placement, due to the smaller size of the screen and less ad space. In November 2011, Google said that CTR rate decreases almost 90 percent from position one to position four.

I would agree with the points stated, especially with the last one. By 2013, mobile ads will represent 20 percent of all spending on search advertising mostly because a stunning 70 percent of mobile searches results in action within an hour. (Source:FACTBROWSER.COM) More and more money will revolve around mobile advertising and mobile search, and mobile SEO’s importance can only increase, together with the challenges of this type of optimization. The main point here is that going mobile is changing the search for information, and businesses, as well as SEOs, need to adapt in order to stay on top.

Google’s View on Things

According to Google, the main difference between mobile and desktop search is twofold. Firstly, mobile searchers are more ready to take action, they search for immediate info, and secondly, mobile searchers tend to search more locally.  This is why Google developed mobile-specific search formats and they are constantly trying to improve the mobile search. Michael Slinger speaks about Google’s view on the way search changed with mobiles in a great YouTube video.

Other Aspects of the Change

Things get far more complicated if you start thinking along the lines of the existence of different apps. You see, if you fail to deliver an appropriate app which would make what you have to offer easily available or, at least, which would make your company noticed, chances are your competition is going to end up winning, because they would not miss such an opportunity. The significance of your position in mobile SERPs can be reduced by the sheer fact that your competition is closer to the customers through the app they developed. This means that, aside from trying to reach and retain the first or the second position is SERPs, you also need to think about mobile apps, their role in your marketing strategy and their crawlabilty.

And, of course, there is SIRI for iPhone users, which some consider to be a real threat to Google, and another additional thing you should think about. Why? Because some consider SIRI as the more sophisticated way to search for specific things. For example, SIRI knows that the best resource for factual information is Wolfram Alpha, while Yelp can tell you all about restaurants.

This is why SIRI is likely to get you the results you need, and thus you are more likely to use SIRI instead of Google. There are also some statistical facts speaking in favor of SIRI:

“23% of U.S. consumers have used or are interested in using the iPhone’s SIRI to decide which store to shop at.”

Or

“50% of U.S. iPhone 4S users are very satisfied with the SIRI voice-command feature.” (Source: FACTBROWSER.COM )

However, I disagree with the fear of SIRI and the predictions that it might be used more than Google one day, so, I think that, unlike apps, SIRI shouldn’t be something you really need to consider in your strategies. If we stick to statistical data, we tend to forget that a human being is a creature of habit. If nothing else, Google is going to stick around because of that. Contributing to Google’s sticking around and remaining important are its many qualities, and we all have to admit Google offers some great features, despite the possible discomfort one may feel when Panda or Penguin are mentioned. I also have to mention the fact that not necessarily everyone has an iPhone. What about Android? Or Windows Mobile? The only thing we can conclude with certainty is that the mobile internet is on the rise, and this is the reason for increased SIRI usage we witness. For now, it will be enough to think in terms of mobile search, apps and marketing, without having to worry about SIRI.

How Have Mobile Devices Changed Us As Consumers?

Let’s take a look at how an average TV viewer, who is also a mobile device user, behaves during watching TV. Firstly, if you are using a mobile device while watching TV, you are most likely using a tablet (88%) or a smart-phone (86%). There is a 52% chance you are using an ordinary mobile phone. So far, so good. The trend’s confirmed concerning smart-phones (their usage is increasing). Now, what are the implications of mobile device usage when watching TV? Well, for one, we pay far less attention to television ads.  Fifty eight percent of the target group uses their mobile devices as a pastime during commercials. This number rises to 73% for those between the ages of 18 and 24. How about investing into mobile marketing, since the TV ads are being ignored?

What is encouraging, though, is that 35% will visit a website mentioned on TV, which is good, if you are planning on continuing with the TV advertisements. Just make sure that you have a website and that you mention it. (Numeric data taken from Search Engine Journal).

Furthermore, if you already have a website, and a mobile one, which you promote regularly, you may think everything is ok and you are secured. This may not be so. If your website is not properly optimized you may experience issues. The main reason why users hesitate to use their mobile devices to shop, and mainly use them to do research and compare prices, is the fact that they often find themselves annoyed by the screen size or the lack of the payment page optimization. With a responsive design, the first issue can be resolved. And the second one is up to you. You need to offer viable payment options on a page which is easy to find your way around on, with as few payment steps as possible. “When you can optimize the (mobile) conversion flow, so that the way a mobile user converts is easier/streamlined, you should find conversion rates that are similar, or even higher, than the website.”(Quora)

And there you have it. Basically, everyone agrees that the mobile conversion process should be easy, certainly easier than on desktops. Optimize, optimize some more, and optimize everything to make things easier and more fun to the customer. That is the key for achieving results.

