Mobile is more important than ever. In fact, smartphones now make up an incredible 75 percent of the mobile market (comScore), which is up from 65 percent of the market only a year ago.

Mobile has taken over and become the primary way that users engage with and access digital media.

While many businesses and entrepreneurs have experienced success with mobile applications and mobile web site, there are opportunities for many businesses to improve the results of their mobile program.

Whether you are using a mobile web site, iPhone application, Android application or all three, these four tips can help you improve the results of you mobile program. Look them over and discuss them with your mobile application developer to improve your mobile program.

Understand How A Customer Interacts with Brands

There are several opportunities for businesses to improve the results of their mobile program | Photo: tyrande101 (Flikr)

In 2015, smart phone users (practically everyone), will find themselves regularly bouncing from one device to another across the course of the day.  From laptop to smartphone to tablet and back and forth, a  customer may interact with your brand in several ways before making a purchase. From doing research at home or while in the office to showrooming, you need to anticipate customers interacting with your brand in a multitude of ways.

Businesses must understand this a present a clear and unified path to purchase regardless of the medium consumers choose to use to interact with your brand, You should anticipate customers starting searching on one device and continuing doing research on another and possibly making their purchase by another medium all together.

What Do Your Customers Want?

Often when mobile apps don’t catch on like brands want it is due to them failing to consider their consumer and their wants and behavior. You need to analyze what customers would want from mobile offerings from your brand and give it to them.  Far too many brands fail to understand what consumers are looking for from them and create apps that offer little or none of the features that consumers are looking for.

Include a Call to Action

When it comes to mobile media many have forgotten marketing basics like including a call to action. Mobile is a new medium where new rules apply but that doesn’t meant that proven principles should be thrown out the window.

Don’t Plan Your Mobile Program In A Vacuum

Don’t have only one group in your organization responsible for your mobile application, marketing or IT won’t see the whole picture and be able to create the proper digital experience. Today mobile is how we do business and brands must include input from all parts of the organization to create apps that perform.

Photo: http://bit.ly/1DZZ5QO

There is no denying that mobile is no longer the “next big thing”.  Mobile is here and mobile is now.

Regardless of what statistic you look at, mobile tends to show growth, and if you are like many business people, making your business mobile friendly is still sitting on your list of things to do.

But you can’t wait any longer.

As consumers are getting more comfortable with mobile their expectations are rising | Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns (Flickr)

According to Marin Software, in a recent report, ad clicks on mobile devices have now overtaken clicks on desktops. Mobile devices now account of 44.8 percent of all ad impressions and 50 percent of clicks. On top of that, IMRG and Capgemini’s recently found that that mobile devices now account for 40 percent of all online retail sales. This number is growing at a rapid rate as it accounted for 37 percent in the previous quarter.

As consumers are getting more comfortable with mobile their expectations are rising. Retailers that are not delivering the experiences that customers want simply move on to businesses that do.

With mobile shopping getting more popular we are seeing growth in related areas as well, for instance 27 percent of customers plan on using mobile payments in the next six months.

Obviously mobile is where business is headed and if you don’t have a mobile application yet, plan on talking to a mobile application developer soon. But when you do keep in mind where the industry is headed and be prepared for the state it is in when you are able to present your business’s mobile friendly face to the public.

The trends are obvious when it comes to mobile in general, but what are the more specific trends to look for in the industry?

Personalization

The relevance of your message is more important than ever. Is your messaging tailored to your individual customers? Are you asking your self if your customers will value your message?

Don’t fall into the trap of putting too much emphasis on trendy messaging while ignoring relevance. You will want to put yourself in your consumers’ shoes when they are using that app.  Would you messaging be considered welcome and relevant from that perspective?

Location

Context is more important than ever when it comes to conversions. Mobile is all about location. With mobile it is easy to reach consumers in specific geographies or even at a specific location. By providing the context of location, you increase the power of your message. By reaching people at the right moment, you increase your chances of creating sales.

Travel

When it comes to travel mobile is growing at an accelerated rate. Last year 28 percent of people used their mobile device to book their daily commute, a figure double that of 2013. (BuzzCity) Look for mobile to rapidly become the de facto tool in the travel industry. This presents great opportunities for mobile friendly businesses to appeal to consumers while traveling or commuting.

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Since the iPhone was first introduced in 2007, mobile devices have changed not only the behavior of consumers, but also their expectations.

Deliver the right information, at the right time, in an intuitive fashion | Photo: John Karakatsanis (Flikr)

We live in a world with 24-hour shopping, gaming, entertainment, access to information, and more all at our fingertips even when we are on the go. Mobile devices have caused a massive shift in the way people interact, not only with each other, but with the businesses around them.

Over this same time frame, mobile apps have grown and improved and now are able to offer powerful user experiences to cutting edge consumers. Quality mobile apps enable their users to fulfill a need efficiently and intuitively. Conversely, application users can become frustrated quickly and abandon poor quality apps.

Mobile Has Changed the Way We Do Business

Each of the past few years has seen accelerating growth in the number of companies turning their attention to mobile app development. This is trend is expected to continue to grow in the near future as more and more businesses are contacting mobile application developers and hiring in-house talent.

While the iPhone was only released a few short years ago, many companies are already significantly behind the curve. At the heart of the problem is a lack an effective mobile strategy. Many companies are releasing mobile applications which fail to consider trends in mobile application development, and worse yet; they do not fully understand their audiences and their expectations.

Beyond business and audience specific considerations, many businesses just do not fully understand mobile. Unfortunately, businesses that find themselves in that position will also find themselves getting left behind.

Stay on Top of the Rapidly Moving Technology Curve

A thorough and well-thought-out mobile strategy is critical to success. Remember, if your mobile application does not address real user needs, it will not create a favorable impression and it will have a high abandonment rate. A well thought out strategic plan can allow your business to invest wisely in your mobile applications.

If you want to stay ahead of your competition you will need to create an engaging user experience for your mobile application. Doing this requires a careful examination of what your business wants to accomplish, but beyond that, you need to look at the audience you are trying to reach and what that audience is looking for.

The goal is to deliver the right information, at the right time, in an intuitive fashion, and if you can do that it will drive user adoption rates and increase loyalty and brand awareness.

What does mobile mean for business? Forrester Research states “In 2015, marketing leaders who have embraced the mobile mind shift will accelerate spending to create an insurmountable gap between themselves — the industry leaders — and the laggards who view mobile as just another channel.”

Where to Start?

To start your process, begin by taking a good look at your customers (potential app users). Try to see your application and business from their perspective and determine what matters to them. You will need to dig deeper than looking at a few numbers though.

UI | UX specialists are trained to understand the process. They can help you understand the key touch points to the process and other important considerations regarding how your user base will interface with your application. UI specialists can help take user reactions and expectations along with your business goals to design applications that will be most effective.

When your in house personnel can work with researchers and design and development teams with these goals in mind, you can build software that meets your user’s needs. Don’t adopt an attitude that you can sit back and wait. If you don’t already an effective mobile strategy, you are already behind the curve.

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