The Impact of Mobile Marketing in the Digital Age
Introduction
It is no surprise that mobile usage has seen an exponential rise in recent years. With 86% of the global population relying on smartphones for searching, shopping, work, and entertainment, smartphones have become central to daily life.
Recent surveys have further highlighted this trend, finding that over 98% of internet users are now accessing the web via their phones, surpassing the 90% who use laptops, desktops, or tablets (Data source: Smart Insights).
In this rapidly evolving digital environment, where the average consumer spends about 4.5 hours a day on their mobile device, mobile marketing has emerged as an essential part of the marketing mix, presenting marketers with unprecedented opportunities to reach their audiences.
So, how exactly does mobile marketing work?
Mobile marketing leverages targeted advertising activities to promote products and services via mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones. More specifically, it captures consumers’ data through mobile features, including location and in-app activity, to build tailored marketing campaigns.
By providing consumers with instant access to information, services, and products, mobile marketing helps them research, shop, and make decisions on the go. This has profoundly influenced consumer behaviour, leading to a growing tendency for consumers to turn to their mobile devices for quick answers, whether it's finding a nearby restaurant, comparing product prices, or reading reviews.
How do I, as a design business, take advantage of mobile marketing?
Different variations of mobile marketing have emerged to maximise the volume and nature of data collected by mobile devices: location-based marketing, text marketing and in-app marketing.
Location-based marketing
Location-based marketing enables businesses to target consumers based on their physical location, such as geofencing and proximity marketing. This allows for highly personalised messages and offers that resonate with consumers when they are near a store or point of interest.
Swedish furniture retailer IKEA has learnt the artistry of location-based marketing very well. Targeted mobile ads encourage consumers to imagine and create interior spaces through their furniture, wherever the consumers are, and browse the company’s products.
Text marketing
Text marketing is another powerful tool for reaching your audience. It involves using SMS messages to deliver advertising and other content directly to mobile devices. As one of the most cost-effective ways for brands to engage consumers in real-time, wherever they are, text marketing brought the most profound shift in consumer behaviour, becoming vital for businesses looking to engage with their audience effectively.
Retailers are particularly interested in developing this form of mobile marketing. An example of this is American kitchen wares and home furnishing company, Williams Sonoma, which uses SMS messages to send its customers alerts about order and shipping updates and marketing messages about events, new products, and other offers.
In-app marketing
With mobile apps becoming the preferred channel over desktops, consumers spend a substantial portion of their mobile time within apps. Studies report that mobile users spend 18x times more time* on an app than on mobile sites, further emphasising the importance of building engaging, user-friendly apps that foster customer loyalty and drive sales.
In-app ads are often pop-up adverts that adopt different types of formats and link to any sort of content. These include attractive expertise-led ads, i.e., “Tips for Creative Mobile Ads on Facebook and Instagram” (pictured below left), promotional deals and so on, as well as smart feed ads (image below right), incorporated into the feed.
Lastly, the integration of social media with mobile marketing has also impacted consumer behaviour. Social media platforms have increasingly blurred the boundaries between paid and organic interactions with brands, where integrated shopping features have become an integral part of the social media feed.
Known commonly as boosted social media ads, mobile marketing on social media takes into account personal interests and previously researched keywords, suggesting mobile users with suitable ads. These types of ads can be easily spotted because they often incorporate a strong call to action.
To what extent has mobile marketing impacted consumer behaviours?
We have seen that the impact of mobile marketing on consumer behaviour has been profound. Surveys found that last year alone 34% of all e-commerce* was conducted via mobile. This figure is expected to double by next year, with experts predicting that mobile devices will account for over 75% of all internet traffic by 2025.
Given these trends, it's no surprise that businesses are keen to tap into mobile-based advertising opportunities. Investment trends project mobile advertising will dominate the online advertising landscape, with spending expected to reach an astounding $413 billion by 2024 [almost £315 billion].
As access to the internet, apps and online platforms improve and they prioritise smarter and more customised online services, consumers’ expectations also increase. Statistics report that four out of five consumers* use their smartphones to shop, further highlighting the critical role of mobile marketing in driving consumer behaviour.
Best practices for maximising the impact of mobile marketing
As a design-led business, there are best digital practices that can be implemented to maximise the impact and opportunities that mobile marketing can bring.
Mobile SEO
Ensuring that your website is accessible, user-friendly, and relevant for mobile users is critical. A responsive web design that adapts to various screen sizes and orientations is essential. Notably, 37% of consumers* are more likely to purchase from a website optimised for mobile compared to one that is not.
Optimising your website for mobile accessibility is important not only from a user experience standpoint. In 2016, Google started working on a Mobile-First Indexing initiative with the intent of predominantly indexing websites that use a mobile version. In July, the project reached a critical milestone when the company started exclusively using its mobile Googlebot to crawl and index websites. The shift means that websites that are not optimised for mobile will no longer appear in Google’s search results, undeniably impacting the relevance of said websites.
Page Loading Speed
Another crucial factor in mobile search rankings is page speed. Research on the subject has shown that 18% of mobile users* will abandon a site if it does not load within five seconds.
Tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights can help identify and resolve issues that slow down a site, such as uncompressed images, excessive JavaScript, and slow server response times.
Consumer data collection
Mobile marketing targets audiences based on their behaviours rather than solely on demographics. Advertisers can, for example, target users of a particular app as it may have similar audiences to their own that they can appeal to.
To enhance the performance of a mobile marketing strategy, businesses should capture and analyse as much data as possible, including personal and coincidental data, to continuously optimise their approach.
Personalisation
Although we hear about it all the time, message personalisation will never be overrated. Targeted messages perform especially well in text-based marketing, where the open rate for tailored messages is 29% higher than generic ones, leading to increased engagement, conversions, and sales.
Conclusion
Mobile marketing is no longer just a trend; it has become a crucial component of digital strategies for businesses aiming to connect with their audiences in meaningful and impactful ways. As mobile devices increasingly dominate how people shop and make decisions, leveraging location-based services, in-app interactions, and personalised messaging is essential for staying competitive. Optimising mobile SEO, improving page speed, using consumer data effectively and adopting personalised communication are key practices that drive success in this space.
The future of digital marketing is mobile, and those who embrace this evolution will undoubtedly reap significant benefits.
Interested in understanding how your business can benefit from the powers of mobile marketing? Let’s connect for a consultation!
*Source: Avidly Agency
