If not, should it be? Do smartphone users make up a good percentage of your customer base? What are your competitors doing? With the growing number of mobile users on the rise, these are questions you should be asking...I know from personal experiences enough marketers aren't doing this. It takes me a long time to find information I want on my blackberry causing great frustration. I have also talked to my iPhone friends, who also spend far too much time zooming in and out to find pertinent information. This translates to a poor customer experience.
The numbers are staggering. US Mobile web usage will reach nearly 100 million unique users a month in 2010 and grow well beyond that in the coming years. Further 50% of campaigns will direct users to a mobile site and 35-40% to a custom mobile application.*
Is your site mobile friendly? Or is there a dedicated app customers can use to assist in the user experience? Though applications are growing by the day, from the looks of things, many sites aren't mobile friendly as you can see from this link. Pretty short list!
http://www.palowireless.com/wap/portals.asp
What you need to do is determine if there is a need for your brand: Understand if and how your site will be used on a mobile device. Will an app suffice? Or do you need a specialized mobile site? Most people will be checking your site for one of the following reasons:
1. Find store locations (where is the closest Gap so I can get a new shirt?)
2. Research Prices (can i get this shirt cheaper someplace else?)
3. Find any discounts (what retailers are providing a discount on a shirt?)
4. Make an actual purchase (if I want, can I just purchase the shirt from my device?)
Here is a good example of a site Ralph Lauren specifically designed for the web:
(check it out on your phone for the full effect)
http://m.ralphlauren.com/default.aspx
There can certainly be uses beyond retail, but I think the point is clear.
Mobile Usage is only going to increase, especially with all the devices available now between Blackberry, iPhone, and Google Android enabled phones; so it is very important you evolve with it and provide your users with a seamless mobile experience!
*source: Millennial Media
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it's difficult because we live in nyc where all the technology and trends have a propensity to hit first. we expect the rest of the country to be at the same pace which they are just not. by no means that is meant to be condesending because i consider myself in that lot. i prefer a newspaper over blogs and books over a kindle. with that being said, there are some people where a good old fashioned website will do the trick and don't need a fancy mobile website.
ReplyDeletegreat post, great examples. as smartphone penetration continues to grow, people are going to expect their mobile web experience to be similar to what they get on their home computers. why should i wait to buy a shirt from gap.com at home when i saw an ad on the street just now and am ready to purchase immediately?
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