In today’s Tech News Tuesday episode, we’re talking about an article from Duct Tape Marketing entitled How Mobile Has Impacted the Customer Journey.
Links in this episode: How Mobile Has Impacted the Customer Journey
Transcript
Welcome to the Get Digital Marketing Results podcast where we give you information and actionable tips to grow your organization.
Bob: Hi, I’m Bob Clark.
Donna: And I’m Donna Botti. We’re with Delos Inc and we make the web work for you. In today’s Tech News Tuesday episode, we’re talking about an article from Duct Tape Marketing entitled How Mobile Has Impacted the Customer Journey.
We talked a little bit this year already about the importance of the buyer’s journey and understanding where people are in the process. This is a really good article looking specifically about how mobile use has changed the buyer’s journey.
When making a purchase, people typically go through a process – know, like, trust, try, buy, and then repeat purchase.
So how does mobile impact each of these stages?
Bob: In the first stage, knowing about your business relates to how people discover new businesses. On mobile, searches with the phrase “near me” and “can I buy” or “to buy” have increased dramatically; 500% between 2015 and 2017.
So the first thing that you need to make sure of is that you show up not just on browser search results, but on a map. It’s really important to claim your Google My Business listing to make sure that you are showing up on the map. The search engines can’t return results of “near me” if you’re not there.
More and more, people are also using Facebook and Instagram to look for local recommendations as well, so make sure that your address is correct and verified on those platforms as well.
Donna: The next phase in the buyer’s journey is getting people to like and trust you. And this is where your content comes in, and being consistent with your content, whether it’s your email marketing, your social media, videos, or your web pages.
For mobile, you’ll want to have content that can be enjoyed on the go. Podcasts are good because people can listen to them on their commute, and video in bite-size lengths is a great way to share things as well.
Remember that you want to be consistent to stay top-of-mind with people, but in a quick and easy to digest format.
So what about getting someone to try something out? This is where you’ve got to make it easy for people to sign up for a trial, a webinar, or to buy something with a smaller commitment from you.
Making this easy on mobile, is where the trend of chatbots comes in. You can have a chatbot that lets you sign up for something. It automates the sign up process, and it’s easy to accomplish with your mobile device.
Bob: AR, or Augmented Reality is really cool too. It uses your phone’s camera to place real world objects into your setting.
For example, Ikea has an app that lets you try out a piece of furniture in your home. You put your camera where you want to put that sofa and select sofa, and it’ll show you how it looks in your room, which is quite amazing.
While AR technology might not be readily accessible to all small businesses yet, it’s definitely a trend to watch. And again, uses a mobile device to make it easier for people to try you out.
Donna: Of course the key part of the buyer’s journey is buying! Having an easy-to-use purchase process on a mobile device is crucial.
A recent survey found that 79% of smartphone users had made a purchase on their phone within the past six months. So not only are people using their mobile devices for research, they’re actually doing transactions on their phone. Make sure you understand and have tried out how your purchase works on mobile.
We all want repeat and referral customers, so consider a reward program or a referral program for this part of the buyer’s journey.
You can also advertise on social media or via display ads and direct certain content towards those who have already bought from you.
For example, if someone recently made a purchase, you can target them with advertising for a related product or service in order to encourage an upsell. If a customer has drifted away over the past few months, you can show them ads welcoming them back with a special offer for return customers.
Another good use of your social media is to get people to share your content with their friends. This will end up spreading the word about you.
To sum up, it’s all about consistency so you stay top of mind and understanding that on mobile consumers want bite-size bits of information geared towards their current stage of the buying process.
Bob: That’s it for today’s episode. You can find the link to the Duct Tape Marketing article and a transcript of today’s podcast at DelosInc.com/120.
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