How People Really Use Mobile (& Mistakes Marketers Make)

I recently came across this fantastic article from the Harvard Business Review website, titled "How People Really Use Their Mobile". The link to the full preview article can be found here. 

For me, it's always been a challenge understanding how consumers really use their mobile device (whether it be a smartphone or tablet). This article gives great new insight into this - there are really seven key motivations for using a mobile device. More importantly, there's a clear contrast between how people are using their mobile device and the disconnect between what marketers are doing (in mobile advertising, in-apps brand engagement and mobile marketing).

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To marketers, the prospect of reaching shoppers through their smartphones is tantalizing. But mobile doesn't always mean on the go. New data show that 68% of consumers' smartphone use happens at home. And users' most common activity is not shopping or socializing but engaging in what researchers at BBDO and AOL call "me time."

Seven primary motivations for people using their mobile device. 
The reasons consumers use smartphones can be broken down into the goals listed below, along with the average monthly minutes and percentage of interactions devoted to each.

Where Marketers Go Wrong.

Marketers often get it wrong when looking to either place ads in front of potential customers, or in understanding true user behavior.

Lesson number 1 for marketers - Making Bad Assumptions About App Use.
Apps can have more than one purpose. Facebook, for instance, can be used for socializing, self-expression, or discovery. And if you're using a shopping app to dream about what kind of couch or pizza you might order tomorrow, you're in "me time."

Lesson number 2 for marketers - Failing to Connect with Users During "Me Time".

Mobile ads that consumers see during "me time" generally do poorly on effectiveness (as measured by the percentage of viewers who click on the ad, search for the product, recall the product, or make a purchase). That's because the majority of messages aren't relevant to the context, are easy to ignore, or get in the way.

You can find out more about this impressive research from the Harvard Business Review website here. 

E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Trends For Tech Companies In 2012

Here's my tips for the big trends we're seeing in e-commerce, digital marketing and social media in technology companies (focused on Asia) in 2012. This is based specifically on what I've learned at Dell (managing their e-commerce sales in the region) and on what I see happening in Asia with other technology companies (such as Lenovo, Apple, HP, IBM, Acer, Blackberry, Nokia, etc.).

Buying and e-commerce is becoming more fragmented (particularly for tech companies corporate e-commerce enabled websites)  – E-Commerce as we know it is in a death spiral. It just doesn't make sense to build an OEM direct e-commerce website like Dell did in the 1990's. E-Commerce will become more fragmented and dominated by eTailers and new types of online buying. It might seem like a strange statement considering the massive move from traditional to digital sales but consider Dell's example. Dell already has a market leading position online in the technology space. In Asia, Dell has the number 1 Online market share via Dell.com. Dell cannot increase this, it can only be eroded and share will be lost over time. It's not all bad news though, because at the same time, eTail revenue is growing exponentially, with players like Lenovo in China growing in triple digital quarter-on-quarter online (and not through Lenovo.com). There is also a rise in Group Buying, such as in Australia where it is now driving over $500m of Group Buying transactions/year. Serious contentors need to have a product and content strategy that is multi-channel across a company's website, eTail, Social Commerce and Mobile. To win in e-commerce tech companies must think of e-commerce as a transaction from ANY platform - not just an e-commerce enabled corporate site. Customers have evolved and their preferences have changed. Tech companies need to adapt and try new things to stay ahead of customer demand.

Simplify and clearly differentiate our offering for specific customer segments – Many tech companies have too many different products and are confusing customers. At the same time, so many tech companies do not have any real product differentiation (in Dell's case, what is an Inspiron vs Latitude? For HP what's the difference for their Compaq vs Envy brands?). Tech companies should take a leaf out of Apple's strategy on simplification. But for true success in 2012 tech leaders will need to both reduce and simplify their product offering and have a specific digital go-to-market plan for identified customer segments. Real winners in this area will  have personalisation programs and social sign-in to truly have a one-on-one customer relationship (while being able to share that relationship with the customer's friends).

Everything is going social – How people communicate and buy technology is becoming fundamentally social. Tech companies need to take a leaf out of eBay’s strategy, where buyers are rated, sellers are rated and products are reviewed – their entire experience is social and reliant on user-generated content. Outside of a company's website, you need to think about how to more closely integrate into Facebook (with 800m global users), LinkedIn (more than 150m professionals), RenRen (over 120m Chinese consumers), Cyworld, Mixi, Mobage, Gree (the latter few for gamification - a critical element of social e-commerce in markets like China) and microblogging services like Twitter, Sina Weibo and QQ Weibo.

