Mobile is one of the more recent additions to the omnichannel marketing matrix, and it is becoming increasingly important to brands. According to research by SearchEngineLand, nine out of 10 mobile searches will eventually result in a purchase. Therefore, ignoring the impact mobile has, and its growing use by shoppers for overall brand consideration, simply isn’t an option for brand marketers who don’t want to fall behind their competitors.
The amount of shopper data available, combined with advances in technology, can make the process of engaging with shoppers on mobile to drive consideration relatively simple. Our customers know that being able to track and engage with shoppers via mobile at each stage of the path to purchase gives them a competitive advantage, and offers protection, over rivals for their shoppers.
Calls to action
Making the most of an advertisement should, as a rule, always involve a call to action.
If you’re going to invest in placing an advert somewhere, be it on TV, within relevant mobile media or on social media, if it fails to encourage the customer to do anything then you’re missing an opportunity. The call to action doesn’t even need to be to ‘go and purchase’, but it should take the shopper to the next stage of the path to purchase, from awareness to consideration.
On the Shopitize mobile app for example we judge consideration to be when someone clicks on a product to find more information vs. viewing a product but doing nothing. It is at this point that a customer expresses interest, and our efforts move to the next stage, interaction.
Data
Big data is becoming more important to brand marketing. The latest mobile technology is allowing for increasingly detailed analysis of customer data and therefore hyper personalisation of company and brand marketing. Through increased understanding of your customers, brands are better positioned to encourage consideration.
Knowing for example that customer ‘x’ is more likely to do a food shop at the beginning of the week, means that you can tailor your call to action advertising to a Sunday evening, rather than a Friday morning, so that they are more likely to be act on it.
Simple insights about shopper behaviour can be used to improve customer experience and ultimately increase consideration of your products. Also, and arguably even more importantly, this data can be used to measure the success of your marketing efforts. By tracking the whole path to purchase, brands can identify the piece of advertising or marketing that actually lead to the customer consideration. This knowledge can be applied to that same customer in the future, or to others with similar profiles, allowing the transition from awareness to consideration to be hyper-targeted and relevant to each individual, and therefore ultimately more successful in terms of overall return on investment.
The growing prominence of mobile can be clearly demonstrated by the success brands are having with mobile coupons and offers. According to GoMobileBook.com, mobile offers and coupons receive 10 times higher redemption rates than print coupons, largely a result of their ease of use.
Making mobile coupons part of the consideration process provides further incentives to shoppers, and gives flexibility to brands due to the multiple offer mechanics that they can provide. They are more appealing to customers, and give brands an advantage over competitors who don’t engage their shoppers on mobile, or those that require shoppers to print out a coupon.
Brands are increasingly recognising the benefits mobile provides as a means to encourage consideration, as advancements in technology have meant that brands can engage with shoppers at every stage of the path to purchase. By always using calls to action, making the most of shopper data, and by using mobile coupons, brands can now drive consideration at precisely the right moment. Vitally, it can be done in the way that is most likely going to result in the shopper moving onto the next stage of the path to purchase, brand interaction, and ultimately onto purchase, repurchase and advocacy.
