Maximise Google to improve your mobile search
'Truly great search is all about turning intentions into actions, lightning fast. In the early days of Google, users would type in a query, we’d return ten blue links, and they’d move on happy', says Google in its AdWords blog.
That’s not enough today’s mobile users. 50% of mobile interactions start with a search, and users want more from that search.
'When searching for great local restaurants, they want places to eat right there on the results page, not another click or two away. It’s the same with hotels, flight options, directions and shopping', the blog continues.
Google, a self-proclaimed ‘mobile first’ company, has invested heavily in technology, slick marketing and an extensive suite of search tools to drive consumer demand and assist marketers in taking advantage of the opportunity to delivered personalised, time and location sensitive results.
Google estimates that mobile search is growing 8 times faster…
6 Best Practices for increasing conversion for retail E-commerce websites on mobile devices
Recent research by IMRG and Capgemini on Ecommerce sales trends in the UK stated that 23% of all online retail sales in Q2 2013 came from mobile devices. And of these, tablets accounted for 85%. The dramatic headline was:
"Sales via Desktop flat-line as sales via mobile devices now account for all online growth"
However, an interesting turning point here is that, 2013 saw smartphones go through a greater rate of growth in terms of mobile transactions. This being the case, you will know that it has become critical for online retailers to optimize their e-commerce websites for mobile.
Improve your e-commerce website for mobile usage
Here’s a list of issues to consider, or best practices, based on our experiences, that will help you provide a better shopping experience that meets the expectations…
Resources and examples to inspire effective mobile experiences
Responsive Design (RWD) is a key trend in creating effective online customer experiences driven by the need to cost-effectively build sites across desktop, tablet, phablet and smartphone.
I featured it at #13 in the digital marketing techniques that would be important in my 2014 digital marketing trends post and Smart Insights readers voted investment in mobile as the second trend with the most commercial potential for 2014.
To help marketers to create effective experiences we have featured many articles discussing best practice, examples and implementation for responsive design on Smart Insights through 2012 and 2013 which I thought it might be helpful to collect together here:
An Introduction to Responsive Website Design for Marketers
Planning your RWD
Case Study on Oxfam in Ireland on RWD
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January 15, 2014
Examples and the Pros and Cons of Parallax Web Design
We are all more aware than ever that web design styles are shifting towards user experience as opposed user tasks and usability. Users demand to be engaged, entertained, educated and enticed into absorbing content online. Parallax web design, used in the right context, has the ability to deliver a really strong connection to an online brand experience, based on the interactivity of the website, the journey and the focus, realism and context given to the content or product.
Often, examples of Parallax web design focus on product examples, such as Google's Nexus 7 page, but I hope to show in this post that there are opportunities for other types of organisations such as B2B businesses or charities to use Parallax design for deeper engagement. The examples show that Parallax design can offer a more interactive version of infographics, better suited to…
We're fast approaching 2014, the year when mobile analyst Mary Meeker predicted that mobile Internet traffic would overtake desktop traffic. Her latest annual KPCB Internet trends report from May 2013 showed that we're not quite there yet, with mobile traffic up to 15 per cent of global internet traffic in May 2013 – up from 10 per cent in May 2012, and six per cent in May 2011. This compilation of mobile marketing statistics to consider for your 2014 planning shows that in many consumer sectors, the importance of mobile marketing is obscured by this average figure.
In this talk for Smart Insights I started by showing that 2013 was the year that many businesses started to prioritise integrating mobile marketing with other channels to the level it deserves. Retail week reported that 60% of retailers listed omni-channel as their top business priority for 2013. Meanwhile Joseph Tripodi of Coca Cola…
A group debate discussing the best way to make your site work on all devices?
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of presenting at the J. Boye conference in Aarhus, Denmark about developing mobile optimised websites and applications. In the spirit of J. Boye I had decided to run an interactive session as opposed to the more traditional presenting method of lecturing people on personal experiences.
There was a fascinating cross-section of people from different businesses at the session. Among the 50 that attended there were people from a variety of industry sectors including banking, charity, government and other public sector organisations, pharmaceutical and many more!
The group was mostly made up of fairly senior people working across IT and marketing departments (with a fairly heavy emphasis on digital in their role!). Many, if not all, had some recent experience of…
7 Tips to win the hearts, minds and wallets of mobile shoppers
A recent Google survey shows the importance of mobile in driving shopper behaviour today – at every stage in the customer journey.
Pre-shopping: 58% of the sample use their mobile to locate stores, 57% check store hours and 44% browse retailers’ mobile sites.
In-store: 84% of shoppers are using mobiles devices in-store. 62% access store websites, 50% access brand sites and 21% use store apps.
7 Tips to engage and transact mobile shoppers
This post picks out 7 tips to engage and transact with today’s mobile shoppers across multiple devices and throughout the purchase cycle.
If you're to evaluate the wider developments in mobile marketing that will be important in 2014, see my free webcast.
1. Personalising the shopping experience
In its study 'The Future of Shopping’ commissioned by The Marketing Store, the Future Foundation sets out a…
Which tests are important to your mobile App's success
The success of your app relies on thorough testing and Customer Experience Analytics to reveal the friction points in the mobile user experience. As Kirk Knoernschild and Sean Kenefick, Gartner Analysts put it:
'Delivering quality mobile applications requires that organizations have access to a wide array of devices and perform many types of tests. To fulfill these needs, organizations must use several testing solutions'.
With so much competition for mobile apps. The apps that are left standing tall throughout it all are the ones who undergo thorough testing. Your mobile app strategy needs to intertwine fluidly with a testing strategy. This is not web testing on a desktop with a few different Operating Systems. These are platforms, different devices and different markets; Among other things of course.
Mobile Testing
In order to create a comprehensive mobile strategy, you must include various elements for testing as well as network infrastructure. You…
KPIs and Tools for optimising mobile marketing results
As mobile marketers get to grips with planning activity and budgets for 2014, this post takes a look at using tracking and analytics tools to optimize your mobile investment and performance.
Consumers expect and demand an exceptional user experience on their mobile and tablets, competition for their attention and loyalty intensifies, and your internal stakeholders will be looking to maximize their investment in mobile.
A structured approach to tracking and analytics provides three core business benefits which will help justify your mobile investment.
1. Conversion Rate Optimisation
Your #1 priority must be converting traffic to your mobile site or downloads of your app to delivering key goals - such as generating leads, quotes, bookings or sales.
2. UX improvements
Use customer journey tracking to identify the best / worst performing pages on our site or apps. Focus on pages which experience high drop off (eg registration, check-out).
3. Better informed…
A Step-by-Step Guide to App Store Optimization
With so many competing apps available within Apple’s App Store and Google Play, app store optimization (ASO) is now essential for driving traffic to your app, particularly for apps targeting a need which aren't developed by well-known brands. In these cases, demand for apps is high...
63% of people discover apps via search, according to Forrester Research, making it all the more important to focus on ASO. Investing in ASO is one of the best strategies for increasing the organic downloads of your mobile app.
Guide to improving your ASO ranking in searches
Here’s a step by step guide on how to go about achieving exceptional results from ASO to ascend the ranks in user searches, ultimately driving more traffic to your app.
The right keywords
The principles of SEO often also work for ASO. Create your app store metadata using the right…
