With approximately 21 million people using their handsets to browse the internet and 6.8 million making multiple visits to retailers, searching the net has been taken to a whole new level, says Ian Harris
Mobile madness in the news
Here are some mobile facts which have been reported in the press recently: 89 per cent of the UK population has a mobile phone and of this number 41 per cent owns a smartphone, according to Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB). By next year it estimates that half of the population will own a smartphone and this growth shows no sign of slowing.
ComScore reports that there are 20,980,000 mobile internet users per month in the UK. IAB also stated that mobile advertising was worth an impressive £83m in 2010 which is up £37.6m from the previous year. Mobile Squared suggests that mobile advertising spend is forecasted to reach £259.6m by 2012 and £355m by 2014. Over eight per cent of all UK internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Currently 23 per cent of all internet time is spent accessing the web via a mobile device. The number of mobile internet users looks set to surpass desktop internet users within the next five years according to PWC (July 2010). Morgan Stanley expressed its view that online advertising may finally be entering a golden age with its analysts estimating that by 2020 there will be about 10 billion mobile internet devices worldwide. This is ten times the number of PCs currently in use.
The bargain hunt is on
There is no doubt that mobile searching is fast becoming the norm. That little device is there, always at your fingertips, ready, waiting and willing you to use it. But what do consumers use their mobiles to search for?
Quite simply – stuff. Generally there are no differences in the types of things people search for using a PC or a mobile device but there are differences in the search keywords and behaviour.
Most mobile searches will involve a maximum of three keywords; this is because the searcher will usually have a good idea of what it is they want to find out. This could also mean they are further along in the buying process and are looking to find out where they can buy the product or service from, local to them, and the cheapest place to buy from.
People search in a similar way on a mobile device as they would do on a desktop PC however; evidence suggests that searchers will favour the top results even more on a mobile device. With smaller copy and more targeted searches, it’s even more important for businesses to rank well on a mobile device if they want visibility amongst their mobile browsing customers.
Very often smartphone shoppers will use price comparison apps to do this such as PriceRunner which will find them the cheapest price for the product and then direct them to the retailer’s website to find out more.
This puts a huge number of businesses under further pressure to be sure that they are the most competitively priced in the area in which they are operating. A shopper doing a search on their mobile while in a shopping centre, to compare the best deal, is going to go straight to the store that has that product cheapest. Not all mobile searches are going to end up in a sale but it certainly plays a very important part in facilitating the whole process.
Fingertip frustration
Mobile screens are small and this causes a mobile searcher problems and any smartphone shopper will agree that there is nothing more frustrating than sites that are not mobile-friendly. A recent survey from Google found that 79 per cent of marketers still do not offer mobile-ready content.
The mobile internet experience at the moment is not great and those reporting big sales through mobile commerce have got a mobile optimised site.
A normal ecommerce website such as Tesco’s is not easy to navigate on your mobile phone. A user would be constantly zooming in and out of the website to read the navigation options, use the search facility and generally browse the products, because the links are too small to be touched with the finger. A user, having persevered would then also be faced with a potentially complicated purchase form filling in many tiny fields. This type of lengthy process wouldn’t be tolerated by a searcher and if faced with having to use a non-optimised mobile site to buy something, they would simply wait until they could get to the shop or return to their PC to complete the process. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule but as mobile searchers become more savvy and turned on to m-commerce sites, if you don’t have one you will lose out.
Tesco’s, however, combats this through its amazing app. A user can access the app wherever they are, order their shopping and the next time the user is connected to the internet the app will automatically send the order. This is hugely valuable for those travelling underground on a regular basis.
A mobile optimised site is instantly recognisable, but not from the search results. A company’s website, once clicked on, would recognise that a mobile device was accessing the site and direct it immediately to the mobile site. The searcher can then see a site that has big buttons with less text. Designed using the ‘rule of thumb’ every aspect of the site has to be accessible by ‘the finger’, no small buttons or links. When a user goes to press a button, they don’t want to accidentally hit something else and be directed away from what they are doing. If a form is required to be filled in it must have as few fields as possible or have big finger-friendly buttons so that it can be filled in quickly.
Amazon ‘One Click’ is a great tool for the mobile user. It allows a user to purchase items at the touch of the button using your default settings, a clean and swift process. Perfect for luring an impulse buy.
Some mobile optimised sites can even distinguish which handset you are using and serve you the correct site to make viewing as pleasurable as possible.
Mobile optimisation or not?
Retail websites (B2C) or any B2B website that has a commerce function should be mobile optimised and those that don’t are going to get left behind. The evidence is compelling enough. eBay recently reported that m-commerce could deliver a £4.5bn boost to the UK economy by 2016. The main barriers impeding consumers from spending on their mobiles (according to Verdict Research) was the unreliable nature of their internet connection and slow loading times of the pages they were trying to browse. Page loading times can easily be improved with the introduction of a dedicated mobile website or landing page.
Even a company displaying its services would be at an advantage having a mobile optimised site so that a searcher can easily connect to them by phone and see quickly and clearly the services on offer without fumbling around the site.
An interesting use of the mobile phone that has only been possible in recent years is taking photos of items you see while shopping. Have you ever been out shopping and seen something you like, taken a picture of it and sent it to a partner or friend to see what they think of it? Perhaps it is something they would like and you are seeking confirmation. If that person texts or emails back with a positive response you are likely to buy it.
The fact is, people want to embrace the mobile world and all the benefits that mobile internet brings. This desire for information on the go has instigated a change in the way people search and shop on the web. Businesses need to be aware of the changing mobile market and more importantly, how it can be harnessed to their advantage.
Ian Harris, CEO, Search Laboratory Ltd
www.searchlaboratory.com/