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.
