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11:57
04 Sep
2014
Every customer has a moment where they search for a
brand’s app, or try to access its mobile optimised website. Sometimes those
moments work as expected – the app is downloaded and fulfils their wishes, the
mobile site is optimised - and sometimes they don’t. Often, a company misses a moment
without realising it. The demand for mobile marketing has grown over the years
and with this comes the need to capitalise on the “mobile moment”.
We’ll use the travel industry as our mobile moment example. Passengers may book their flight days or weeks in advance and if they try and access the relevant site through their phone, an opportunity may immediately be missed if the website isn’t mobile ready. However, another goal that may be missed is consistency; once a person gets to the stage of going to, and entering the airport, there are countless moments where they will want to use their smartphone. Customers increasingly want to be able to handle all aspects of their communication with a business in one place, and a smartphone or featurephone device allows that.
On the day of travel itself, passengers obviously need to check-in, and if it is possible for them to do this on their smartphone device, while travelling to the airport, it will save time and ultimately create more convenient and therefore positive experience for the user. Similarly, during the course of the journey from entering the airport to boarding the plane, there will be many more smartphone ideas that can be put into play. Some will be functional and positive, such as a traveller being notified by SMS or app-push that their flight is now boarding, or the distance to the gate.
However, mobile can also be used to rectify negatives; if a flight has to be cancelled in extreme circumstances, airlines can ensure passengers have immediate access to rebooking facilities through their phones. The temptation for a customer to move to another airline is reduced, and peace of mind is achieved quickly as other arrangements are made.
The thinking on mobile has come a long way in the last decade. From an initial “shrink and squeeze” mentality - take a desktop site, and shove it into mobile devices unchanged – to the realisation that a specific “mobile first” experience is essential. But as technology continues to move forward, simply providing a general mobile site or app is not enough. Business must create an in-depth, multi-step strategy, because a mobile moment could strike at any point throughout a customer journey.