2013 Mobile Year in Review

Research On Mobile Greatly Influences Purchases

“The average consumer is now hitting 24 research touch points on their automotive journey.” -Google

Research shows search is driving conversions and triggering consumer actions. These actions are driving the consumer experience.

More Research, More Sales: 2013 Holiday Shopping

The largest shopping weekend of the year revealed some eye-catching insights on the adoption of mobile in the consumer shopping process.

Smartphones browse, tablets buy; 11.7% OF ALL Cyber Monday sales came from tablets.

“The mobile device has become the shopping companion of choice for consumers, driving record mobile sales with 55 percent growth over last year.” -Jay Henderson, Strategy Director, IBM Smarter Commerce

Push Notifications Become Prominent

With the recently updated TPCA regulations effecting how text marketing and messaging is regulated, marketers and retailers are turning to push notifications to target mobile devices.

Push notifications produce similar results without violation of current regulation. Retailers sent an average of 77% more push notifications over the 5-day holiday period compared to averages in September and October. We are seeing push notification engagement (PNE) rates over 95.4% and growing.  This very simple and cost effective method is gaining traction and many expect more adoption in 2014.

Mobile Quality Time

The average person now invests more that 15 hours per week on mobile research alone with over 7.3 hours per week on the mobile web and 8 hours on mobile apps. – Google Think Insights

93% of people who used mobile to research in 2013 went on to make a purchase.

Multi-screening

The average consumer uses 3 different screen combinations a day with 90% of them moving between devices to complete a task. The adaptation of tablets across the market has caused multi-screening to become mandatory. This new reality brings showrooming and webrooming into the shopping mix.

84% of smartphone shoppers use their device to help shop in-store.

2014 Mobile Insights and Predictions

Location Targeting

The amount of location-based data continues to drastically influence marketing. Consumer location is a metric of utmost importance to advertisers. Location Targeting allows the marketer to incentivize the shopper precisely at the moment of decision. The effectiveness of a marketing message delivered at the right time has tremendous value.

The shopping process will begin interacting with us in new ways. In-store triggers (iBeacon) will influence our shopping experiences and new methods to combat showrooming will evolve to keep customers interacting with business and brands.

The NOW Generation

Mobile has dictated immediacy as a necessity. Consumers can no longer be expected to take multiple steps to targeted action. Convenience is now the difference between an action and a non-action. In fact speed and convenience are the main drivers to mobile search. Mobile apps and their rise in popularity are a direct result of quicker, easier access to information on the go.

Future Tech

• Expect more wearable technology to integrate with our lives and create more personalized experiences.
• Large amounts of analytical data will learn our ways and customize our experience to match.
• iOS in the Car and similar initiatives will continue to merge our smartphones and in-car technology.
• Mobile will continue its rapid march towards becoming the main catalyst between customer and dealer.

Question:

How was your mobile presence in 2013? Effective, lackluster?

What will you change for 2014??

Extra Sources:

http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/mobile-path-to-purchase-5-key-findings.html
http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/digital-drives-auto-shopping.html
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/42661.wss

http://www.adtruth.com/sites/default/files/AdTruth_Mobile%20Meteoric%20Rise.pdf
http://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/redefining-advertising_infographics.pdf
http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/the-new-multi-screen-world-study.html