HOW MOBILE CAN EMPOWER YOUR BUSINESS 10 ADVANTAGES FOR COMPANIES THAT GO MOBILE The choice to optimize your website is up to you, but the facts are crystal clear: mobile-optimized websites equal business success. By Ryan Boog CEO at Happy Dog Web Productions
How Mobile Can Empower YOUR Business 10 ADVANTAGES FOR COMPANIES THAT GO MOBILE We wrote this guide for marketing-minded professionals curious to educate themselves on the benefits of mobile optimization for business. Whether you re currently considering a mobile website (seriously) or simply want to learn more about how it can empower your business, read on! IN THIS GUIDE: Mobile Growth what s going on with mobile? A Survey of my Favorite Brands who has a mobile site? Mobile Interaction: Getting into the Head of Smartphone Users what do they want and expect? 10 Advantages for Companies that Go Mobile 1
MOBILE GROWTH Mobile devices have overtaken PC s as the most common Web access device worldwide, according to a Comscore Research study. Mobile traffic currently makes up a majority of all online traffic. Countless studies have proved that going mobile can dramatically empower your business. Businesses that optimize for mobile not only experience greater sales success and brand visibility, but they strengthen their overall reputation as a company because having a mobile website shows you care about your customers. News articles pick on businesses without mobile websites. In the past, in one article I read, the writer mentioned fashion designer Marc Jacobs did not have a mobile site. Curious, I checked shortly after and now they actually have one. A SURVEY OF MY FAVORITE BRANDS As I read all the statistics supporting mobile optimization, it was clear to me this is a really, really good idea. Then I wondered which of my favorite companies are actually optimized? On my iphone, I Google-searched some of my favorite brands and local companies to which I am loyal. The results of my informal survey were very interesting. I m an outdoorsman. I like to fish and golf and my wife hunts as well. The most popular local outfitters around here is Cabelas. They indeed have a very nice mobile site. It s not 100% responsive, as they seem to detect devices and display content that way. Regardless, the mobile experience showed they put effort towards that. 2
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I also love the Vikings. Their website too is mobile, but they went a different approach than responsive design. The redirect to an entirely different website, m.vikings.com. 4
Lastly, the content management system that we use the most is Joomla. So, I checked out Joomla.org. It is fully responsive. The transition from mobile to desktop seems pretty seamless. 5
It appears that all of the major players and brands have wisely decided to have a mobile website. However, I was slightly miffed to see that the amazing franchise Original Pancake House does not have a mobile website. After digging, there are quite a few spots in local business that websites haven t gone mobile. To me, this screams opportunity for any business who wants to go mobile. Now is a great time to get ahead of some of your competition and do what the big players are doing. Going mobile is advantageous for numerous reasons (which we ll shortly get to), but the gargantuan growth and popularity of mobile usage should be enough of a reason. Going mobile isn t just beneficial for large businesses, either. Business Insider recently did an eight-article series on The Mobile Experience Effect, examining how small business owners can achieve more by using the latest in mobile technology. One quote from their article Mobile s Getting So Big That No Business Can Ignore It is particularly important to note: Checking a smartphone has become a reflex for people making decisions. Understanding what resources people access through mobile devices, and using that knowledge to their advantage is going to be an essential part of business strategy. Midwestern coffee shop Dunn Bros. is a good example of a more modestly sized company with a mobile website. They re not a small company per se, but in comparison to their competitors, they are. The business has less than 100 locations around the U.S. 6
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Even Rudy s, a local restaurant in White Bear Lake (where Happy Dog Web Productions is located), has a mobile website for customers, and they only have a handful of locations in Minnesota! 8
