Written by Fernando Maciá
Índice
Jesús Lizarraga.
Summary of Jesús Lizarraga’s(@JL_picard) talk at the Digital Marketing for Industrial Companies Congress.
The number of users using mobile terminals to access the Internet is increasing. We must therefore focus more and more on this type of user.
First of all, we must ask ourselves: who is our marketing strategy aimed at? Until now, they were users working on desktop computers. But now new types of mobile devices are emerging that we may not be reaching in the right way.
The milestone of the launch of smartphones is the year 2007, because of the revolution that the launch of the iPhone represented.
But today, since 2010 and with the launch of the Apple iPad, it has revolutionized the market because it is positioned between the smartphone and the laptop. It allows for a much more pleasant user experience. We can access information more easily.
Differences between tablet and smartphone: there are no major differences, it is a kind of smartphone with a larger screen. The impact is brutal: 84 million iPads have been sold. In the last quarter of 2011, 15 million iPads were sold, more than HP sold computers in that quarter (14M). And in the second quarter of 2012, 17 million iPads were sold, more than any other manufacturer’s desktop terminals.
2011 marks the turning point where we see the huge growth of mobile terminals, computer sales are maintained but decline as a percentage of total sales.
All of this leads us to the fact that we are in the post-PC era: we will continue to use personal computers but it is definitely not the king anymore. It shares the territory with all these mobile terminals. So we have to think that many of our customers may be using these types of devices.
Main mobile platforms
There are three: Apple, Android and Blackberry, with the latter controlling the professional arena. Not to mention Microsoft, which tried to bring its operating system to mobile terminals and did not do well due to usability problems. Windows did not adapt well to mobile use. That has led it to launch a new operating system that snags Apple and Android.
Globally, Symbian has been falling, Blackberry is trying to keep up, Android is the fastest growing while iOS is also growing but not as much. The explanation is that Android is an open system that allows many manufacturers to use it.
Blackberry doesn’t do that many things but what it does do it does very well for professional use, but it is falling in market share. Next year they will launch a new version of their operating system and it will be aimed not only at the professional market but also at the home and entertainment market.
Apple has 400 million handsets sold with its operating system. The Android platform is the predominant platform with 63% share, iOS has 14% and Symbian still has 7%, but in free fall.
In terms of tablets, the iPad predominates in Spain, with 40% of sales, although Samsung, Airis, Asus, etc. are also on the rise. It remains to be seen what Microsoft does in this market.
What do mobile terminals allow us to do and what do users do?
They have a high computational capacity, similar to that of desktop computers of a few years ago.
Users will access the Internet more from mobile terminals than from personal computers in 2013. This situation will probably occur in a few months. Searches from mobile terminals have quadrupled since 2010. 25% of users would be willing to do without their TV before doing without their smartphone.
82% of users have searched for a product or service from their smartphone and throughout the day, people use mobile terminals not only during their working hours but also for their leisure time. Use is continuous throughout the day, and not only during the working day. Anytime, anywhere, we can access any information on the go. As companies, we have to be available to our users there as well.
One of the main advantages is that thanks to these devices is that people have information available and accessible ubiquitously, we must also take into account the huge drop in price of the devices and data rates. In addition, networks are becoming faster, more powerful and accessible in larger coverage areas.
But above all, the fact that we use these devices throughout the day, both for our work and for our personal sphere. People use their smartphones all day long.
Advantages of smartphones for the user
There are more and more services and contents prepared for these mobile devices and the user mainly values them:
- Availability at any place and at any time.
- Immediacy: no need to wait for it to start, turn it on…
- Convenience: practical, easy to handle, small size, no cables…
All of this leads us to mobile marketing: focusing marketing on this type of device.
Mobile marketing
Website: a bad mobile experience can lose you customers. This means that the Web must also be accessible from mobile terminals and capable of generating a good user experience for this type of device.
There are two options to adapt our Web for mobile:
- Techniques of responsive Web design to adapt our Web to the access from mobile terminals.
- Develop a specific version of the Web for mobiles: this implies having and maintaining a second Web in parallel to the one dedicated to desktops.
Both options have advantages and disadvantages. The responsive design has the advantage of using the same URLs (better for positioning) and this way is recommended by Google.
If we generate a mobile-specific site, we will have different URLs. The server detects mobile access and redirects to the mobile version if applicable. This implies more work but, above all, that we will have duplicate content that will have to be managed to avoid problems with search engines.
Deskontu‘s website, for example, has a design that adapts to any screen format. It is an example of responsive design.
Harley-Davidson has its own version for mobile access with a radically different and adapted Web. This is an example of a mobile-specific version.
Also note the types of content that are not accessible from certain devices: for example, Flash content is not displayed on iPhones or iPads.
Google’s recommendations for mobile-friendly websites
Google has provided its mobile recommendations (www.haztuwebmovil.es) with basic recommendations:
- Quick Site
- Simple navigation
- Thumb click facility
- Visibility optimization
- Make it accessible
- Ease of obtaining conversions
- Give it a local character
- Homogeneous experience
- Use redirects to mobile version
- Listen to users
There are also tools to see how our Web looks from different terminals and screen formats, such as Screenfly.
QR codes: in just a few years, the use of QR codes to disseminate Web addresses easily accessible from mobile terminals has caught on with end users.
We must include the QR code in all advertising, business cards, etc. to allow easy access to information from mobile terminals.
Apps: mobile applications
We can develop apps for tablets and smartphones to include catalogs that are much richer and more interactive than paper catalogs. These applications can be used to simulate structural assemblies, calculate costs, place orders, etc.
Augmented reality is also expected to have an increasing impact in a few years, it is a maturing technology. Typical are applications that allow, for example, to place a piece of furniture in a customized context. Or for example, to see the result of customizing my car, etc.
Advertising in mobile applications and advergaming: many of these applications allow the inclusion of advertising. Given that users will be spending more and more time on these devices, it is clear that this is a juicy market that Apple and Google are currently vying for, with Samsung as a contender.
The use of mobile devices is growing rapidly. The personal computer is no longer king: there are more terminals and we must include them in our strategy. There is no need to run. Everything has its strategy and timing: go to Analytics and see how many people are trying to reach your website from mobile devices, with which platforms and what level of satisfaction they are getting now.
