Mobile has rewritten the rules and redefined what it means to be an effective marketer. Marketers now have the ability to give people exactly what they want in a hurry. As a result, consumer expectations are higher than ever. You’re no longer competing with the best experience in your category. Now, you’re competing with the best experience a consumer has ever had.
That said, it’s easy to see why speed is a critical factor—and the bar for speed continues to rise. In this evolving age of assistance, brands must deliver mobile website experiences that are fast and friction-free. We’ve identified four ways marketers can race ahead of the competition and meet people’s needs.
1. Be customer-first, not technology-first
Building a great user experience comes with its challenges, especially as the industry grapples with how and when to experiment with new technologies. But rather than think about technologies first, take a customer-first approach. Try to imagine the experience you’d want as a customer, apply it to your brand, and build toward that.
When it comes to what people want, our research tells us they are demanding three things from brands: “help me faster,” “know me better,” and “wow me everywhere.” Marketers who invest in these areas and create memorable experiences will win users’ hearts, minds, and ultimately, dollars.
2. Make every moment a brand builder
While speed certainly leads to customer satisfaction on mobile, it may surprise you to learn that a “neutral” experience can, in fact, be a negative one.
As the amount of time people spend on their phones rises, so do their expectations for personalized experiences. These moments are an opportunity for brands to leave a lasting impression.
In fact, people interact with brands on mobile twice as much as they do anywhere else. That includes TV, in-store, you name it [see data].1 Every time someone has an awesome experience with a brand, it raises the bar for what they expect from everyone else. But when that bar isn't met, it can have a lasting effect on your brand.
3. Dissect the customer journey
Thanks to mobile, we know that today people are more curious, demanding, and impatient than ever before. Landing on the perfect mobile strategy that speaks to these traits is no simple feat.
Domino’s, for example, spent a large chunk of the last five years trying to find ways to use technology to create a flawless ordering experience. The 57-year-old pizza chain understood that people now expect brands to intuitively know what they need, when they need it, and deliver it instantly.
Dennis Maloney, chief digital officer at Domino’s, said tackling those challenges meant rethinking the way it operates. “Today, we ask ourselves: Are we a pizza company that uses technology, or a technology company that delivers pizza? The answer is probably both,” he said.
4. Embrace customer lifetime value
App marketers and developers are using machine learning to disrupt traditional business models and redefine categories. They’re smart to do so, as research shows us that most app users churn within three months. With numbers that high, the odds of becoming a statistic are more likely than not. How can marketers stem the tide? Employing customer lifetime value is a start.
CLV measures the value a person brings to a business across all of their interactions over time—not just a single transaction. A focus on increasing CLV is crucial for marketing apps because it’s a surefire way to draw more of the customers you care about, and drive ongoing engagement with them. As proof, leading marketers—those who increased their business results by 10% or more last year—are 1.5X as likely as the mainstream to use CLV to measure the effectiveness of their marketing.2
