Misconceptions Are Stunting Marketers’ Mobile Commerce Momentum

Even with mobile browsing activity at an all-time high, marketers still aren’t making the most of the mobile commerce opportunity.

Broadly, consumers are spending more time on their mobile devices than ever—an average of 174 minutes per day. Yet even with mobile browsing activity at an all-time high, marketers still aren’t making the most of the mobile commerce opportunity.

Consider this: A recent BI Intelligence report forecasts that by 2020, mobile commerce will make up 45% of total e-commerce, totaling $284 billion in sales. This represents a 350% increase over what is projected for 2016. BI Intelligence projects that mobile commerce this year will hit just 20.6% of overall e-commerce, or $79 billion, this year. It’s doubtful, however, that consumers will triple their time on mobile between now and 2020, so it’s clear that brands are coming up short when it comes to engaging mobile device users.

Given the significant and increasing rates of smartphone usage among shoppers, the huge (and troubling) discrepancy in projected mobile sales numbers is an issue e-commerce outlets cannot wait until next year to rectify. Marketers should be doing much more to boost mobile commerce activity, but a few misconceptions are holding them back.

1. Consumers Will Always Come Back Via Desktop

Knowing that consumers today often take a multidevice path to purchase—with one in three shoppers doing research on a mobile device before buying on desktop or offline—many retailers haven’t invested in delivering their shoppers a fully optimized, consistent, and user-friendly experience across all available devices and communication channels.

When consumers surveyed for a Facebook study were asked why they purchased via laptop or desktop versus smartphone or tablet, 54% replied that it’s easier to see all the available products on desktop/laptop; 26% said it’s too difficult on a smartphone/tablet to compare products/retailers and get needed information; and another 26% said that entering personal data (such as address or credit card number, etc.) is not very user-friendly on mobile devices.

With device usage rates continually growing, a fully responsive, easy-to-use mobile experience is an absolutely necessary foundation in 2016; without it, retailers will increasingly lose in-the-moment purchases to competitors that deliver well-optimized mobile experiences. Armed with the baseline of an excellent mobile website or app (or ideally both), marketers should invest in digital messaging strategies to boost mobile engagement and purchases.

2. Email Messaging Is Effective Enough For Mobile

When it comes to compelling their users to interact with marketing offers or promotions—let alone measuring the attribution of resulting reader interactions—retailers have primarily relied on email marketing. But with many mobile device users preferring to browse retailers’ mobile or desktop websites as anonymous “guests,” rather than as known (email-address-supplied) users, email is slowly but surely losing its impact in driving clicks and conversions.

With a more strategic and multichannel approach to digital messaging, retailers can drive stronger mobile activity by meeting customers “where they live” with the right message, at the right time, on the right channel. By incorporating second-generation channels such as mobile browser push or rich inbox (essentially an email-like inbox inside the app or site), brands can more effectively reach mobile consumers with targeted, personalized offers when their devices are in their hands.

Messaging tools can also help brands automatically target consumers on the exact channel individual end users are most likely to engage with, given their existing interaction habits and preferences across the mobile app, mobile web, or desktop web. And with browser push, brands can even reach their opted-in users via browser after they leave the ecommerce site or app, helping to drive that impulse purchase on the desktop/laptop, as well as mobile device.

3. Reacquiring Anonymous Mobile Users Is Our Only Option

Browser push can also help retailers lower their acquisition costs by making it easier to capture anonymous users. Brands invest heavily in acquiring and reacquiring guest users over time; in the absence of their email addresses, social sign-in info, or even just their names, marketers can’t interact with them in a personalized way (as they can with known, email-supplied users).

Given that between 57% and 98% of a given brand’s audience is likely anonymous, consistent reacquisition of anonymous users sucks up a wealth of retailers’ marketing dollars. Browser push provides a way to compel anonymous users to engage with the brand via a “soft opt-in” approach with no email required. Following an interaction with a brand, the customer can be prompted to opt in to browser-delivered promotions via a simple yes or no click.

By signing up anonymous users to browser push, retailers can begin personalizing the push messages based on the anonymous users’ individual behaviors, just as they can with known users. It’s an especially smart avenue for reaching Android users, who account for more than half of global mobile web traffic. Since browser push delivers notifications straight to the Android device home screen, it’s a high value channel for driving mobile activity via cart checkout reminders, discounts, and other offers.