The Impact of Mobile on the Holidays

And why it matters to your business

Although consumers are embracing mobile at a rapid rate, most businesses are not jumping on the bandwagon as quickly. A recent report from eCommerce Know-How actually showed that 58 percent of companies are not utilizing mobile marketing or mobile commerce. Is this number surprising to you?

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As pointed out in the above video, the biggest reasons for companies not embracing mobile are because:

1.    The investment was too much (31%)
2.    Their customers weren’t mobile (31%)
3.    No one was available to manage it (31%)
4.    It was incompatible with their ecommerce system (31%)

The companies also said that executives weren’t behind their mobile efforts (23.8%), they didn’t know how to get mobile (11.9%), it was too much work (21.9%), and they were worried about security issues (9.5%).

On the other hand, the National Retail Federation also recently issued their 2010 eHoliday pre-holiday survey in partnership with BIGresearch. This survey found that more than one-fourth of retailers said that they invested “significantly” in mobile commerce applications in order to prepare for the holiday season.

It also found that over one-quarter of Americans that have smartphones said they would use them to research or make holiday purchases this year. In addition, the survey revealed that consumers depend on mobile devices for shopping events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Both of these surveys indicate that businesses are not keeping up with consumers, which is, unfortunately, a common problem. Social media is another area in which businesses have not kept up with consumers.

In short, mobile is impacting this year’s holiday season and the companies that do not have mobile efforts are missing out on valuable opportunities. eCommerce Know-How even found that more than 40 percent of the companies that are embracing mobile have seen a positive ROI from their efforts.

Is your business taking advantage of mobile marketing and mobile commerce this holiday season?

Does Your Website Need a Makeover?

How to know when it does

How do you respond to change? Is it a like or dislike? With change, there isn’t usually a middle ground, because most people either love it or hate it.

Interestingly, there are obstacles to both sides of the change spectrum. For instance, if you implement too many changes to your business, consumers will not be able to keep up. On the other hand, if you shy away from change, consumers will think you are out of date.

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Although finding a balance is an important task, today we’re going to focus on businesses that need to implement change. As seen in the above video, there are multiple indicators that businesses need to watch for to see if they should make changes to their website.

The first sign is when your site doesn’t meet its current goals. This issue could be the result of several developers writing bad code on top of bad code over and over again. Instead of trying to correct a mounting problem, businesses are better off just starting from scratch if this occurs.

Secondly, if your website was built with tables, then it is time for an update. This format is both hard to read and hard for search engines to break down.

A third sign that your website is “behind the times” is if visitors are welcomed with a Flash intro. Experts always disapprove of this practice since it causes slow load times and compatibility issues, among other problems.

Another indication that your website needs a makeover is if you are not involved with social media. Now, some people will quickly object and say that social media doesn’t play a role in their industry. However, consumers are talking about everything from plumbing to retail on social media networks. Consumers like the connection and personalization that Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms give them.

Fifthly, if your website is not mobile-ready, then it could quickly cause your business to fall behind. Consumers want the ability to access everything from their mobile devices. Websites that do not offer this capability could lose business.

Also, if you need a web designer to make even the slightest change to your website, you probably need to make some adjustments. Experts highly recommend content management systems for convenience and usability.

Lastly, when the call to action is not clear or effective, changes need to be made. Visitors need a simplistic process that doesn’t require them to create an account or to search for something. If it’s not easy, it reduces the visitor’s chances of taking action.

So, are ready to take these signs seriously and make some changes?

Take Advantage of Advertising Right Now!

Low-cost opportunities for small businesses

Advertising is expensive, especially for small businesses. However, advertising is at one of its most affordable points right now, thanks to the economic downturn. Both advertising and media companies have been forced to reduce their prices, which have opened many doors for small businesses.

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For this reason, these companies are now more willing to work with smaller businesses. As pointed out in the above video, the best part is that small businesses pay less for services. Many of these services include advertising opportunities that most small businesses could only dream of in the past.

For instance, most small businesses do not have budgets for televisions spots. Due to price decreases, it is a possibility. Before the recession, a 30-second television spot could run as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars. Fortunately today, this same ad could cost be as low as $500, according to TelevisionAdvertising.com.

Small businesses can also take advantage of billboards. This form of advertising is also seeing difficulty and has lowered its rates as well.

Fortunately, these low-cost opportunities exist online too. Advances in technology have helped businesses obtain more information regarding user demographics, habits, interests, and more. As a result, businesses can offer more customized ads, which helps them reach their target market.

