Mobile consumer trends are constantly evolving! Last year alone, for example, mobile dating surged by more than 80%. Various researches suggest that the number of active mobile gadgets will surpass 8 billion by 2018. This rapid growth means a new business opportunity in incredibly dynamic sector. Dynamism, in particularly, suggests difficulties for companies to make the most of the rise of the mobile consumer. Therefore businesses need to gain a better insight of the upcoming mobile consumer trends and to come up with creative ideas how they can harness and benefit. Here are a few tips which will help you get started. [wpsr_linkedin]
Trend #1 – Recommendation more powerful than advertising on social media websites
An increasing number of mobile consumers share that they find ads on social networks annoying and do their best to avoid them. On the other hand, they are more willing to like, share and comment on posts, brands and pages which their friends or other consumers have recommended to them.
Suggestion for businesses – The best way to follow this trend is to stop relying only on social ads. Although they can be effective in generating clicks and traffic, they are less likely to bring valuable consumers to your social media page. Instead, make sure you regularly interact with your social audience and even attempt to build something like a friendship with them. In that way, they will be more willing to recommend your business to their friends or leave a nice review online.
Trend #2 – In-store mobile use is growing
The main pusher of this tendency is technology companies. They are now integrating NFC technology into smartphone and tablet devices. In addition, they are various e-wallet services and apps that can be used in retail stores. Therefore, although online mobile shopping will continue to enjoy an increasing popularity, mobile devices will finally find more application in-store.
Suggestion for businesses – Think outside the box… literary! For example, do not create a mobile app with which shoppers can scan products inside your store or browse a catalogue. Add additional out-store features, like parking information, destination guide, opening hours, staff and etc. This will diversify your mobile in-store services and make them more useful. Remember that the more useful one thing is, the more popular it is likely to become.
Trend #3 – Mobile visuals dominate
Mobile devices are the best on-the-go gadgets. People use them wherever there are – on the bus, in a restaurant, on the street… Therefore, mobile users like to be presented to information in the neatest and most engaging way possible. For now, that is visual content like videos, photos, audio and etc. The majority of smartphone owners say that they often ignore content which is relies only or mainly on text.
Suggestion for businesses – Regardless of whether you have a website or a mobile application or both, add more videos and pictures to it. Make sure that even the articles you publish are well-illustrated with GIF images and YouTube videos, for instance. However, avoid filling up your entire company app or site with visual content, because it will consume more mobile data and it will slower loading times. No mobile consumer would want that.
Now that you have the recipe and the ingredients, all you need to do is roll up your sleeves and get to work.
