We've had an entire month of Holiday 2011 Run-Up Daily Golden Nuggets. All together, they are published as a 121 page book and available from our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/JewelerWebsiteAG.
Today's Daily Golden Nugget is the last one from the Run-Up book. There are a few lingering topics we didn't cover, so look for those throughout November.
Today we need to talk about your mobile website, and the need to appeal to the smartphone users. Regular phone owners will not be looking at your mobile site, so your target should be the technology users. Just like all marketing, you need to know who your target audience is and then how to appeal to them.
Some of the data we are presenting today comes from the Holiday Mobile Marketing Summit we attended in NYC on September 8, 2011.
Of the smartphone owners surveyed, 50% of Males and 39% of Females said they would use their smartphone for holiday shopping and holiday related activities this year.
Our own in-house team compiled a few important points you need to consider when designing your mobile website.
1. Use large text
2. Use images only when necessary
3. Make sure your mobile site advertises the holiday season
4. Large navigation buttons
5. Think from the customer's point of view and figure out what makes sense for them to see while in a rush and mobile.
Some specific ideas for content on your mobile website include:
1. Specify as-you-wait services
2. Celebrity endorsements or celebrities seen wearing brands
3. "Chamilia vs. Pandora" or "Citizen vs. Swiss" comparisons
4. Jewelry product catalog
5. Cross-promote with side-by-side businesses with "go here then here" coupons and incentives
6. Store Hours
During the holiday season you should also add some easy buttons that lead users quickly into your product catalog. During the rest of the year you might have a mobile home page button that says "Browse Jewelry" but during the holiday season you should have others that say "Browse Rings," "Browse Necklaces," and "Browse Earrings."
Another option for your mobile website is to have buttons indicating price ranges for "Holiday Gifts $500 and Up," "Holiday Gifts $300 - $500," and "Holiday Gifts $100 - $300."
Tablet and smartphone owners are usually a more stressed crowd. They have these devices because their lives are very busy and these tech toys help them manage everything. Your mobile website needs to cater to their fast paced lives.
InsightExpress conducted a survey over the summer 2011. Here are the results when they asked people how much of their holiday shopping purchases they anticipated doing over the internet vs. going into a store.
35% of smartphone owners will do their holiday shopping on the internet
60% of smartphone owners will go into the actual store
29% of regular phone owners will do their holiday shopping on the internet
67% of regular phone owners will go into the actual store
Although this data wasn't specific to jewelry stores, it does show that your mobile customer base already exists; you just have to set up the mobile site. In the USA, Verizon claims more than 100,000,000 cell phone subscribers, and in October 2011, AT&T announced they reached 100,000,000 subscribers. Mobile device users are craving more and more mobile websites, various on-the-go services, and "Information on Demand." All you have to do is give it to them.
If you own an iPhone, Android, iPad, BlackBerry, or some other tablet we suggest you simply take a walk around town and use your own phone for searches and navigation to your neighbor's mobile website. Then eventually navigate to your own while you are standing across the street from your store. Ask yourself if your mobile website helps or hinders someone's desire to look at your storefront, look at your mobile website, and eventually entice them to walk in.
Give this exercise a try. Your own findings should surprise you.