Mobile Apps and Mobile Marketing

We come to the part where we discuss the increasingly popular mobile apps in more detail. If you are not planning to have one developed for your company, your marketing methods may come to be considered outdated. Why? This is because mobile apps are used for marketing and brand popularization, with increasing frequency. Some great campaigns revolve around mobile apps, such as the payment system at Starbucks, which, at the same time, promotes the brand.

Namely, Starbucks has a mobile app which offers the customers the possibility to link Starbucks prepaid/gift cards to a 2D barcode, which the app can generate, so that it can be scanned at the POS for payment. The app is available for iPhones, Android and Blackberry platforms. It is nothing fancy, but the combination of four factors made it so popular: speed, loyalty programs, easy top up, reach (available in Starbucks locations all over the country). Aside from making the lives of Starbucks customers easier, this app is also a good marketing strategy for Starbucks, don’t you think?

Another example is FaceCake’s Swivel retail app. What is so special about this app? Well, they have a virtual dressing room, which generates a 2D barcode you can use to buy immediately, or you can share your creative clothing combinations via social media.

There are many other examples of successful apps, and here are some of the places on LinkedIn which can be helpful:

• LinkedIn group Mobile Marketing Association contains both marketing discussions and case studies.
• LinkedIn Group: 2D/QR Barcode Strategy and Creative.
• LinkedIn Group: Mobile Marketing & Advertising.

And you can find more mobile marketing case studies here:

• Mobile Marketer
• Chris Brogan
• Mobile Marketing Watch

If you are a restaurant or a bar owner, or you frequently visit restaurants and bars, check out the Tabbedout app.

Now, before we draw any conclusions, let’s turn to some statistical data:

• Mobile coupons are most popular at grocery stores, (41% of mobile shoppers said they used coupons there), department stores (41%), and clothing stores (39%). (Source: Nielsen, 2012).
• 87% of marketers are planning to increase emphasis on mobile during 2013, and belief in the power of mobile is rapidly growing stronger. (Google Analytics Blog)
• 41% of the marketers hope to develop a mobile app, and 39% are planning to market a mobile app. (Google Analytics Blog)
• 53% of marketers who analyzed their mobile metrics say there is a lot of untapped opportunity and plan to increase their mobile spending. (Google Analytics Blog)

Marketers

Planning to increase emphasis on mobile – 87%
Hope to develop a mobile app – 41%
Planning to market a mobile app – 39%
Plan to increase their mobile spending – 53%

Mobile coupons

Used in grocery stores – 41%
Used in department stores -41%
Used in clothing stores – 39%

As you may see, the coupon campaigns work best for grocery stores, department stores and clothing stores, which is quite expected. But, other creative campaigns could boost the sales of electronic goods, or other consumer merchandise, as well as promote restaurants or tourist destinations, as we saw from some of the examples. Basically, there are no limitations. And with an increasing numbers of marketers planning to include apps in their marketing efforts, I think this is one of the bandwagons you should definitely jump on.

Now, you may wonder whether the apps are crawlable by the search engines. At one point, I wondered the same thing. It turns out that the answer depends on the type of the app. If the apps are written in Java/Objective-C, etc. then the only thing spiders can crawl in are the app description pages. If it mostly uses Ajax for generating content, then there is a solution to the problem of crawlability, at least to some extent – just follow the Google’s instructions. Of course, the solution is a mobile web application Google will be able to access like any other page, because it is page based. For these apps you can even make sitemaps and use social bookmarking to promote them.

So, from all we’ve seen, apps do pay off. But we are far from ending the mobile story.

QR codes

If you have a smart-phone, you will know what these codes represent. To begin with, let me provide you with a Wikipedia definition: “QR Code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) – the code consists of black modules (square dots) arranged in a square pattern on a white background.” – Wikipedia

Now imagine yourselves wandering through a large store, interested in a buying a specific thing with specific features. However, there is no additional information or a price tag on the items you are interested in. What is easier – looking for an employee to give you the information, or scanning a QR code to find all the information you need in a matter of seconds? This is why all stores should use QR codes to take the customers to the store’s mobile website where they can find out all they need without any trouble. And the QR code usefulness does not end here.

