5 Mobile Marketing Pitfalls To Avoid

When you read articles about mobile technologies and the changing shift from web content management to customer experience management how often do you find they talk about the psychology of the mobile user?. Don’t get me wrong, we do need these great technology platforms to fulfill the promises of the mobile future, but we need to take into account this one important aspect of the whole endeavor– the way mobile users think.

Advertising and technology have changed a lot over time, and simply put, so has human behavior along with it.  For most users, their mobile device–whether it be a smartphone, tablet, or another device–is a part of them.  Almost like an extra body limb–always attached.  As a mobile marketer, you are reaching out to your audience who keep their mobile devices in their pockets or in purses hanging from their shoulders at all times. Therefore, you need to think this same way as well when putting together your strategic mobile marketing plan and avoid these mobile marketing pitfalls.

You could waste a lot of your time and money if you don’t understand the psychology of mobile. In one moment you could either delight your customers with news of a new product or a sale, or frustrate them by violating their privacy and personal space with irrelevant ads and offers.  You will need to tread very carefully.

You can avoid the possibility of killing off your customers or brands if you understand the pitfalls of mobile marketing: correct device, time, location, language, and relevance.

Mobile Marketing Pitfall #1: The Device

First pitfall to avoid is that we need to remember that all mobile devices are not created equal. Device detection and adaptive content display are must-haves to create an optimal experience for your customers–that goes without saying.  However, the way we use and interact with our devices, regardless of the quality of display, is equally important.

When I use a tablet PC, the way I browse through a website will be much different than how I do it on my SmartPhone, and my expectations on the quality of the experience will be different as well.

You’ll need to understand this interaction variant in order to best benefit your customers. It requires surveying or polling your customers, holding focus groups and sometimes just using common sense. What devices are your target audience most likely to use and when? You’ll never know if you don’t ask them and find out.

Mobile Marketing Pitfall #2: Time

Mobile has created a new multi-dimensional Twilight Zone forcing us to no longer think of time in a linear fashion. Of course, time is this moment right now. But time can also be measured in day parts, life stages and days of the week. Successful mobile marketers understand this concept, and deliver a perfectly mixed — and “timely” — package to the delight of their potential customers.

Remember: all of us are completely different depending on real-time events, aspects of our day and our own life cycles as we progress from childhood to adulthood. At some stages we are workers, parents, mortgage payers, or lost and hungry travelers looking for a recommend place to eat near us. We can have little time and need something this instant. Or we might have no shortage of time casual mobile interaction. If you don’t know your where you’re customer fits with regard to time, you don’t know your customer and might miss the mark in your campaign to them.

Mobile Marketing Pitfall #3: Location

Where is your customer right now? When a mobile marketer has a location-based service or product–whether for restaurant, or retail–and can pinpoint a customer’s location, the possibilities are endless. Take heed to remember that location doesn’t just work with no part of yours to play; It only truly works when you fully understand all of the mobile pitfalls.

Mobile Marketing Pitfall #4: Language

This may seem obvious, but many marketers often miss this and leave opportunities on the table.

Just look at the statistics: a customer is 80 percent more likely to buy or engage with your product if you market to them in their native language. Now, their location (Pitfall #3) may be Los Angeles— where nearly 60% of the population speaks a language other than English.

Further complicating this pitfall is culture, which is just as important as language. Spanish is spoken “officially” in nearly 20 countries, but a Spanish speaker in Peru has a very different culture than a Spanish speaker in the Mapuche tribe of Chile, it’s neighboring country to the south. Culture influences engagement, purchasing patterns, pricing and all of our basic but unique distinctions.

Mobile Marketing Pitfall #5: Relevance

Relevance is the hardest and most important pitfall to avoid tumbling into. It’s also the most important because it’s dependent on the intersection of all the other pitfalls we’ve mentioned.

One-to-one marketing is not new, but we’v now got the technology to really personalize a mobile user’s experience. Relevance is the ability to bring multiple data sources together in real time. This allows marketers to build explicit and implicit profiles to deliver content and offers in their customers’ language that is contextually relevant at the right place, right time and on the correct device.

Nothing is more disconcerting to a customer than receiving an impersonal notice addressed to “valued customer” or “dear sir or madame.”  Especially if it comes from a brand they’ve done business with for a long time.  If you can’t take the time to make sure you’re targeting your customer correctly, why will they feel any sense of loyalty in walking into your establishment or purchasing your online goods?

Avoiding all of these pitfalls is not necessarily easy— especially when we’re just starting to tap a deep well of Mobile Marketing possibilities.  If you want to avoid them, and succeed in mobile, then take the time necessary to develop your mobile strategy and change course as you learn what works along the way. But start now, and figure out how to deliver truly meaningful and personalized mobile experiences that bring customer loyalty like a magnet and increase lifetime customer value or your competition will.

Don’t forget to read 7 Common Mistakes Mobile Marketers Make–And How To Avoid Them.

Tagged as: insights, mistakes, mobile marketing, tips