An era of Mobile and Tablet devices
Connectivity and mobility of consumers has created a new trend of reaching out to the new age global market by the marketers. With the likes of Apple, Amazon, Samsung and eventually Google foraying into devices that fall within the 7″ to 9″ screen sizes, so called as slates, it has also created a tremendous opportunity and necessity for omni-channel marketing. In October 2013, Gartner analysts reported that tablets shipments across the world are expected to grow by more than 50% this year, whereas standard desktops have been predicted to decline by 11% compared to last year. What does this tell? There is going to be a very thin line between a traditional desktop user compared to the user who would have a tablet or a smartphone. While tablets and smartphones have become the personal ‘carry everywhere’ device, the potential visitors are available anytime and anywhere now. Hence, it makes more sense to target and convert them into prospective buyers. A Forrester study reported that leading ecommerce websites already get more than 30% of their visits from smartphones and tablets. Tablets together with smartphones are getting popular due to their multi utility and convenience.
Mobile Channel is driving a volume but, are they really converting?
Conversion rates were initially a challenge. But the web technology has emerged so fast that the new age devices have become widely acceptable at work as well as home.This has led to a significant increase in website visits, but at the same time, conversion has also grown. According to a Forrester research, conversion rates in majority of retail sites from smartphone users are around 1% while tablets are resulting in a much better conversion rate of 2.4%. This is almost similar to the conversion rates from desktop PCs itself. So, ignoring the tablet and mobile users is as good as losing a huge opportunity. Additionally, there would be visitors who prefer researching about the products on offer, but would personally pick them up from the brick and mortar store. The mobile visitor explores for product offers, if not provided explicitly. Targeting such offers to these visitors will facilitate the visitor to convert easily.
Is it still really important to target the mobile and tablet traffic segment? The behavior of mobile users while browsing is not the same as that of desktop users. Mobility and convenience of the devices to use anywhere and anytime has potentially increased the reach for business.Marketers who have tactically optimized their merchandise and content targeting these mobile visitors are likely to get better conversion. eMarketer has said that mobile commerce has contributed to nearly $24.66 Billion in 2012, which is an increase by 81% from 2011. Below are their forecasts till 2016.
How and when to target mobile visitors to boost your Conversion Rate?
To target effectively, marketers should understand the general behavior of their customers and prospects. There is a sequence of behavior by users who own multiple devices. From a Comscore research, breaking up usage based on the time of the day, on a typical working day revealed some interesting data on ‘what’ could be targeted ‘when’. Morning hours are started off with mobiles during regular commute; desktops are used in an orthodox fashion during the day hours (working time); while the evening to night hours are predominantly becoming the tablet usage time. During the holiday season however, mobile and tablet visitors are expected to be more active and hence, opens up a tremendous opportunity to attract the mobile and tablet segment of users.
Target the mobile visitors based on their behavior and an understanding of their lifestyle. How? Here is an example of leveraging this kind of data. A visitor recently signed up and bought a bouquet along with a gift item, paid using a visa card and thereafter, started using her tablet for subsequent visits. This behavior can tell a few basic traits of the visitor – She is mostly mobile, repeatedly visiting and searching for specific merchandise items, prefers looking at gift items and mostly accesses the site between afternoons to evenings. Here are few targeting options to attract this visitor:
During her next visit, upsell or cross sell gift products of next high value for other occasions
- Promote new design purses for travelers
- Promote right weather wear for the holiday
- Send a daily deal mail and promote in site home page
- Give a discount coupon during the next visit
- Promote mobile payment channel and rewards
Are you ready to greet your mobile visitors this Holiday season?
Gaining advantage by targeting the offers and deals during this holiday season by identifying more such visitor personas can boost the number of sales, AOV and eventually the revenue. Optimizing the offers and most importantly the site to attract the holiday shopper should be of utmost priority. In doing so, businesses should keep a close watch on their marketing efforts and technology maturity to ensure that customers do not get confused and lost during their shopping experience on the website. This holiday season, as the volume of online shoppers go up, ensure that the design, user experience and product messages in the website matches the expectations raised through the targeted offers.
If you haven’t yet identified the right visitors to target your offers, we can help.