According to the US Comscore data, 49.4% of scanned QR codes are usually found in a printed magazine or newspaper, 35.3% were located on the product packaging, 27.4% are a canned from a website on someone’s PC, and the rest are found in posters, flyers, business cards, brochures, storefronts or TV. They can be virtually everywhere and used for virtually all types of data. As much as 55% of U.K. consumers have seen a QR code while shopping and 33% of them have scanned that code. (Source: eDigital Research and IMRG Survey, 2011)

Scanned QR codes are usually found:

In a printed magazine or newspaper – 49.4%
On the product packaging’ percent – 35.3%
Canned from a website on someone’s PC – 27.4%

That is some marketing potential, indeed. If you want to find out more about QR code statistics, you can find the data on Smart Insights website.

QR codes are simply a faster means of acquiring information and getting to the desired spot on the desired website to find the right information. People like fast ways of accomplishing their goals, because time is money, right? Besides, seeing all the possibilities for QR code usage, I think you should seriously consider this marketing option.

Mobile Search Marketing

With all the new adjustments you are supposed to make comes a very specific question – what to do with the search engine marketing campaigns? Should they be adapted to the mobile search as well? The answer is simple – yes.

Why?

Because mobile search and desktop search differ in more than one way. Firstly, there is the difference in the customer behavior. Mobile search is more likely to be locally oriented, and done because of a need for getting fast and accurate information immediately. For example, you will use your mobile phone to find out whether a product you like is cheaper in a large supermarket than in the mini market you are currently in.

Secondly, the type of the device and the size of the display influence search as well. The screen is much smaller than with desktops, which means that the competition for the first page of SERPs is even fiercer. Aside from that, if someone is searching with their mobile phone, then a phone number is far more appealing than going on and on about why they should buy the advertised product. The type of phone also has a certain influence, because your mobile website needs to be able to adapt to any type of device for a successful conversion.

Finally, the plans of marketers all across the globe speak in favor of optimizing your AdWords campaign for mobile devices, because if so many people feel that there is a good reason for doing it, they are probably right. Mobile ads will represent 20% of all spending on search advertising by 2013, and 48% of the marketers plan to increase the engagement in mobile advertising. Also, there is the datum that 68% of marketers plan to increase technology investment and ad spend. (Sources: Factbrowser and Blogspot Analytics) This is enough to convince me.

How?

By having a responsive website design or a mobile version of your website, along with separate ad campaigns and an app. If you have the opportunity, have one developed for you. Adapting to mobiles is not easy, especially because not everything is clear, but I will try to help you as much as I can in the following section of this article.

Mobile Website, SEO and Search Marketing Tips

I’ve decided to put all these tips together because they are all aimed at improving your traffic and conversion rate and earning you more money. Aside from that, they are interconnected. As you may well know, everything begins with your website. So, to start, I would like to go over your options first.

• The two most common options you have for making your website suitable for mobile devices are responsive website design and a mobile version of your website. Now, the mobile version is better if most of your customers still use regular mobile phones, and the responsive design is better for smart-phones and tablets. Aside from this, it is Google itself who recommends a responsive design, which entails the usage of a single URL.

• If you have a mobile website (ex. m.example.com) aside from the main website, you definitely need to enable the detection of the type of device used for accessing your site, so that the user is redirected to the proper version. There are several ways to do that, and I will link instructions for each one of them so you can check them out.

1. PHP usage
2. Media Queries and CSS (additional resource on media queries and mobile websites)
3. JavaScript usage

If you are not an expert programmer, the best option may be to simply hire a third party to do this work for you, since it can get a little complicated.

• A responsive design is, however, something I would recommend to everyone, simply because it makes your life easier, and with the increasing usage of smart-phones and tablets, the need for separate mobile websites can only decline, which means that, by using a responsive design, you are preparing yourself for the future.

