Being an agency in the UK, we find that everyone talks about mobile but it still seems such a hard sell to clients. It’s back to the days of ‘Do I really need a website?” Yes, people really did ask those questions, and it really wasn’t so long ago! We believe mobile is the same.
We know as consumers how important our smartphone and tablet is to us. If you are anything like me – you do pretty much everything with it. It really is your lifestyle Manager. So saying all that and knowing how important it is to us – why does it seem such a hard sell? I guess maybe, we as consumers don’t drive retailers or restaurants to produce mobile optimised sites or even dedicated apps. If we go to a company website and it’s not optimised for mobile or providing an app to download then we just switch over to someone else who does – all the while the retailer or business owner is quietly oblivious to the lost sale.
So how do we as consumers change this? And as an agency get across to companies the importance of mobile and what it can bring to their business. It may not bring direct sales (although in a B2C environment especially, it probably will). But more importantly it provides the prospect or customer an easy way to do business with you – in a way they are choosing. Something that is going to become more and more important as the time goes on. We recently sold a Café Apps into a Chinese takeaway. Within 4 months she has achieved over £3500 of sales of Chinese food (both takeaway and delivery) and has actively over 110 customers using the app. This was achieved with very little promotion, other than a few QR codes printed on vinyls displayed in her restaurant window and on her menus. No big fancy promotions. By accessing and ordering via the app the customer is already sublimely telling the business owner just how they like to do business. Of course great food and service is key to customer retention but it is becoming more and more important that businesses sell the way consumers want to buy. Not the way they want or traditionally always have sold their goods and services, but by embracing this medium that really isn’t so new to any of us anymore and really aren’t going to be going away.
So don’t delay. Why not put your customers to the test! Don’t take my word for it. Ask your customers/staff how important their smartphone or tablet is to them and how much they use it for ordering food, hotel rooms, making reservations, products for home and business – the list goes on. Mobile isn’t something you should keep putting off otherwise you will find you really have missed the boat and your competitors will already be picking up sales you didn’t even know you had lost.