Everything is going mobile – There are now more mobile users than Internet users. Mobile Internet users account for 60%+ of social network usage, are driving new retail loyalty location-based services like Foursquare and will bridge the divide between physical retail stores and e-commerce. Customers are now using mobile devices to walk into retail stores to scan bar codes, compare product specs and prices and gather recommendations from people who have bought the same product (word-of-mouth, ratings & reviews, social media). There is also huge increase in the amount of traffic coming into a company website and managed community properties via mobile internet. You need clear plans for integration with mobile in 2012.

Customers are demanding are a more Retail-like experience from Online – With the rise of retail and eTail, customers are demanding to touch and feel products, have all payments options (including cash, bank transfer, credit card, PayPal, etc.) and have either take home or immediate delivery (same day or within the same week). eTailers (such as Taobao in China) have the ability to compare products, great learning content (including images and videos), cash payment options and same day delivery. Customers now expect this and most tech companies need to play catch up to get there in 2012.

Content needs to be “portable” and usable in different platforms – Currently most company's view of content is limited to product information and is located only on its website. This is particularly true of e-commerce companies. You need to consider how to take excellent content and make it available where your customers are (for a B2B company: on LinkedIn, in the company managed social sites, in communities, in Webinars/virtual events, etc.). IBM do an excellent job of this and more companies need to learn from their example.

2012 is the year of the dragon. It's a very auspicious time that will be a breakthrough year in e-commerce for those with the courage to try new things, truly embrace social and mobile, and make eTailers your best friends.

The Influence of Mobile on Social Marketing’s Future

eMarketer, September 13th 2010

Mobile platforms and location-based networks could take social marketing to the next level.

As the increase in smart device ownership helps put the mobile web in the pocket of more and more Americans, mobile will play a greater role in all forms of content consumption—including social media.

US marketers surveyed in June 2010 by PRWeek and MS&L Group believed mobile social would have important consequences for their brand. Asked which social media efforts would have the greatest effect on their company, 17% said more usage of social media on mobile platforms and a further 12% cited uptake of mobile location-based social networking.

Another 4% said investing more in Twitter would be their most important effort. While a majority of users access Twitter from their desktop, the microblogging service is a major example of greater use of social media from mobile platforms. According to the company’s blog, mobile usage of the site rose 62% in about four months, and mobile sign-ups increased from 5% of the total earlier in 2010 to 16%.

Currently, PRWeek and MS&L Group found that few US marketers were using specifically mobile-based social media tools, but the sophistication of smart devices has narrowed the distance between the desktop and mobile for many users.

Much of the marketing opportunity in going mobile lies with the ability to use location data to bring consumers timely messages when they are already nearby and possibly considering a purchase. Social media could prove a smart avenue for such efforts; while pure location-based services like foursquare remain relatively niche, Facebook has picked up location-based check-in services, and social networking has been the single biggest driver of mobile app usage and browsing over the past year.

Mobile Experience Frustrates Consumers

From eMarketer, 30th September 2010

Bad formatting and slow load times plague mobile sites

As mobile phone penetration has risen to near-saturation and smartphones make up a bigger share of phones, the mobile internet is becoming a more powerful force for US consumers. But it will take more effort on the part of publishers for the mobile web to reach critical mass.

According to a June 2010 survey by web performance monitoring firm Gomez, a third of mobile internet users in the US say their most common problem when browsing the mobile web is site formatting. Slightly fewer complained of slow load times, and nearly a fifth said the worst problem was with functionality.

Mobile web users are used to some level of connectivity problems, but that doesn’t lessen their frustration when the goal of much mobile internet usage is quick, on-the-go access to information. Gomez found that while many users expect sites to load somewhat slower on their phones, nearly a third want to be able to access mobile sites at least as quickly as they can browse on a PC.

The US Federal Communications Commission found in May that just 33% of US smartphone owners were “very satisfied” with the speed of their mobile internet connections.