Google AdWords and Facebook ad campaigns are both viable online opportunities. Each of these platforms allows users to set up their campaigns based on their budget. In addition, users can make adjustments on an as-needed basis.

Mobile advertising is another affordable area for small businesses. The Kelsey Group projects that the mobile advertising market will expand up to $3.1 billion dollars by 2013. With platforms such as Google’s AdMob and Apple’s iAd, it seems likely that this prediction will come true.

Lastly, social media provides many advertising opportunities for small businesses. Sites such as Twitter are giving some businesses better results than traditional platforms are. Foursquare and the newly introduced Facebook Places are also allow businesses reach their target through special discounts and giveaways. These location-based services have experiences tremendous growth over the last year.

So, it’s not so hopeless after all, is it? Can you think of any other areas of advertising that small businesses can take advantage of right now?

How Social Trends Benefit Business
By Abby Johnson – Wed, 07/14/2010 – 11:38am.

4 current trends you should pay attention to

Although many businesses now realize the power of social media, they have a hard time discerning which social services are effective and which are not. To make matters worse, new social sites, services and applications are emerging almost daily.

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So, how can businesses keep up? It’s a challenging task, but a necessary one. As discussed in the above video, businesses should try to watch the most current social trends before deciding if they need to embrace them.

Currently, one of the most popular social trends is location. People are constantly “checking in” with applications such as Foursquare and Gowalla. Both Twitter and Facebook support location information support as well.

Since these location services are continuing to grow, businesses have the opportunity to leverage them through promotion, advertising, and more.

A second social trend that is growing that also involves location is group buying systems. These systems provide daily bargains for people within certain cities as long as a specified number of people participate. Two examples of these systems include GroupOn and LivingSocial.

By getting listed with these services, local businesses can use them to attract new and repeat customers.

Thirdly, businesses should pay attention to mobile ads, since mobile is growing in significance right along with social. According to a recent report from large mobile advertising network AdMob, smartphones have doubled their share of ad requests in the past 2 years.

Incidentally, Google acquired AdMob last year but was only recently granted regulatory approval. Apple is also investing in this space with its iAd platform announced last month. If both Google and Apple find the mobile ad space important, then it is probably something businesses should watch as well.

The last trend that also pertains to mobile and is quickly gaining momentum is mobile payment systems. Consumers are doing more and more from their mobile devices, so why not allow them to close the deal directly from their mobiles?

PayPal has payment apps for the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry mobile devices. Square is another mobile payment method that works with iPhones for credit card transactions. Interestingly enough, Twitter Co-founder Jack Dorsey is listed as one of the developers of Square.

Visa has stated that it plans on entering the mobile payment market as well.

As you can see, there are many ways that businesses can benefit from these social trends. Can you think of any other important trends that could provide opportunities for business?

Reduce Friction to Get More Mobile Sales

Don’t Make Them Give Their Credit Card Info Every Time

Last week, we talked about shopping cart abandonment, and how it is really out of your control to some extent. Of course, there are things you can do to encourage the completion of sales, but you’re not going to get the all.

What do you do to reduce friction during the buying process? Comment here.

Mobile is its own animal, and it may be even harder to get people to complete sales from their mobile devices. This week, Retrevo shared some results from a recent survey looking at consumer behavior with regard to making purchases using mobile phones. Based on these findings, it appears credit cards may be getting in the way.

Key findings include:

- Mobile shoppers seem to have doubled since February – In a February 2010 Retrevo Study, almost 10% of people indicated they had purchased something using their cell phone. Today, that number has doubled.

- When asked what would make them more likely to purchase something from a retailer using their cell phone, 24% said, not having to provide their credit card info, 13% said if their credit card was stored with the retailer, and 16% said they’re comfortable making purchases from their mobile phones now.

Andrew Eisner, Retrevo’s Director of Community and Content says, “Note to retailers: if you want more sales from mobile customers, make it easy for them to store their credit card info and while you’re at it, keep your eye on retailers like Amazon with innovations like PayPhrase or Mobile Payments Service that might take some of the friction out of online or mobile transactions.”

He also points out that apps are making everything easier, and that includes shopping. Retrevo found that about 42% of those who have shopped with their phones said they have used apps to make purchases.

There’s no question that reducing friction will get you more sales. The more ways you can find to do so are likely to work to your benefit.