Customer Engagement Via Mobile – Don’t Wait.

Build a Mobile Strategy Now

If you are waiting to engage your customers via mobile once you get a few other things done – don’t.  The time for a mobile customer engagement strategy and implementation is now.   Your customers are “Omni-channel”, with engagement access anytime (24/7) and from anywhere.  They are not waiting for you, especially when your competitors are just a swipe and a few taps away.

Your customer is omni-channel so your mobile engagement strategy must integrate with your overall customer engagement strategy.  Fortunately you can begin the integration by simply creating mobile Web pages so your customers can engage you in a device-optimized manner.  When your Website does not render successfully on mobile devices – you are potentially losing a customer who will search/purchase elsewhere – swipe, tap, tap, gone.  According to SMB DigitalScape, 98 percent of SMB Web sites are not mobile-optimized.  It may be easier than you think to get a jump on your competition via mobile engagement.

Mobile is quickly becoming a customer-favored and effective engagement channel.  So, if the last statistic did not pique your interest in creating and implementing a mobile engagement strategy; here are a few more stats for you to ponder.

• In 2013, mobile phones are expected to be the #1 web access device. –  Gartner Group
• Mobile coupons get 10 times the redemption rate of traditional coupons. – Mobile Marketing Assoc., www.mmaglobal.com
• In a few years mobile will be the primary face of consumer engagement. – Forrester, www.forrester.com
• 28% of mobile searches end with a conversion, which includes a purchase made from an in-store visit, a call or a direct purchase. –  Google and Nielsen
• 23% of Facebook mobile users are already mobile-only; Twitter also leans heavily mobile.
• 90% of SMS messages are opened within 3 minutes of receipt – Exact Target

You don’t have to run into mobile customer engagement – you can walk, as described above, by simply optimizing your Web pages for mobile devices.  Your mobile strategy is only one part of your omni-channel customer engagement strategy, but mobile provides plenty of opportunity for deeper customer engagement and has significant cross-channel potential.

Lastly, remember that mobile is a very personal engagement channel; respect your customers’ privacy and intelligence – add value to your relationship with them, don’t use the mobile channel only for promotional purposes.  You want your customers to swipe, tap, tap, stay.

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