mobile marketing Archives - Ketner Group Communications

This blog post originally appeared on Digby’s The Mobile Retail Blog, contributed by Caitlin New

Last weekend I went to a big box home goods store, lets call them Cot, Tub & Forever, armed with its mobile app and a few gift cards from the holidays that were burning a hole in my pocket. As an experienced shopper, PR/marketing communicator and retail technology professional—skills that could be my best or worst enemy while shopping—I shopped with an analytical eye on how the home goods retailer used its mobile app to improve my in-store experience.

I’d like to start with the ways this retailer’s mobile app is very helpful. If you’re a bride, groom, parent-to-be, college-bound student or other individual who’d create a registry, then this retailer’s mobile app is extremely useful. Gift-seekers can scan items in-store to add them to a registry that is manageable at any time, in or out of the store. Conversely, if you’re there to shop from a registry for one of the above mentioned individuals, and you forgot that pesky registry print out, you can pull it up and access it on the mobile app.

You can also pretty easily search for products using the mobile app and see photos and basic product details. Have gift cards like I did? You can look up the balance using the app while you’re in the store so you can decide how crazy to be with the amount of toss pillows you toss in the cart. Speaking of carts, if that amazing ruffle pillow is not available in the store, just add it to your mobile cart and buy it right there.

However, while I found the mobile app an excellent baseline, I could not help but feel that if the app knew more about my context, including location, the experience could have been that much better. Here are a few ideas about where I think Cot, Tub & Forever can maximize the effectiveness of its app to make my experience even better.

Let me store my coupons and gift cards in the app. I get email and mail coupons often from this retailer and I always set them aside so I can use them when I’m feeling the home goods shopping itch. I also have received a number of gift cards from friends and family for Christmas because I recently became a new homeowner. However, I never seem to have the gift cards or coupons with me when I find myself in one of the stores! Mobile loyalty apps and wallets are becoming more and more visible in retail, and storing coupons and gift cards in the mobile app for use in-store is an easy step towards this capability. I most likely would have done my in-store shopping spree much earlier if I had been able to store the gift cards in my phone.

Communicate with me when I’m near the store. What better way to remind me of those coupons and gift cards than when I’m near the store? Installing location-based capabilities in a mobile app is the best way to reach me precisely when and where I’m in the position to make a purchase decision. The parking lot of Cot, Tub & Forever is usually shared with other retailers, and if I’m in the parking lot for something else, a friendly reminder that I’ve got ‘money’ burning a hole in my pocket…or app…goes a long way towards closing a sale!

Give me more product details—make it social. Having product search functions as a part of its app is a good start. However, when I’m in the store, I want to know more about the toss pillow I’m holding before I drop it in my basket. If ratings and reviews, product videos or recommended products were added to the product pages, I’d be much more likely to buy that pillow and its recommended throw.

Let me add customer profile preferences. I actually want to hear from my favorite retailers, and it would be amazing if our conversation was tailored to my preferences and shopping behavior. If Cot, Tub & Forever wanted to know which product categories interested me the most, I could easily tell them that I most often search for home décor, bed and bath more than any other category. They could adjust their marketing messages to me accordingly. Also, if they knew how frequently I shopped there, they could reward me with different levels of incentives to bring me back in.

Regardless of my mind constantly working in “work mode” while I shop, I did have a pleasant experience during my recent Cot, Tub & Forever visit. My living room sends its thanks for the new toss pillows that now give my couch the pop of color it needed.

Reposted from Digby’s Mobile Retail Blog

At the risk of being considered a traitor by my fellow Generation X’ers, I am not ashamed to admit that I have a fascination with the Millennial Generation. In a recent blog, I bragged about how this group of young men and women born roughly between 1980 and 2000 have completely changed the way we live, shop and communicate. I work with Millennials, and I have learned as much (if not more) from them as they have learned from me.

So much has been written about this “tribe” of techno-savvy, confident, determined and goal-oriented young adults – it almost seems as though Millennials have that magical Midas touch – especially when it comes to their significant contributions to the success of mobile and social media technologies. Check out these recent stats:

Millennials love mobile marketing and commerce: According to a RadiumOne report, mobile users between the ages of 18 to 34 are strongly receptive to mobile ads, with 47 percent having clicked on a mobile ad in the past three months. The same report also stated that 50 percent of those respondents used their smart phones to share offers such as coupons, sales and ads with friends. The rate of sharing was one to three times per month for 31 percent of respondents, three to six times per month for 16 percent and more than six times for three percent. Lastly, in a recent survey by The Search Agency, the majority of 18- to 34-year-old consumers, 53%, are more likely to make online purchases during work hours.
Social Media is Still King of Communication, but Millennials are Mindful: No doubt about it, Millennials love social media. According to Pew Research, 75 percent of Millennials participate in social networking, and more than 20 percent have uploaded video of themselves to the web. Scarborough Research recently reported that Millennials are 53 percent more likely than all U.S. adults to feel that social media sites are very important for finding information about news and current events. When it comes to Twitter, Millennials are still its #1 fan – more than 30 percent of 18-34 olds use Twitter. However, when it comes to these platforms, Millennials are very well-aware that sharing too much on Facebook and Twitter can bring about negative repercussions such as costing them a job opportunity or college acceptance.

Which brings me to my next point – while doing research for this blog, another trend that I noticed within the Millennial generation is that they seem to be growing up, and maturing. In a recent Forbes article by Barry Salzberg, global CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limite says, “…many millennials are not driven by money or success in quite the way their parents were. This generation wants to know what your organization stands for in improving society, what it stands for in action, as opposed to blowing smoke. Millennials want to know how they will make a positive difference in the world if they join your business, not by wearing a colorful T-shirt on a special project once a year but in their actual work.”

In the recent presidential election, the Millennial Generation made its mark yet again. According to The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), 23 million, or 50% of, young people voted in this election. According to The Hill, “This rate of turnout can now be considered ‘the new normal’ for young Americans. This is the third presidential election in a row with turnout around 50%.” Bottom line – Millennials want their voices heard.

Millennials are eating out less, perhaps a trend to live healthier lifestyles and save their hard-earned dollars for exciting trips to Europe or down payments for modest homes and cars.

Whatever your opinion of Milliennials, you can’t deny this group of savvy individuals are a force to be reckoned with. What do you think will be the hottest millennial trends in 2013?

Catherine Seeds is the Vide President of Ketner Group, a PR and marketing communications agency headquartered in Austin, TX.

Photo Credit: Study Breaks College Media

Tag: mobile marketing

How a Retailer’s Mobile App Could be it’s Best Friend

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