• Mobile versions, be they a separate website or simply your regular website with a responsive design, need SEO to make it in the mobile search. Now, we have already established that mobile search is different. So, how does this reflect on SEO?
• Firstly, the landing page needs to be optimized differently for mobile devices, and it often needs to contain different elements. Mobile landing pages need to focus on getting the customer to call you, or do some other immediate action. For example, on desktop landing pages, you would often find different forms you need to fill in to subscribe to something, or download a free copy of something. On mobile devices, all you need is information, now. Your customers want the same. Enable them to call, or to get the desired information right away, or to buy what they searched for in a few simple steps. Explaining stuff or asking them to do something they didn’t come to your website to do will cause them to bounce. This also applies to ad landing pages.
• Secondly, if you have a separate mobile website, there is something you should do that Google recommended. You should introduce switchboard tags. They are like canonical tags, but used in mobile SEO, and they ensure that indexing and link equity are shared between your regular website version and its mobile counterpart. There are two ways to do this, the easier one being the following:

This image was taken from the Search Engine Land website, where I’ve found a great article explaining these tags written by Sherwood Stranieri, Switchboard Tags: Like Canonical Tags, But For Mobile SEO. To find out more about what Google has to say, visit their official developer’s page.

• As far as the meta keywords tag is concerned, it has no more influence in mobile search than it has in the regular search, that is to say – none. I needed to mention this because I have seen some questions regarding this, and it was necessary to clear it up.
• Your description and title tags need to be brief and clear. Since the display is significantly smaller, it is important to say as much as you can in as fewer words as possible.
• Bear in mind that local is very important. Ninety four percent of smart-phone owners look for local information, according to Google. Also, more than one in five of all U.S. consumers look for local recommendations and directions on mobile devices. Having this in mind, you should definitely introduce a story locator which would contain all the relevant information, including the opening hours, and optimize off-site local listing and business directory (CitySearch, Yellow Pages) information accordingly.
• Mobile ads will represent 20% of all spending on search advertising by 2013 and the share of clicks to search ads grew 132% during the year 2011 alone, and is estimated to rise to a total of 25% of all clicks by the end of 2012. This is one of the reasons why we need to pay special attention to mobile advertising.

• The first thing you need to determine is how much to invest into mobile marketing. Having in mind this type of advertising will continue its progress it might seem wise to invest right away. However, you need to know your target group of customers well enough to be able to access how much money to spend on it. If your audience is predominantly aged over 50, then you will definitely invest less than if your audience is aged 18-25, simply because the first group scarcely uses mobile devices. Also, you need to know how much traffic you are really getting from mobile devices. Traditionally, B2C has the highest share of mobile traffic.
• Secondly, you need to think about structuring your campaigns the proper way. You see, if you separate a desktop campaign from the mobile campaign, it is definitely more cost effective, and it will bring more conversions, since you offer everyone just the right content. Mobile campaigns outperform combined desktop – mobile campaigns by 11.5% in average. It gets even better if you separate the smart-phone campaign from the tablet campaign. The average CPC in 2011 for desktop search was $0.83, for smart-phones it was $0.53 and on tablets it was $0.63, according to Marin Software. This means that you will pay less per click if your tablet campaign is separated from the other two. It is pretty clear what is to be done, if the mobile traffic you are getting is substantial – try the device specific targeting.
• Getting back to the topic of local, you should target ads according to the region. The same way it is recommendable to separate your mobile and desktop campaign for a better impact, you should make sure that in each region you offer relevant information. For example, it is more likely that a client from LA is going to click on the ad, if it mentions your branch in LA than if the ad is not location-specific, but only promotes your business in general. Also, with localizing the campaign, there is more chance you’ll end up ranked high enough to be noticed.
• Write a device specific copy with click-to-call and location extensions. As I have already mentioned, mobile search is almost bound to results in an action. Give the searchers a chance to reach you by showing them where they can find your shop or giving them a phone number they can use to reach the shop. As for the device specific ad copies, searchers are more likely to click on your add if they are assured your website is compatible with their device, and you achieve this by mentioning the device in the copy.
• Always keep the ad position in mind, because there are only 5 slots for ads on mobile devices, and you need to be on the first two positions to really get noticed. Try different bids, test, and determine the optimum bid, which keeps you on these positions on average.

Concluding the Mobile Story

No pain, no gain, it is as simple as that. If you try to resist the mobile trend, I’m afraid the time will run you over. There is no other way to beat your competition, but to remain tuned in with the needs and habits of your customers, which currently include mobile devices in a significant proportion. Think about all the factors and decide what your mobile strategy should look like. You can test at first to see how it works, but do not miss out on this, because going mobile is a significant part of the modernization of everybody’s business.