It’s a bit of a ‘chicken or egg’ question, but when it comes to mobile commerce, what should come first – a responsive site or mobile optimised marketing? Or both together?
The answer to that question really lies in weighing up the quick wins from mobile optimised campaigns, offsetting poor user experience by driving mobile users to a non-responsive site, and mitigating lost potential revenue by waiting to launch both together.
Q1 of this year saw tablet sites achieving higher conversion rates than traditional desktop sites, and the prediction that by 2014, the mobile Internet is expected to overtake desktop internet usage. Despite this however, lots of big brands still don’t seem to be following a best practice approach.
An integrated mobile strategy - Sainsbury's
Although not perfect, supermarkets seem to be leading the way with end-to-end mobile strategy. Sainsbury's is broadcasting mobile email messages (with an additional link to view a desktop version), and clicking through to a mobile site that affords for a good device agnostic experience.
Focus on mobile site - House of Fraser
Unlike supermarkets, department store House of Fraser has a fully functional mobile website, but still fails to broadcast mobile optimised email marketing - including a lot of content and small font that is difficult to make out on a mobile device, although it does take advantage of local search.
Focus on mobile marketing - Laura Ashley
There is no denying that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it seems mobile marketing strategy wasn’t either. Rather than investing in expensive template redesigns for mobile, retailer Laura Ashley have implemented simpler 'mobile aware' using larger touch-friendly calls-to-action, keeping links apart, and moving to a single-column design. Unfortunately though, the emails click through to the desktop site, which feels seems counterproductive yet common, and can’t possibly be giving the fullest ROI and conversion optimisation.
No apparent focus on either - Liz Earle
Almost half of businesses still have no mobile-optimised site or app, and Liz Earle is one of many retailers that seem to have ignored better converting and more affluent tablet users, focusing purely on desktop shoppers.
So if you’re creating a business case for mobile optimised sites, download our mobile marketing strategy guide to ensure you follow best practice, help you to prove the concept, and exploit the opportunities of mobile commerce.
By Rhian Harris
Rhian Harris is a copywriter and blogger helping businesses with content for their marketing collateral. Starting out in the shiny new digital world in 2004, Rhian gained experience in all areas of digital media and e-commerce, working in utilities, travel, charity and retail sectors. IDM qualified, Rhian is an online marketing all-rounder with a passion for words. She is a regular expert commentator for Smart Insights as well as other expert sites, as well as her own business Sparkly Content and her online community, Warwickshire Kids. You can follow Rhian on LinkedIn.
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