Some of these problems may be resolved when 4G becomes a reality for US consumers. However, publishers and marketers shouldn’t rely on carrier upgrades as a solution when they’ve had notorious problems with data transmission loads and infrastructure upgrades. Better mobile optimization will be key to marketing and communications with on-the-go consumers who will increasingly expect to access information anytime and anyplace—without waiting too long.

How Adults Are Using Mobile Phones

From DigitalBuzz Blog, 20th September 2010.

Here is the latest infographic out from Flowtown, this time on how Adults are using mobile phones, and with it, comes a few interesting stats to take notice of… Like the 90% of 18-29 year olds that sleep with their mobile phone, this is a stat that doesn’t mean too much directly, but helps establish the connection between a person and their phone as a very powerful tool for marketers come day light hours! You’ll also notice that 18% of 18-24 year olds send over 200 text messages per day.

Overview of the Mobile Apps Landscape

Via: MBA Online

Four Key Trends in Australian Social Marketing

The team over at Ogilvy's 360 Digital Influence group recently took a look at the Australian social media landscape. They came up with four very compelling trends:

Australians spend the most time worldwide consuming social media. With almost 7 hours per month spent in social media they "out-social" the US, UK and Italy (one to watch btw). If you factor in the relative population size that puts 17 million users online (80% of the population with 62% via broadband) vs. about 230 million US users or almost 77% of the population).

The social network story is dominated by Facebook. And before we say "duh!" remember that in many Internet-rich countries around the world like Brazil, Japan and Russia, Facebook is not the leader. In Australia, no one stands in Facebook's path towards commanding mass-attention, even the 55+ crowd in Australia is jumping on board.

The biggest gain in year-over-year change in social media usage is interacting with a brand via social networks. That means Facebook and Twitter. Australian consumers are willing to engage with brands via these platforms just as readily as in the United States.

The under 35 crowd wants to access social networks like Facebook and Twitter via their mobile device. With 89% SMS penetration and 20% Web access via mobile (and likely 20% smart phone penetration), all eyes should be on developing the mobile experience for brands.

Australia has its own path towards adoption of social media and it will likely leapfrog other countries including the US in terms of how brands take advantage of their particular usage.

You can read the full Blog posting here.

Interview for Mobile Marketing Asia 2010

What are some of the challenges that companies are facing when it comes to mobile marketing?

One of the big challenges with mobile marketing is that it’s so hard to find a way to monetize it. At Dell, our marketing is very much driven by vehicles with a strong return on investment – search, affiliate and email marketing and we’re trying to figure out where mobile fits within this landscape. Undoubtedly mobile is a wonderful platform for branding and developing deeply engaging experiences but can it be adapted for sales-centric marketing?

What are some of the tricks and strategies for successful mobile integrated campaigns?

I really see that there’s only three forms of mobile marketing – text messaging/SMS, advertising on mobile Internet/WAP sites and mobile applications. In terms of media, mobile hasn’t yet lived up to the promise of geo-targeting or being able to market to an individual level (a one-on-one discussion with a specific person) but these are two big opportunities. I think the big area to look at is mobile applications. Recently I’ve noticed the banks getting into mobile banking (taking the functionality of Internet banking and reimagining it for mobile device) and I strongly believe this is the biggest area of growth.

Could you please give us an example of how marketers should cohesively mix mobile, online and social media for customer engagement?

Online and mobile are two very different customer experiences – PC-based online browsing is wonderful for research and undertaking complex tasks (such as filling in long applications forms or e-commerce) in an open and somewhat anonymous world, while mobile is a hyper personal tool built around yourself, your loved ones and friends (think about what you use for mobile for and you’ll realize the voice calls, text and sharing content with your friends is the epicenter of what you do). In fact, mobile has a lot more to do with social media than other forms of digital marketing. Both are mediums that know who you are, are about two-way sharing information and content with friends and are increasingly focused on useful and engaging applications. You don’t often see “integrated marketing campaigns” across online, web and mobile. They don’t really exist except at the broadest and most generic brand marketing levels. What is really interesting however, is the role of each medium and how they work together. For example, an email marketing campaign that sends a customer to a website for more information, where the customer then downloads a mobile application and then shares this information with friends via mobile and social media. Each is a different yet complementary part of the same marketing cycle all working in tandem for a great customer experience.

What are some of the strategies that marketers should do in order to get customers to ‘Opt-in’ for permission based advertising?