MOBILE INTERACTION: GETTING INTO THE HEADS OF SMARTPHONE USERS In July 2012 Google sponsored a survey (conducted by Sterling Research and SmithGeiger) that seals the deal on why mobile is important. The research backs up all the claims that it s far better to have a mobile website than to not have one: Mobile-friendly sites encourage conversions and create customers. 67% said they re more likely to buy a site s products or services because they visited the site. (Note: customers cannot visit if you don t even have a mobile site. Why would you pass up the opportunity?) You only hurt yourself if you don t have a mobile website. A scary statistic: 61% of users will leave your mobile site in a heartbeat if they can t find what they re looking for and they ll go to another site. You don t have a phone number for your restaurant? They re outta there. You don t have an option for e-commerce that they think you should have? Hasta la vista. Half of all people surveyed in this study said even if they like the business, they will use the business less often if their website is not mobilefriendly. And you can t blame them who wants to be pinching and zooming in on a tiny website trying to find information all day? Non-mobile friendly sites can do huge damage to your company s reputation. When people visit hard-to-maneuver sites on their mobile device, they get upset! The majority of users are less likely to interact with the company again. 7 ADVANTAGES FOR COMPANIES THAT GO MOBILE Here are 10 specific perks to going mobile for businesses that show you how you could see your business significantly empowered and benefited by a mobile website. 1. Mobile is a powerful marketing channel. People enjoy using their mobile devices. It s hard to deny the cool factor that still lingers with smartphone and tablet usage. This is the best kind of marketing - you re reaching people when they are using snazzy devices they like for personal or professional use. In addition, you re typically marketing to them at a point closer to conversion. On-the-go mobile users may be researching products to buy, restaurants to visit, air fare to book now. It s incredibly powerful for business to climb on board. 9
2. Mobile enhances your reputation with customers. 48% of customers say they feel that companies who don t have mobile websites don t really care about them as a prospect. Ouch. However, if customers see that you care enough to ensure that their mobile experience is convenient and enjoyable, they will be back. When people visit great mobile sites, 74% say they d return, in Google s July 2012 survey. 3. Mobile sites allow for an instant information exchange. Just like desktop websites, mobile websites transfer information instantly to your prospects that are looking for it. Even better on a mobile website, the screen is smaller and information is limited. So whatever they want (an address, company information, hours, product price), they will get it pretty quickly. You have the power to put information consumers want into their hands simply as fast as your Internet browser will load in their phone. 4. Mobile commerce works wonders. Globally, ebay sells one product per second via mobile, according to a blog post from Econsultancy. Sites enabled for e-commerce on mobile devices see results. On Black Friday in 2012, 24 percent of consumers used a mobile device to visit a retailer s site (almost double the 14.3 percent in 2011), according to IBM. In addition, ipads generated more traffic than any other tablet or smartphone. We live in a fast-paced culture where people get things done quickly. They don t sit on their hands. Imagine: a consumer wants to buy athletic shoes online from your company, but when they visit your website on their Android, they immediately see it s not mobile optimized. Do you think they ll wait until they get home to buy your shoes? Ideally but in this mobile culture, they ll have to have a Super Glue bond to your brand to not simply skip over to another website that is optimized for mobile. 5. Mobile allows you to be found better in mobile search engines. Since mobile allows for localized search based on geographic location, so the mobile search results may be slightly different than those on desktop. If you have a mobile optimized site, it will be that much likely that Google will rank you higher as a relevant, valuable result for a local user. 6. Mobile is relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain. Especially compared with mobile applications, mobile websites will not empty your wallet. They are also easier to maintain than an app. Changing and updating content can be done very quickly on a mobile website, while changing an app takes longer and may require lengthy coding changes. 7. Mobile creates leads faster. ebay sells one product per second via mobile. 10
Everything is quicker with mobile. You reach your customers faster. They can tap or click to access information, call, email, or share. They see your advertising. In return, their questions and queries are quickly resolved. You could have a new Facebook fan or addition to your email list in seconds. In addition, call-to-action content will be seen and decided upon all the faster on a mobile device. If they re ready to act, well, there you go! Our hope is that you found this guide to be educational. If you have further questions about mobile development, design, or optimization, we d love to connect with you. As a mobile website development company, we ve done it before and we d love to do it again for your company. THANKS FOR READING! Happy Dog Web Productions 1310 Highway 96 East Suite 240 White Bear Lake, MN 55110 (651)243-2DOG sales@hdwebpros.com We ll bark like crazy if you visit our website, follow us on Twitter, or like us on Facebook! 11