5 Tips for Mobile Marketing in E-Commerce

Online shoppers today turn to mobile devices more and more often to keep up to date with their various interests. This caused mobile searches and website traffic to grow 52.2% worldwide in the past year. It’s clear that 2019 is going to be the year where mobile comes first.

With mobile devices overtaking desktop computers faster than ever before, mobile marketing can’t be an option anymore. It’s a vital part for any business. Marketers that strive to build a good consumer relationship have to get on board with the next step in e-commerce.

If your marketing agenda has the word “success” in it for this year, these tips (in no particular order) will be key.

Optimize for Mobile

Let’s start with the obvious. If your customers have to swipe in all directions to find the checkout button, they will most likely leave your site quick. So start simple. Design your website so it is fully visible for a mobile device. Make sure the buttons are big and the data entry fields wider. Tapping the right thing on a 4” screen is not fun and anyone with a smartphone can testify.

One more point to keep in mind is that the banners from your desktop website won’t work. If you fit them to screen they will be impossible to read. If you leave them as is they might warp your website design on some devices. This means it might be wise to invest into some mobile friendly pictures and banners.

Make it Fast

How fast a website loads doesn’t only depend on the users’ connection. However, most users tend to leave if the page load time is too long. Some other factors like your own page structure and plugins come into play. When it comes to long loading times, the google PageSpeed Insights page can help you out. It will show your load speed and what you can do to improve it.

Another way to speed up your website is to upgrade your hosting platform. Bandwidth is very important for any website with a high number of visitors. And when it comes to paying customers, stability is vital. No one wants to have their connection interrupted during the checkout process. This issue can be resolved by getting a better hosting plan. While most small businesses choose standard shared hosting, it might not be enough in the long run. Another popular option is cloud hosting as even the cheapest plans provides unlimited bandwidth.

Use Mobile-Only Social Networks

Mobile-only social networks are on a constant rise. And while some apps shut down, having a presence on more than one network is paramount. Make sure you have your audience’s undivided attention instead. Using apps like SnapChat or Instagram can net you a lot of extra sales.

One of key points for successful digital marketing is adopting multiple platforms for customer outreach. But a good understanding on how these social networks and their apps work is required. This means your marketers shouldn’t post the same content to different platforms. For example, a static image posted on Instagram with a link in the description might sound good. Yet many users go to Instagram for the story feature and tend to scroll through their actual feed less.

If you’re using WordPress, there are plugins that post to social media automatically. They let you schedule when the posts go out and filter them by categories or even send messages. If blogging is a big part of your marketing, it will help you save tons of time paired with a marketing calendar.

So whatever medium you choose, you can’t post the exact same content on all platforms. You will have to adapt to the ones you choose and reflect your brand’s appeal in the best way possible.

Find Low Hanging Fruit

Coupons and promotions are another way to engage your customers. The main part of the current consumers learned to look for coupons and discounts from their parents. While one might think coupons are an outdated means of marketing, it’s not true. According to Vibes, 61% of consumers subscribe to text and email based promotions for coupons and discounts. Furthermore, redemption rate for said coupons are ten times higher than physical ones. This is mostly because physical coupons are easier to misplace and forget.

If you have an app for your online store, use push notifications for when a customer is nearby your store. Make a one day, one time use coupon for those in close proximity of your actual store. Use bi-weekly or monthly emails to keep your loyal customers up to date with the newest deals. According to a study by DMA, for every one dollar spent on email marketing you can expect up to $32 of return. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

Keep the Customers’ Goodwill

Mobile is a unique medium for advertisement as it is highly personal and intimate. If you overuse it, you risk losing both new and returning customers. Create a separate opt-in database for your customers’ phone data. The system will give the customers control over what information they receive. It will also reduce any issues with unwanted messages and any other resentments.

Meanwhile any information gathered by the opt-in will help you create more targeted ads and promotions. This in turn will provide the customers with content and promotions that actually matter to them.

Don’t forget to create and share meaningful content for brand targeting and keep the messages to a minimum. An effective customer journey map is essential as well. Do not forget that quality over quantity is very important here.

The tips in this article are just a few examples of how you can make mobile users flock to your store. While it will require more effort to make sure your website is mobile device friendly, in the long run it will be more than worth it. Mobile users have different motivation and behavior compared to the more traditional desktop users. Keep these things in mind and your new mobile oriented marketing strategy will motivate customers to engage and share your content.

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