People don’t like or respond to advertising. But they love and frequently engage with information! The secret here is that they’re the same thing, as long as they’re positioned correctly. Opting-in to information that you want to receive is really straightforward. If the information is relevant and engaging, people will naturally seek it out and sign up for it. The challenge is in how you make them aware of it in the first place, or can demonstrate that it’s valuable and useful before they sign up. One option is to give the information away for free for a while then ask them to opt-in to the marketing program. This is definitely better than trying to pay someone to join (either through incentives, competitions or similar activities). Money talks but doesn’t leave a lasting impression – so many incentivized customers who opt into marketing programs usually opt out soon afterwards. So for long term success simply talk to your customers, ask them what they want and respond accordingly. I think you’ll be surprised by the result.

With mobile marketing expecting to take off, what will be the role of telecom operators in the mobile marketing mix?

There are three types of players who are trying to get a slice of the pie in mobile marketing – telcos, device manufacturers and content providers. Right now the content providers are king but the device manufacturers have a seat at the table too. That leaves the poor telco companies out in the cold. But they have a wonderful advantage – they have all your data, usage information and know who you are. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like they’ve been able to take advantage of this because there is a separation of the access plan (the telco) with the device and it’s usage. Companies like Apple, Nokia and Blackberry/Research in Motion have got it right – they provide compelling content (such as mobile games, etc.) and a great distribution network (such as iTunes or Ovi) that effectively cut out the telcos. I believe the telcos could come to lead the mobile marketing space in their respective countries or regions but they’ll never have the same global dominance as providers of excellent content or the global manufacturers of the mobile device.

Google’s and Apple’s recent activities have 2010 labeled as the ‘year of the mobile’, 2010 is herald as the year of mobile advertising what is going on right now and where we are headed?

That’s great news! Although I’ve noticed a lot of skepticism from marketers because we’ve had the “year of the mobile” for at least 5 years (and probably closer to 10). Mobile advertising has a tremendous potential but isn’t quite mainstream yet. I believe the reason why it hasn’t broken through yet is that too many people are thinking of mobile as a traditional advertising channel. It’s not. It’s extremely personal, always on, never left behind, geo-specific and for many people a genuine expression of who they are. It’s very difficult to introduce advertising into something like that – it’s like tattooing an ad onto your forehead! Marketing on mobile needs to be around customer experience, relevant and engaging content and giving people the information they need when they want it. It still won’t be the “year of the mobile” until marketers and agencies embrace this and change the way they thinking about the fundamentals of advertising and sales. I certainly think the devices are ready, now it’s time for the marketers to catch up and take some bold risks with their traditional advertising.

Over the next decade, by the year 2020, how will mobile advertising evolve and what can we expect from the sector?

I believe by 2020 the entire marketing and advertising system will evolve. We’ve moved from product-centric advertising in the 20th Century, to brand-centric advertising in the last few decades, to content & information-centric in the 21st Century. I feel that the next stage of evolution is people-centric – having a two-way dialogue between individual consumers and brands. Completely unrecognizable from the early TV ads of the 1950’s. With this brave new world of social marketing and people-centric communications, mobile has a very important and defining role to play.

The Dramatic Collapse of Microsoft's Mobile Business

Windows Mobile's Incredible Death Spiral
John Herrman, gizmodo.com, Feb 2010.
Before Windows Phone 7 was even an embryo of a concept, Windows Mobile was king: It powered nearly half of smartphones in use, a led the industry in features. Then, in 2007, things started to go wrong. Very, very wrong.

Silicon Alley Insider has charted Windows Mobile's platform share, which is to say the proportion of users who were using it at a given time, over the last four years. For showing decline, figures like these are more telling than sales—they mean that, for years now, people haven't been buying Windows Mobile phones nearly as fast as they've been ditching them.

More interesting than what it shows is what it projects: Windows Mobile 6.x phones have been collectively kneecapped by Microsoft's announcement yesterday, and rendered spectacularly unbuyable outside of enterprise circles. In other words, that line—the one that dragged down past RIM in 2008, and that dropped past Apple last year—is going to keep plunging for the rest of this year, until Windows Phone 7 tries to haul it back up. And until then, it's only going to get steeper.

Send an email to John Herrman, the author of this post, at jherrman@gizmodo.com.