Smartphones are ubiquitous. Even people struggling to find the money for food in the developing world have them. They’ve become one of life’s essentials, like water, or air.
But in the West, many entrepreneurs seem not to recognize this fact, despite the fact that they are avid smartphone users themselves. They’re still living in the past, looking to old marketing channels to drive sales.
There’s nothing wrong with taking an omnichannel approach to marketing. But it will hold your business back if you fail to find effective ways to communicate with people using mobile devices. If you don’t set your business up for them (and them specifically), you’ll struggle to gain traction.
In this post, we explore how pro entrepreneurs are driving sales via smartphones using a host of intelligent techniques. Here’s what they’re up to:
Optimizing For iOS
It’s tempting to think that iOS is a niche product for the small cadré of people who can afford Apple products. But that’s the wrong way of looking at things. Today, around half of all mobile users are on Apple’s operating system. And, as a group, they tend to be among the most affluent people. Because of this, their importance to the overall economic pie (and demand for your goods and services) is tremendous.
Always optimize for iOs. Make sure that you provide all the same easy-to-use services, including payment, as you do for Android users.
Compare Your Prices To Your Rivals
Another great tactic is to compare your prices to your rivals directly in the app, especially if you know that you can offer goods or services for less than they can.
Why is this a good idea? Simple: it prevents consumers from flicking between sites. If they trust your price quote (and you really are cheaper) then there is less risk of your competitors’ marketing strategies breaking the buyers’ cycle.
Streamline User Interactions
Mobile users want a slick experience. But, unfortunately, that’s not always what they get, especially if you insist on browser-based solutions.
That’s why many firms, particularly startups, ask UI designers to reimagine their customers’ mobile experience from the ground up. Everything becomes “mobile-first,” because that is the platform of choice for most consumers.
Streamlining is easy to achieve. It means offering large, clickable buttons, and letting users access site content as fast as possible. It also means creating your own apps so that you can customize the digital environment.
Make Your Calls To Action Compelling
Having a great call to action (CTA) on a regular website is critical. But it is arguably even more important for smartphone users who are used to getting exactly what they want immediately.
Try implementing large, prominent, clickable buttons. Make it obvious to users what they should be doing next. Special buttons should have a different color and should stand out against other navigation options.
Ask What Experience Mobile Customers Want
Many companies assume that they know what’s best for their customers. They believe that they’ve already optimized and that there’s nothing more that they need to do.
Unfortunately, that’s rarely the case. In most situations, customers are the best resource for finding out what’s wrong with your enterprise, and what you need to improve.
Take some time to find out what customers want. Ask directly in the form of surveys, or use A/B testing to experiment with different mobile formats. Play with the interface, features, and options, seeing which have the most impact on sales and conversions.
Give Mobile Visitors Something Upfront
It’s tempting for companies to issue a pop-up to mobile users the moment they show up on their site. They are a resource, and you want to exploit them.
However, this type of behavior doesn’t go down too well with most consumers, particularly in the modern era of ad and pop-up blockers.
The way to get around this is to provide users with some value upfront. The simplest option is to give them a coupon code that they can use to get money off in the store. If that doesn’t work, you can promise free consultations or get them to enter their details for a free quote.
Use SMS
While most users will access your company via an app or mobile data, some will also want you to communicate with them via SMS. Unlike other digital communication methods, SMS feels more special. When you send a text to consumers, particularly millennials, it feels completely different from standard push notifications.
Today’s SMS marketing techniques are extremely versatile, meaning that you have more freedom than ever before to sell. For instance, you can insert links into your text messages that forward users to product pages on your site where they can click buy. You can also use SMS to sign customers up for recurring subscriptions. This way, you can build a more sustainable business model that supports you over time.
Create An Automated Checkout Process
Mobile smartphone users don’t want to spend the entire time filling in forms and providing credit card details. They might do it once, but they certainly won’t do it twice.
To reduce the risk of users abandoning their carts, implement systems that let you remember their card details. You can do this by making your forms compatible with browser-based card detail entries, or by improving your own internal storage. You can also provide them with low-friction ways to pay, such as Google Pay, that don’t involve typing in long strings of letters and numbers but are still secure.
Conclusion
Pro entrepreneurs understand that today’s consumers want to explore and pay for products and services via their mobile devices. They know, almost instinctively, that it’s a massive business opportunity.
Of course, many companies aren’t taking advantage of this phenomenon, and that’s having all sorts of unwanted side effects on their business models.
If you’re struggling to reach customers and convince them to buy from you, examine your current mobile approach. If there are holes in it, or the experience is less than ideal, then change it for the better.
