4 Reasons Why Your Mobile App IS Your Best Marketing Strategy

Depending on who you ask, mobile marketing is still a mystery to be solved. How do you run it effectively? How do you measure success? What channels should you pay attention to most? In fact, according to a survey by Millward Brown Digital last year, nearly 8 in 10 US marketers said they would increase mobile spending if they could track ROI better. And while recent reports show that mobile ads are set to overtake press to become the 3rd largest advertising medium in 2016, sadly up to 60% of clicks on mobile ads are accidental. Is mobile marketing really what it’s cracked up to be?
Yes! But we need to take a step back to understand that mobile marketing isn’t just throwing up a display ad or running a video before a mobile game. Rather, the actual mobile experience IS the mobile marketing that you’re looking for. Here are 4 reasons why focusing on a great user experience on mobile is the best mobile marketing investment you can make.

1. A good mobile experience brings in customers.

According to themobileplaybook.com, 57% of users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site. And furthermore, 40% went to a competitor’s site after a bad mobile experience. If someone pointed to your physical business space and said “ugh, I wouldn’t buy from this store based on how messy it looks,” wouldn’t you hire a cleaning company right away? Not investing in a great app or great mobile site is the same deal.
And it makes sense. How often has a friend held up his or her phone to show you some product? That’s the mobile marketing you want. For example, a friend had me use Waze on her phone one day while I navigated. It was a beautiful app, and I was hooked immediately. By providing a great mobile experience, 1) my friend felt confident showing it to me, and 2) I immediately understood the value and downloaded the app on my own phone. A good mobile experience will go viral.

2. A good mobile experience retains customers.

We’ve written about loyalty before, and it’s something all companies want; and mobile is the way to make this happen. According to a study by Latitude, 61% of people have a better opinion of brands when they offer a good mobile experience. Again, it makes sense. Since so much of shopping (and window shopping) is moving to mobile, often times a customer’s interaction with your brand starts and ends on his or her smartphone. If that experience is good, then the brand is good by extension.

Here’s another stat from Apadmi to keep in mind: “almost 30% of shoppers would feel comfortable sharing their location if it meant retail applications could send them deals and loyalty points as they were shopping.” In today’s era of increasing privacy, for nearly a third of shoppers to agree to this is pretty extraordinary and something marketers should pay attention to. It means that for the right incentives, customers are willing to be loyal even to down to the square meter! Yet another reason to provide a robust mobile experience (so build in that loyalty program ASAP!).

3. A good mobile experience gets in front of customers at all hours.

80% of consumers check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up. In a typical day, the average consumer checks their phone about 150 times. Sure, these are pretty standard facts about how mobile-obsessed we are. But here’s one that caught our interest: a thinkwithgoogle.com article stated that “49% of B2B researchers who use their mobile devices for product research do so while at work.”
“While at work” is the key phrase here, because very often, workers will turn to their personal mobile devices to do some shopping during work hours because it’s a more private experience. In essence, you don’t want Zappos.com on your work monitor for everyone to see, but are fine with it on your phone while taking five in the bathroom.
What this means is that a good mobile app or site will reach people during work hours much easier than a desktop site would. We all need a break sometime, and more frequently, we’re turning to our phones, be it due to privacy concerns, work rules, or ease of use. Take advantage of this trend to reach your customers during non-traditional shopping hours with a good mobile destination.

4. A good mobile experience will capture Baby Boomers.

What do many retirees do in their twilight years? Go shopping. And increasingly, they’ll do that via their mobile devices. According to Business Insider, 1 in 4 mobile shoppers is over the age of 55. That’s pretty incredible since my parents can’t even use email correctly, but it’s happening. With a 401k to spend and time on their hands, this demographic is set to spend a lot of money in the coming years.

If you ask us, there’s no better argument that this stat for creating a good, simple mobile experience. Smartphone are ubiquitous enough in our society that Baby Boomers are shopping on them, and Baby Boomers are brand loyal to a fault (unlike their hipster children who hate labels). Every company needs to have a great mobile app or site in place to cater to this group. Avon and Tupperware made their fortunes by getting into their homes. Now we can do it with the press of a finger. Let’s get to work!
What do you think about mobile apps being great marketing tools in of themselves? Sound off in the comments below.