5 Mobile Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in 2021 (#3 Should Make You Sit Up)
It may already be a cliché, but someone has to say it: customers expect to engage your business on their mobile devices. We live at a time when smartphones are practically an extension of the individual. With the popularity of smartphones, mobile-initiated commerce has taken off. According to statistics published on OBERLO, mobile commerce sales are projected to hit a whopping $3.56 trillion in 2021, up 22.3% from $2.91 trillion in 2020. Ignoring this trend is just one of the mobile marketing mistakes paralyzing businesses.
Unfortunately, despite realizing the importance of mobile-targeted marketing, many entrepreneurs still get mobile marketing wrong or overlook it altogether. If you run a business but do not target mobile users, you miss out big on these trillions. You can reach more customers online if your marketing strategy includes effective mobile marketing.
Here are five of the worst mobile marketing mistakes that you cannot afford to commit in 2021.
Mistake #1: One-Message-Fit-All Marketing
If you wouldn’t use a single platform to target all your customers, why would you think it a good idea to send the same message to all mobile users?
The beauty of mobile marketing is that the recipient will treat the message as personal regardless of the content. The platform offers numerous ways to optimize each marketing message for users and devices. This targeted marketing has worked well for SMS and social media marketing and is proving to be a potent tool in mobile marketing (especially for email campaigns).
Solution
The secret to the effectiveness of user-optimized mobile marketing lies in the content and format of the messages. Do not settle on sending a single consistent message to all users. You are not fooling smart users with smartphones. Your content will have a more significant impact if the messages are personalized for different users and platforms.
Mistake #2: Limiting Mobile Marketing Tactics
One of the reasons mobile marketing is so effective is that it is versatile. This new form of marketing is a critical piece of the puzzle that can help you create an effective short-term or long-term marketing campaign.
Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of relying heavily on one aspect of mobile marketing such as SMS and phone calls and leave all other options out. The result is not just low ROI but poor customer targeting as well.
Solution
Mobile marketing is a lot more than SMS and harvesting email subscriptions. Your mobile marketing strategy will perform better if you leverage other marketing tools such as micropayments, raffles, and contests. When you diversify how you reach the customer, the result is improved communication, better customer targeting, and more sales.
Mistake #3: Failing to Optimize Content for Mobile Experience
Is your website optimized for mobile devices? If it is not, then you are making the biggest mistake in today’s digital marketing. Optimizing your website for mobile devices is not only about ensuring that images load properly. It is also about making sure that the text content is optimized for mobile users and that pages are light enough to load fast.
Google’s search algorithm ranks mobile-optimized websites higher than those that are not mobile-friendly. If you run an e-commerce website, you know how important it is that your store is ranked higher than the competition in search engine results pages. Your business’s site will rank better if it is appropriately optimized for mobile devices.
Solution
Just because your website or landing page is readable on a mobile browser does not mean it is mobile-optimized. It is not just about the images and text. Many factors, including page load speed, affect a website’s performance. Luckily, there is a straightforward fix: redesign your website to make it responsive and mobile-friendly. It’s demanding, but you can expect an overall improved website and higher ROI on your digital marketing campaigns.
Mistake 4: Not Retargeting the Customers That Got Away
Retargeting is an essential component of every marketing strategy. Mobile marketing has been evolving alongside mobile advertising. It is now easier than ever to chase after those customers that got away because you can follow them on their mobile devices. Retargeting marketing is essentially following up on users who already visited your site but did not complete a purchase.
Solution
Why do so many businesses that rely on instant sales invest so much in retargeting? The answer is simple: because it works.
Retargeting is a lot like stalking — but in a good way. A retargeting mobile marketing campaign reminds visitors who visited your website without making a purchase to come back. About 97% of first-time visitors to an e-commerce website leave without buying. Retargeting is a clever way to make them reconsider coming back to complete their purchases. According to Adjust, shopping apps leveraged retargeting the most in 2020.
A retargeting campaign works best as a part of your overall digital marketing strategy. If giant brands such as Nike are investing in mobile-optimized retargeting, why aren’t you?
Mistake #5: No Mobile-Friendly Payment Methods
What do you expect out of your mobile marketing strategy? If you aim to sell, make it easy for your customers to pay. Not accounting for this is one of the costliest mobile marketing mistakes you can make.
Understandably, small businesses may not have a world of options when it comes to mobile-supported payment methods. After all, each payment method you use has costs. But if customers have to take a detour to another website just to make a payment, it dampens the gains made by the marketing strategy.
Solution
You know who your customer is and what payment methods they use. As you set up a mobile marketing strategy, be sure to integrate a mobile-friendly payment method to make it easy to convert customer interest into a sale. The more steps a customer has to take to pay, the more likely they will not go through with the purchase.
Final Thoughts on These Mobile Marketing Mistakes
Many small businesses in the US still make at least one of these grave mobile marketing mistakes. As mobile marketing is continually evolving, no ‘standard’ marketing strategy works for any business. However, there is no excuse to use trial-and-error methods when you can turn to professionals who know what works and what doesn’t.
The best way to get and stay ahead of the competition is to incorporate a suite of marketing services designed to help SMBs succeed. Get in touch with Zen Agency today to learn how we can help transform your business and improve your bottom line this year.
