Be Discovered through mobile search. Engage with an optimized & intelligent mobile presence. Close with mobile & social educated staff.
1 in 3 shoppers use their smartphones to find information instead of asking store employees.
According to a recent Google survey, self-help during the shopping experience is becoming more and more common. For many of us early adopters, we have long replaced seeking out in-store associates in exchange for hitting our phones for a quick answer. This trend is now reaching a critical mass.
Before you go changing your staffing plans, start thinking about what opportunities are waiting to be unlocked for your business. Consider how you can turn this shift into an opportunity to educate your existing staff, optimize your mobile presence, enhance the shopping experience for your customers and ultimately increase sales.
Embrace this reality and be a part of it.
Many mobile customers are going to be heads down on their phone during their shopping visit and the period leading up to their in-store experience, with or without your involvement. Find ways to be a part of what they are doing and complement this behavior. The good news for you is that frequent mobile device shoppers, on average, spend more on their shopping trips that their peers who are not mobile savvy. The bad news for you is that if you are not able to engage this new type of shopper on their terms, you might lose that sale (and future sales).
The simplest way to be a part of this experience is to first have a mobile-optimized site for your customers. As search is where customers usually start on their mobile devices when looking for products or services, you want them to land on your optimized site as a result (and of course rank for the right keywords) and engage with your brand – not a competitor.
In addition, it’s important to factor in what your customers are doing on mobile as part of their shopping experience to provide the appropriate content and context on your site in an extremely user friendly way. Here is what customers reported doing on their mobile phone and should be a good guide as you factor in what is most important to include on your mobile site:
- Find locations / directions (58%)
- Find store hours (57%)
- Make price comparisons (44%)
- Find promotions and offers (44%)
- Browse products and services (43%)
- Find where specific products are sold (32%)
- Find product information (31%)
- Find product reviews (30%)
- Make a purchase (19%)
As you consider your mobile web presence, consider polling your customers and store associates and focus on providing the appropriate mobile web experience for your category and demographics’ shopping behaviors.
To talk mobile apps – native or web – send us an email to set up a one-on-one conversation with a Stuzo Solutions Architect today.
