Grabbing the reins of the mobile app bandwagon
2010 is, so we’re told, the year of mobile. We have industry-sponsored audience measurement, Google says its thought process is now “mobile first” and Apple has overtaken established players to become the world’s biggest mobile business by revenue.
But, as we just about emerge from the recession, can mainstream brands really afford to put a lot of resources into mobile?
According to Simon Andrews of Addictive at a recent seminar organised by training group Econsultancy, only 8% of Fortune 1000 companies have a mobile strategy; so are they right to take a watching brief or should they be acting now?
Simon’s theory is that brands’ approach to mobile would naturally evolve like online.
In 95-99 the board said “we need a website”. Between 2000-05 they realised “we need traffic, so lets advertise online”. And in the last five years they’ve started to realise that it’s critical to be strategic about online.
But the experience of online has made consumers embrace mobile more quickly, and mobile behaviours are becoming second nature. With mobile, Simon argues, we need to be strategic from the start.
The first observation is that mobile is bigger than social media. More people have a phone with browsing ability than use Facebook, and more have iPhones than use Twitter.
Secondly, mobile and social media are evolving together. Facebook is the number one site for time spent mobile browsing, according to GSMA, and Facebook talks of having 5 million mobile users in the UK (of 25 million total active users)
Businesses have responded to rapid market growth in the past in this sector: there is an interesting parallel with 1999 when there were 350 million people online globally (all with dialup).
This was enough to trigger a dotcom boom. There are now 350 million people globally with some kind of smartphone. This may be a tipping point, but investors could be forgiven for taking a more cautious approach this time.
Whatever the prognosis for investment in mobile businesses, mainstream brands can’t afford to ignore their consumers, who are busy cementing their mobile modus operandi. Apps (however they are defined) are enabling this.
From a standing start in the summer of 2008 with 500 apps, Apple secured 10 million downloads in three days. There are now believed to be around 185,000 apps on all mobile platforms, which have been downloaded 4 billion times.
In some sectors, like books and games, a majority are paid for and some are earning their brands a fortune. Jamie Oliver’s £4.99 app has made him £1 million.
What the consumer sees as an app may be technically that, or may be just a bookmark. With Apple taking a large slice of any revenues earned through apps, businesses are understandably creating app-like bookmarks directing seamlessly to browser-based systems that avoid this toll. None of this matters to the mobile user, it’s about the experience and functionality.
Users don’t want internet-lite. It is after all an imposition on your customers to ask them to switch to standard internet to complete a task.
And the companies already exploring the multi-sensory possibilities of mobile, with touch, sight and sound are raising expectations that mobile should be even better than standard internet.
The smart approach, according to Simon, is a multi-platform mobile strategy.
You can’t afford not to act, as there is a limited amount of “real estate” on a mobile screen, and rivals’ apps once established in it are harder to displace. However, the most feature-rich apps will still only reach a small number of mobile users.
Discreet versions for less well enabled but mass-market devices are important to establish a presence in the user’s mobile portfolio.
While in cities we may enjoy excellent 3G network coverage, it should be remembered that in much of the UK this is patchy, and even in well-covered areas customers may have a limit to their data allowance.
Considering how much of your app contents could be cached can enable your app to keep working beyond the network’s reach.
Despite all the opportunity and complexity offered by apps, it’s worth falling back on tried and tested processes to decide whether apps are relevant, and how to use them.
Simon urges a robust business decision-making process: what problem are you trying to solve, which customer segment is it relevant to, how are these using mobile, what solution can you offer them, and does the business case add up?
The business case need not be limited to immediate sales returns; a good mobile strategy can also reduce transaction costs and churn, and encourage advocacy.
But the costs of making an app a success are not limited to development alone. There’s mobile SEO, paid search, cost-per-download media buys, PR, and site optimisation.
Simon’s seminar concludes with five golden rules for effective app strategies:
- Have a mobile-friendly site or landing page.
- Check your mobile content isn’t switched off for search.
- Accept that an app isn’t necessarily for life. TV ads aren’t either.
- Don’t just serve the iPhone. Do this first, but then optimise for other devices.
- Get the right blend of what’s in the app vs what’s browser-based.
Econsultancy is one leading training providers for digital marketing and e-commerce professionals globally covering areas such as mobile marketing, social media, email, search and analytics.
They also run the world’s first MSc in Digital Marketing Communications and a number of more specialist qualifications, custom training delivered world-wide and consultancy services.