Stepping up engagement efforts as mobile’s mercury rises, customer strategists are excited about more people turning to smartphones for entertainment and to manage their daily lives. In 2010, Morgan Stanley Research predicted that smartphone sales would exceed PC sales in 2012, and according to Gartner Research Group, by 2015, tablet computers will outsell PCs by 60%.
As we move into more than 50% of people having smartphones, we’re moving into the meat of consumerism, in which people will have a device that allows them to have a richer engagement with content. This stage of adoption presents numerous opportunities for retailers to introduce a full-blown mobile program.
The best mobile campaigns are those that integrate with other channels combining mobile with location and social engagement. Consumers start feeling connected to the company when they are immersed in an omnichannel brand experience. Companies have already started to test the waters with creative mobile campaigns that are embedded in an app, a Facebook link, a quick response (QR) code, or a combination of all three.
In taking mobile campaigns to the next level, Robert Brosnan, a senior analyst at Forrester Research, points to geolocation tools as an increasingly popular way to give consumers more tailored information about a company’s products. Anyone carrying a smartphone brings with them a far more accurate geolocation service than anything Foursquare, Gowalla, or Google could provide via the Web. Most smartphone apps from retailers, say BestBuy or Amazon, already access location information even though they must ask permission first. Expect this feature to move from just “check-ins” to actively triggering marketing programs and offers in real time.
Location is a key feature of marketing. It’s harder to convince people to get into their car and drive to your store. Using Foursquare, or something like it, to show nearby customers that your store is just across the street makes a compelling argument to get them to come to you. According to a study by Google and OTX research firm, the most popular mobile shopping activity is locating the nearest retailer. When consumers find local information, 88% take action within a day; of this number, 61% call a retailer and 59% visit a store. Combining localized information with enticing offers makes businesses even more compelling. From a marketing perspective, rewarding frequent customers with special offers is a great way to build customer loyalty, but for most retailers, it’s still at the experimentation stage.
Another hot trend for retailers in 2012 is the use of quick response (QR) codes. QR codes have been touted by early adopters as a fast way to get information to customers. These square bar codes can be scanned with a smartphone to display text, contact information, a web site, or a promotional video in the phone’s browser. Over the past year, businesses have slapped QR codes on magazines, business cards, bus stop ads, in TV commercials… anywhere consumers are easily utilizing their mobile devices to acquire content and/or get product information.
On the flip side, adoption rates for QR codes have been slow. Educating consumers about how to access the codes and understand their benefits have been the biggest challenges to using this technology. Some companies, such as Macy’s and The Home Depot, made an effort to ensure they were not leaving their customers in the dark when they launched their QR code programs last year. Recognizing that not everyone is tech-savvy, Macy’s released a YouTube video explaining how the program works. Macy’s also make sure that customers who didn’t have a smartphone could still participate in the program by texting. On a similar note, when The Home Depot launched its QR code program, it also ensured that customers could access the program by texting, as well as by scanning the code with a smartphone.
As more companies recognize a complete transformation of customers’ expectations and experiences, retailers will have to make that in-store experience so compelling on omnichannel screens that people will continue to want to come in while utilizing their mobile device. Mobile has been probably the biggest social and economic phenomenon of the past few years — revolutionizing the way in which people interact and consume and representing a major opportunity for retailers. If implemented correctly, mobile offers retailers the opportunity to benefit not only from new sales streams, but also from increasing customer loyalty, driving customers to existing sales channels and, perhaps most importantly, differentiating the customer experience. In short, mobile is less of a transactional channel, and more about ‘MeTail’ — the touch point for interaction between retailers and consumers throughout the entire shopper experience.
About Wendi McGowan