'Net Features : mobile optimization

3 Ways to Kick-Start Conversions

Administrator — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:15:00 GMT

:: By Amie Marse, Content Equals Money ::

Conversions are one of the top priorities of companies engaging in online business. Without a strong rate of conversions, companies are simply sinking money into a profitless division. With the right strategy, however, a company’s online presence can trigger substantial growth.

Mobile optimization is the key to getting conversions in 2013. Everywhere you look, someone is checking their smartphone for recommendations about which product to buy or which restaurant to try. Developing a strategy that targets mobile consumers allows your company to draw in a whole new demographic. Mobile-first businesses generally place an emphasis on acquiring new customers, a focus that many mainstream organizations lack, according to David Needle.

If you are unsure of how to improve your online marketing tactics, try integrating at least one of the following three strategies. In 2013, optimizing your mobile landing pages, updating your email marketing, and mastering the balance between short- and long-form content are three of the surest ways to gain conversions.

Creating an Optimized Landing Page

A landing page is the online form of a first impression. Your landing page needs to give viewers an immediate idea of what to expect from your products or services. Furthermore, an optimized landing page will engage consumers in a way that encourages conversions. Without careful optimization, your landing page may drive consumers away, especially in regard to mobile.

The top priority of a landing page optimized for mobile is accessibility. Every aspect of the landing page must be easily navigable by fingers on a touch screen, or the visitor will quickly return to the search engine to choose a different result. Avoid the use of elements that include flash or plug-ins, since they slow down mobile users.

Mastering the art of engaging headlines is a persuasive way to interest consumers and bring in conversions. Strong, informative headlines decrease the need for wordy descriptions underneath, which is beneficial for the necessity of speed. Mobile users want to visit pages that load immediately and present brief, to-the-point information.

In order to increase conversions, more and more businesses are utilizing variable sites that can rearrange themselves to target the viewer’s needs. Based on the visitor’s search criteria, your optimized landing page should present relevant information that makes it easy for the consumer to convert.

Innovative Email Marketing

Although many marketers seems to believe that email marketing has run its course and lost its relevance in the age of mobile, there is a strong contingency of experts that still encourage the use of email marketing. In fact, email marketing can be improved for mobile by incorporating many of the same strategies that apply to landing pages.

Mobile users usually check their email even more frequently than those using a computer, so be sure to send out emails that are optimized for mobile views. Like mobile landing pages, email marketing should be simple, accessible, and relevant. Remove graphics and images so that the text is prominent. Pare the content down to the most important information and include formatting techniques like bullet points and bolding to make your message easy to scan.

When developing the content for your email marketing, drop the sales pitch. We’ve all seen an endless stream of sales pitch emails piled into our inboxes. If consumers feel like you have nothing to offer besides a sales pitch, they will take their business to a more engaged company. Instead of a sales pitch, use your email to offer valuable content that sparks interest and encourages interaction. One way to optimize your content is to make use of targeted marketing.

In order to turn your emails into conversions, don’t forget to include plenty of clear links. Once you have claimed the reader’s attention, show them a way to respond through visiting your website or social media profile. Since you are avoiding an obvious sales pitch in your email, you have to find a creative way to build conversions. Giving the reader incentive to follow a link is the most dependable way to get him or her to a page that will present a sales pitch.

The Strengths of Short- and Long-Form Content

The most obvious reason for the popularity of short-form content is the growth of Twitter. As modern individuals try to condense every thought into 140 characters, long-form content has declined. Even blog posts have generally become shorter and more succinct to accommodate the desire for quick sources of information.

Long-form content hasn’t become irrelevant, however. Experts like Ev Williams are predicting a return to long-form content as we react to the overdose of short-form content. Long-form content provides a space for more meaningful and insightful commentary that develops and share ideas in a way that can’t be achieved in short-form content.

So how should your company use short- and long-form content to get conversions in 2013? The most effective strategy is to use both forms to complement each other. Use short-form content to create initial contact with consumers, whether through tweets, blogs, or Facebook posts. Once that contact is established, present long-form content that deepens the connection between your company and the consumer by instigating conversation that will generate conversions. A combination of short- and long-form content strategies will produce a more comprehensive marketing campaign that permeates your customers’ online lives.

About the Author

Amie Marse, is the founder and managing partner of Content Equals Money, a content writing service for agencies and Web-based clients.

The Mobile Impact; Stats, States, & Data

Allison Howen — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:45:00 GMT

Mobile traffic is valuable traffic.

