Ideas for Mobile Success

What do you know about the effect that smartphone use has had on UK society and business? Are you prepared for the communication revolution that is sweeping the nation and looks likely to transform everybody’s lives in the next few years? Our article gives you the facts and figures.

B2B Marketing in the smartphone age

Not many people know this about the UK but the country and its population are an invaluable guide when it comes to how to plan marketing strategies that take into account the rise of the smartphone.

Why is this? Well, it’s reckoned that a huge 37.8 million (that’s over 80% of the adult population) in 2014 owned such a device, and that’s forecast to rise to 43.4 million by 2017.

UK shoppers are also far ahead of their counterparts in the rest of Europe when it comes to using smartphones to shop online, at 32% compared to 8% in France, 15% in Germany and 19% in Sweden.

• Smartphone usage has increased to 68% in 2014, from 62% in 2013.

• Adults that have purchased online increased to 77% in 2014, up from 72% in 2013.

• 83% of online surveyed consumers use the internet daily in 2014, up from 75% in 2013.

• 64% of online consumers use the internet several times a day in 2014, up from 57% in 2013.

57% of smartphone owners have used their device to search for information while out shopping. 63% use them to compare prices with other retailers and 34% search for product information on other websites.

However, the purchase stage of the process is far less common – ‘reserve and collect’ (18%), ordering on the retailer’s website (15%) and ordering on another retailer’s website (12%).

That could well be explained by the small size of the screen on many smartphones. Four out of ten adults shopping online will ditch the smartphone for a larger display device such as a laptop or tablet when the time comes for the actual purchase.

As the number of devices in the house increases, the degree to which people switch will do so as well. 54% of people who own two devices switch between them to complete tasks or activities and 73% of people who have three devices do the same. Among those who switched devices, 25% switched to a tablet and 60% switched to a laptop.

It’s also estimated that as many as four in ten consumers who have a bad experience trying to access a website via their mobile device will switch their business to a competitor’s website. That points only too clearly to the need for businesses to have websites that are optimised to a variety of different devices – particularly mobile.

What can businesses do?

With some businesses not even having a website yet (45% of British SMEs don’t have one and of those who do, only 10% have one that is mobile optimised or transactional mobile optimised), it’s clear that they will be losing business very quickly to those who are ready to make life easier for people who use their mobile devices to research and purchase.

For those who haven’t got a website yet, the obvious answer is to build one as soon as possible. That doesn’t mean that basic is best – customers are tech-savvy and will judge a company by the quality of its website.

For those companies that have a website, they need to test their site pages to see how easy they are to access with a mobile device. This may serve as an unpleasant but necessary wake-up call for those businesses who don’t realise how important it is to attract mobile device using customers.

Even if they find that it’s very difficult to access their site with a mobile device, the good news is that rectifying the situation is far from impossible. Even the cost of revamping a website will soon be made up by an increase in custom and revenue.

Three features of an optimised website

It’s becoming increasingly important to take into account what is known as location-based marketing when designing a website. This is a term that includes the ability to tailor search results to users in a particular location, filter by geographical relevance and make use of devices like beacons to communicate with smartphones when they come into range.

For example, a person in Surrey looking for a restaurant doesn’t want to wade through thousands of results from Inverness to Land’s End. A website that gives them restaurants within ten miles of Guildford will be much more convenient.

Similarly, the same customer ordering something from a national department store will want to pick up their item from the branch nearest them and a website that can pinpoint their location can make this much easier.

Finally, imagine that the same customer goes walking through Guildford one Saturday. As they walk, beacons installed at the door to each shop send messages to the customer’s mobile device, telling them about the latest offers available (and, if the shop is canny, using previous purchase history to suggest personally tailored offers). Shops that don’t have beacons may well watch the customers walk on by.

Businesses that stand still, carry on with the old ways and blame the customer for the lack of engagement with the business will face an uncertain future.

Specialist Speaker

Raja Saggi

Raja is Head of B2B Marketing in the UK – the biggest market for Google outside the US. Raja’s team is responsible for acquiring new customers for products such as AdWords and Google+ through a variety of offline, online and partner channels. His team also manages programmes such as Google Partners, Think Digital and the popular Google Juice Bars (free digital masterclasses which demystify the issues that SMEs have with certain tools like Google plus, Google analytics and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.)

Previously, Raja was Head of Business Development for Yell, the world’s largest directory company, where his team managed Yell’s strategic, affiliate partner relationships and relaunched its ad network. Raja is an advisor for Start-up Loans, a government funded non-profit organisation chaired by James Caan, and an advisor to start ups.

Raja has appeared at a wide variety of conference and venues including Buy Yorkshire, the Telegraph Festival of Business and the Digital Marketing Show.

Raja will be speaking at the first session after lunch and will cover the strengths of mobile to business. He will concentrate on five ways that a business can successfully use mobile platforms. Although many businesses have already taken steps to build websites that are optimised for mobile devices, they often fail to take into account the different ways in which mobile device users access the internet. Raja’s presentation will suggest ways in which businesses can adapt their approach to maximise their chances of success in an ever-changing world.

Watch Raja’s presentation here

Event Information

On the 28th May, you have the chance to be part of a unique global phenomenon. Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) talks have become associated with inspirational leadership and high profile speakers from around the world, TED is coming to Yorkshire!

We have the honour of hosting TEDxPocklingtonED. There is a fantastic line up of professional speakers from across the UK and US and they are landing in Pocklington to share their thoughts and offer a different perspective on business and client engagement.

Please see our event schedule and full speaker line up

The event is based around communication and technology. We have speakers from Apple, Google and Microsoft along with thought leaders, teachers, spoken word professionals, international artists and even a UN investigator.

Get your tickets here

Ticket includes talks from 18 specialist speakers, a hog roast lunch, afternoon tea and huge networking potential. Yorkshire and its business community are the focus of national and international attention right now and there’s a big push to bring the leaders of the technology industry to the region.

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