It wasn’t that long ago that shopping over the internet seemed new and many retailers were scrambling to adapt and offer online shopping services. Many businesses are still just discovering the advantages of online services, especially when it comes to mobile shopping.
But times change fast in the online world and now many retailers are trying to adapt to the newest change in the online world – the rise in mobile devices. Today, more shoppers are using mobile devices like smartphones than ever before. For many people, our phones, tablets, and other devices have become part of our lives and research shows that people spend more than half their time online on mobile devices.
For retailers, that means tracking how customers use their devices and how they progress to a purchase has become a key point. Social media links and other factors can bring potential customers to your site and many consumers are skipping steps in the sales process and moving directly to purchasing.
Enhancing your mobile options can improve customer experience and help customers accomplish goals faster and find what they’re looking for more easily.
The easier you make the experience, the more likely you’ll attract repeat business and also acquire customer data to help in offering customer rewards program and targeted promotions.
Clearbridge media can help you design the perfect mobile experience for you business. In the meantime, here’s some mobile strategies to incorporate into your online retail experience mobile as compiled by retailcustomerexperience.com.
Invest in systems to track digital influence on in-store sales.
Whether building your own or partnering with a solution provider, consider investing in systems that will help you understand the kind of influence your digital marketing spends and digital properties are having on in-store sales. From location analytics to e-receipts to in-store analytics, these systems are getting steadily less expensive and less risky to deploy.
Support customers’ in-store goals with mobile.
Your brand’s mobile experience should also support your customers’ goals in brick-and-mortar stores. If you know what they’re looking for, use mobile to suggest other useful items they might purchase. If not, make inventory browsing simple to help them find what they’re looking for — you can even direct them to the right place with a virtual floor plan.
Context is everything on mobile, so it’s important to understand when a customer is browsing in your store as opposed to at home on the couch. With 48 percent of smartphone users researching product data while in store, you can’t afford not to assist them in the process.
Reach out with valuable information.
Actively reach out to customers with information that you know they would find valuable. If someone is in the mall on a Saturday afternoon, it’s a good time to let him know the item left in his cart is available at the store within the mall and can be picked up without paying for shipping.
Push notifications on mobile devices provide an avenue of communication that wasn’t previously available. These notifications can even include a link to complete the sale on the mobile device to streamline the process for both the customer and your retail employees.
Get personal.
Mobile phones are deeply personal, making beacon technology and apps great ways to greet customers who opt in by name.
A recent study found while nearly half of consumers don’t want to share personal information and 62 percent don’t want locations tracked, nearly as many say they want offers tailored to their needs or targeted geographically. So don’t be creepy — make sure you get their permission to use beacons, and explain what you will do with the information you collect and how you’ll protect your customers’ privacy.
People crave relationships with their brands of choice, and building relationships means altering your actions and behavior based on whom you’re interacting with. Because a customer’s digital identity essentially manifests through his or her mobile device, it should be your primary communication channel.
Have mobile marketing questions? Want to build an app or just learn how to grab your share of online shoppers? Contact us to start planning your customer’s mobile shopping experience.