In fact, a recent Monetate study reveals that nearly one out of every five consumers has made an online purchase with a mobile device. Furthermore, over the last year, tablet shopping traffic increased 161 percent while smartphone traffic increased 119 percent.

However, only merchants and marketers who have a strong mobile presence are reaping these benefits. Luckily, Monetate’s Ecommerce Quarterly study contains a plethora of mobile shopping insights, which Web workers can use to better improve their mobile-optimized websites and marketing strategies.

The Stats

Some of the most intriguing metrics from the study show that even though traditional desktop traffic still makes up 81.6 percent of the market share, these shoppers actually have the lowest average order value (AOV) at $91.76. Conversely, tablet shoppers only make up 8.37 percent of the website traffic market share, yet have a higher AOV of $96.84, while smartphone shoppers make up 10.03 percent of traffic and have the highest AOV of $97.82.

This data proves that even though desktops still drive the most traffic, mobile customers tend to spend more when they actually make a purchase. Yet, it is important to note that smartphone shoppers have the lowest conversion rate at 1.01 percent followed by tablets at 3.12 percent, while traditional desktop traffic has the highest conversion rate of 3.28 percent.

In order to get the best return on investment (ROI) from mobile, merchants shouldn’t only create a mobile-optimized site, but instead build smartphone and tablet specific sites. This is because Monetate’s statistics show that tablet shoppers are much more likely to convert than smartphone shoppers, despite the fact that smartphones drive more traffic. This is most likely the result of consumers who leverage their smartphones to comparison shop while inside brick-and-mortar stores. For this reason, merchants should create smartphone sites that prominently display product ratings and reviews, and tablet sites that feature easy-to-use navigational elements and high-quality product images.

The States

While it is clear that mobile is worth the investment, there are still many uncertainties when it comes to mobile marketing. That being said, marketers should be aware of the geographic locations that contain the highest number of mobile savvy shoppers. According to Monetate’s report, Maryland drives the most mobile traffic, followed by South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas.

By leveraging this geographical data, marketers can build mobile campaigns that target shoppers in these states. For example, marketers can create location-specific campaigns that include incentives to buy, as well as display geotargeted customer testimonials to consumers in a specific area. Additionally, marketers can combine geotargeted messages with in-store inventory data, which can help drive sales both in-stores and online. For instance, marketers can promote in-store returns for online shoppers or launch a geotargeted banner that features an item that is out-of-stock online, but is available at a nearby store.

Your Data

While all of the aforementioned data can be used as a good starting point for optimizing mobile sites and marketing campaigns, merchants and marketers should rely on their own analytics for optimizing their mobile strategies. For example, even though Maryland is overall the top state for mobile traffic, your analytics may reveal that your business receives most of its mobile traffic from Wyoming or Hawaii, which would make it a better idea for your campaigns to center around those areas.

At the end of the day, it is important to remember that mobile is still an emerging channel, so testing a variety of elements and analyzing the results (for mobile sites and marketing campaigns), is the only way to ensure that you're receiving the best ROI for your company's mobile initiatives.

The Sad, Sad State of Mobile Optimization

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 21:21:00 GMT

According to a second-quarter update of vSplash’s ongoing SMB DigitalScape study, fully 98 percent of SMB websites are not mobile optimized.

“Some experts are predicting smartphones and tablets will account for around one-third of all website visits this coming holiday shopping season,” said Umesh Tibrewal, CEO, vSplash. “According to our current data, nearly all SMBs will be challenged to capitalize on this mobile commerce opportunity due to their incompatible websites.”

Some other additional and disturbing data collected in the survey includes:

- 76 percent of SMB websites have no privacy policy
- 44 percent of SMB homepages had no phone number
- 78 percent of SMB homepages had no Facebook link

Weekend Warriors: 7 Steps to Successful QR Codes

Linc Wonham — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:30:00 GMT

QR Codes have become the new marketing piece for businesses and their brands. The awareness of a QR Code is becoming more evident than ever; you can see QR Codes on billboards, magazines, television commercials – even on houses.

The beauty of the QR Code is the interaction with the mobile phone. Scanning a QR Code offer is like a box of assorted chocolates, never knowing what you will get next. That’s why we recommend that to maximize scan rates, you should tell the customer what they will receive.

With the increasing growth of QR Codes, businesses need to find a way to increase the number of scans and stand out from the crowd. QR Codes can often be associated to the Ugly Duckling in product placement. The black and white barcode does not match up to social media logos from Facebook and Twitter. Many may look at the QR Code and are unaware of what they are scanning. This is due to the lack of branding and direction.

