To Attract Mobile Addicts, Up Your Mobile Marketing Game

It’s no secret that Americans are hooked on their smartphones and other mobile devices. But just how addicted are we–and what does it mean for your business’s mobile marketing? More than seven in 10 of us regularly sleep with our smartphones, according to a recent study from Bank of America on consumer mobility.

Since Bank of America did its first consumer mobility study in June 2014, the number of “mobile addicts” around the world has grown by nearly 60 percent. During the same time period, the number of smart devices measured by the survey grew by 38 percent — from 1.3 billion to 1.8 billion. The study defined mobile addicts as consumers who open mobile applications 60 or more times per day. By comparison, “super users” open mobile apps between 16 and 60 times a day, while “regular users” open mobile apps between one and 16 times a day. No wonder mobile marketing is growing in popularity.

Of these three groups, mobile addicts are growing at the fastest rate — from 176 million in 2014 to 280 million this year. What does the growth of this new consumer group mean for your business?

Mobile addicts use all types of mobile applications more than regular or super users do. However, by far their most popular apps are messaging and social applications (followed by utilities and productivity apps, games, finance and news/magazines). That’s good news for small business owners trying to market to this growing group. Why? Because mobile marketing via social applications is an easy way to reach out to customers where they live–on their phones. Here are some mobile marketing ideas you should be trying in order to attract mobile addicts.

1. Gather customers’ mobile data and get them to sign up to receive text messaging from your business. (Just as with email marketing, you must get written consent before sending a text message to any customer.) Sending a discount or other promotional offer is a good way to get customers to sign up with you.
2. Make sure your marketing emails are mobile-friendly. Email should be easy to read without a lot of scrolling, use images that load quickly, and include adequate white space so that buttons or hyperlinks are easy to click on. Ideally, place the call to action in a spot where it can be seen right away.
3. Make your social media activity mobile-friendly. Short posts, optimally sized photos or short Vine videos are all fun, snackable content that your followers can devour quickly on a mobile device.
4. Drive customers to mobile-friendly pages on your website. A common mistake small business owners make is including a link in a mobile-friendly email that goes to a landing page that’s not mobile friendly. All landing pages should be easy to view and interact with on a mobile device.
5. Gather and study data on your mobile addicts. Not every customer is a mobile addict, so use segmentation to identify the customers that are mobile-mad and target them specifically. Gather information on their browsing and buying habits so you can quantify their value as customers. Finally, review your analytics to see which marketing tactics work best with this important target market.

One look around you will indicate that the number of mobile addicts is only going to grow. Start now learning how to target them, and you’ll be well positioned for the future.

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