How do we improve our QR Code Campaigns? Here are seven tips to help maximize success:

1. Use a QR Code Expert
QR Codes are extremely fragile and can be broken when adjusting sizes. Using a professional graphic designer will set up your campaign for the best possible success with a QR Code. Please note that creating a code can require much more than a free online generator might have to offer.

2. Tracking and Analytics
It is always good to know the success of your QR Code by the numbers. Using sites like bit.ly, you know the number of scans your QR Code receives by the minute. With tracking sites, you will be able to find the stats of each code scanned and hope to build on future campaigns. If you are using a mobile site with your QR Code, you should also track these pages with Google Analytics to help manage future success.

3. Call to Action
Letting your users know what they are getting can increase your scan rate tremendously. QR Codes are like Christmas presents; we want to be excited when we open them. Give your fans a hint to what will be inside. For example: “Scan to Win”, “Scan for Exclusive Content”, “Scan to like”. Giving these clues will hopefully attract the user before scanning.

4. Other Forms of Entry
Not everyone knows how to scan a QR Code. Using an alternate point of entry will help your campaign in succeeding its goal. Sites like 84444.com offer text message marketing campaigns that pair perfectly with QR Codes. Here is an example on how to incorporate text message marketing into your call to action: “Scan the Code or text “Promos” to “84444”.

5. Add Branding and Color
Standing out among a crowd can be difficult, especially in the realm of QR Codes. By branding your QR Code with both logos and colors, your code will shine. Would you prefer your television picture in black and white or full color? Taking this measure can be difficult and it is recommended to use a professional QR Code designer for the best possible scan rate.

6. Mobile Landing
Have you ever seen a movie that had an amazing preview, but the end result was dissatisfying? If you give the user a clever QR Code or incentive to scan, be sure your result is MOBILE optimized. If your site is not mobile, your fan will have a terrible experience. Add social media links, incentives to win, and don’t forget mobilized contact information (a great way to generate leads!).

7. Testing, Testing and Testing
The final and most important step in a QR Code campaign is testing your end result. Before sending to print or any sort of live campaign, please be sure to thoroughly test your QR Code. Every smartphone device as well as scanner applications give different results (based on error). This means you should test your QR Code on at least one iPhone, Android and Blackberry device. It is recommend you also use at least two different QR Code applications to test these codes. The last thing you want to see is your campaign fail due to lack of testing.

If a user decides to scan your QR Code, they are interested in your product or what you have to offer; and this is exactly why you need to ultimately satisfy them. Going low budget on a QR Code campaign is possible, but will also limit your success.

Lack of experience may also hurt your chances of a successful campaign, which is why it is recommended to use experts. If you incorporate all of the above in your next promotion, you will be rewarded with a captivating QR Code Campaign.

About the author: Frank Mazza is the mobile developer and QR Code expert for mobile marketing firm Advanced Telecom Services (ATS), which has developed Custom QR Codes and mobile Web campaigns for clients such as Polo Ralph Lauren, CNN, Subway, Sprint, Garnier, Comcast, USL Lacrosse and the National Football League. See some of ATS’ unique QR Codes here.

It’s a Start – Mobile Web Has Grown 2,000 Percent

Linc Wonham — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 19:30:00 GMT

We all know that the mobile Web is experiencing an explosive growth spurt right now, but few actually predicted these kinds of fireworks.

The 2010 Mobile Web Progress report from dotMobi found that there are more than 3 million mobile-ready websites today – that’s a 2,000-percent increase from the 150,000 sites revealed in the 2008 study. To compare it to the meteoric rise of the desktop Web, the number of websites grew from 150,000 to 2 million between 1996 and 1998 – a growth of only 1,333 percent.

And, most experts agree that this is just the tip of the mobile iceberg.

In its report, dotMobi broke down the mobile-readiness of the world’s top 500,000 websites as ranked by intelligence firm Alexa. Just over 40 percent of the top 1,000 sites are mobile-optimized, while 29.7 percent of the top 10,000 sites fall into that category, as do 19.3 percent of the top 500,000.

Is your website mobile-ready? More importantly, does it need to be?

Judging from the statistics above and the overwhelming growth of the mobile Web, the answer is eventually going to be yes. But the best way to determine the urgency of that transition can be found in your analytics.

Determine the percentage of traffic that presently visits your site through mobile devices, and find out what are the most common results of that traffic. It is from there that you should be able to draw conclusions about the immediacy of a more mobile-friendly platform for your website.