Do or Die

Mobile Friendly Website: Do or Die.

here's good news and there's bad news. Good news – Google's new algorithm loudly applauds websites that are mobile friendly and gives them search preference over other sites that are not. Bad news – if your website is in the 'others' category, that is its not mobile friendly, you have a lot of fire fighting to do, especially with your SEO.

Google has given many pointers at several occasions hinting that mobile browsing is the future. Industry analysts, market trend watchers, reports, infographics, web marketing blogs, tech bloggers and all others have been factually explaining it too. For companies that caught on the trend, they'll get the advantage of Googlebot crawling their site, identifying it's mobile friendly and giving it preference on the search results. For website owners who were still looking for compelling reasons to go mobile friendly, well here one – you don't have an option. Google's new algorithm and the track set for further updates make it very clear, any website that does not acknowledge mobile browsing will eventually be dead on the internet.

Understanding Google's new algorithm

Google's new algorithm is actually pretty simple. When Googlebot crawls the website, it will identify whether the website is mobile friendly or not. This essentially means that all the assets of our website need to be crawlable, the website's Javascript, CSS and image files, all need to be crawlable. The robots.txt file should not block search engine's access to critical files that help in rendering pages of your website. So in many cases if the Googlebot is not able to crawl the website properly, it might not identify correctly if your website is mobile friendly or not. In certain cases, in spite of the website actually being mobile friendly, Googlebot might not acknowledge it causing search engine listing loss to the website directly affecting the search engine traffic.

To see if your website is mobile click on the link below. Just key in your website's URL and click 'Analyze': Mobile Friendly Testing Tool This will help you understand if your mobile web is good or it needs tweaking.

Mobile Friendly Website

There are three ways to go mobile friendly:
Responsive Website
Dynamic Serving Website
Mobile Specific Website

Responsive Website

Responsive website is one that responds to a particular device's make and screen size and intelligently adapts to the same. So basically it's the same website with one URL that responds to different devices. Since the website is same, the content all across remains the same.

Responsive websites are the most promising ones when it comes to SEO value. Googlebot will have to crawl one site only. Link building is easier for a single URL. On the flip side, user experience is not that great since mobile website will be as elaborate as the desktop website which can be exhaustive for a mobile screen. For websites that use 'Flash' for animation, mobile website can be quiet a pain since mobile web takes time to upload and usually Flash sites fail to upload on mobile browsers.

Too many intrusive ads

Completely understood that 'ads' is your app's revenue model. But again that does not mean that the ad would interrupt the functioning of the app to show an ad. There can be subtle non-intrusive ads too. And even these ads are clicked upon if the ads are presented well. Read 'Effective Advertising Techniques' for better understanding the concept.

Dynamic Serving Website

Dynamic serving website identifies the user's browsing device and serves content accordingly. So typically a desktop website would have elaborate content while the same website when opened on a mobile device, will serve content tweaked for mobile.

This option is great for user experience but has some downside when it comes to SEO value. Number of pages that need to be crawled will definitely increase. The designer will have to specifically mention in the code that which pages to render and crawl. Sometimes the Googlebot might not crawl the mobile web pages again confusing it as a website that is not mobile friendly. However, this can be handled by appropriate coding that allows search engine crawling throughout the website, on each page.

Mobile Specific Website

A mobile specific website has a different URL for the mobile web. For instance your website name is www.example.com, the mobile URL becomes www.m.example.com. While this serves very high on user experience, it is a challenge from the SEO point of view. The two URLs are practically two different websites, which would essentially mean SEO promotion for two websites, crawling pages for two different websites and moreover managing and maintaining two websites. But if you have already have a website and shifting to a responsive website would be challenge, a mobile specific URL would serve the purpose right.

To Sum Up

While a mobile friendly website is inevitable, companies can choose, depending on their specific needs, which solution to implement. The key to understanding Google's algorithm updates is that Google invariably looks for enhanced user experience. The updates catch on with surfing trends, social and professional aspects influencing user behavior and essentially aims at providing an enriched experience to the end user. Any website that honestly aims at enriching user experience will organically go up in Google searches.

Mobile App Versus Responsive Website

Mobile App Versus Responsive Website

While going mobile has become inevitable for businesses, the big question remains HOW. Does a business need a mobile website or a native app? The answer to this question is more complicated than most marketers think. To begin with, there is no generic answer that can straighten out the dilemma. The answer is actually based on an extreme balancing act of a company's strategic goals, business needs, industry type, customer requirements, brand awareness and a whole lot of factors that influence business directly and indirectly.

So, before we get to a solution, it's important to understand the functionality and purpose of both, responsive website and mobile app.

What is a Responsive Website?

Responsive website is website that can identify the user's device and intelligently adapt to the device's screen size. A responsive website can be accessed on a laptop, smart phone or a tablet, with the same functionality and features across devices. A responsive website can be great option for companies that use their website majorly for showing company information, a digital brochure of sorts.

Another alternative to a responsive website is mobile web. Mobile web is also a website, but it is designed specifically for mobile or handheld devices. Companies that use mobile web usually fine-tune content for mobile web. The content becomes lesser yet richer. Usually websites that interact and demand customer interaction in one way or the other, say making a sale, or registering for something or making bookings, or any other call for action from the user, choose to mobile web over a responsive website, such that the call for action part is highlighted given the smaller window.

What is a Mobile App?

Mobile app is a dedicated program that can be downloaded on a mobile device. This program then becomes the link between the user and the brand. Since the app resides in the user's mobile device, it becomes easier for the brand to be in constant touch with the user, collect demographics and statistics, build user profiles and engage customers with the brand. For instance if a pizza place has an app that users have downloaded, the app (or the program) can use native functions of the mobile device to track the user's location and accordingly suggest a great dinner deal at a pizza place close to the user's current location.

Which is the best option?

There is no best option. It is a business call based on business needs. The answer of what to choose would depend on various factors as discussed below:

1. Brand awareness:

This is the age of information. And information is the first thing a potential customer would seek, to understand if she wants to be associated with the brand or not. There are some brands that have reached the zenith of awareness. People don't check their websites to find out about them (well almost). How many of us recall logging into a Pepsi website to know about Pepsi. We already know Pepsi. But for a brand that's not as blessed, potential customers would want to find out, research and then take a call. And if the chain of seamless information is broken because your website did not respond to the mobile device the customer's using, you've (in most cases) lost one. Because so many people are using mobile devices and the number is growing exponentially, it's just common sense to have a website that responds to a mobile device. Now whether it should be a responsive website or mobile web, this call would need to be taken by individual businesses since it would largely depend on particular business requirements.

2. Customer requirements

Does your customer use the website to check out information about your company or is there a call for action or some sort of user engagement involved? Because if there is customer engagement involved, then perhaps an app would make sense. For instance retail industry has seen a tremendous boom with retail apps becoming popular amongst customers. So has the gaming industry transformed with the advent of mobile devices and apps.

3. Value add

You've decided to have an app, great. But you need to work out on how does the app provide value to the customer and only then will the app make sense. What's in it for them? Once this question is answered a lot of confusion over having or not having a mobile app, deliverables of the app and purpose of the app, gets straightened out and the mobile strategy falls into place.

Also, since these two are different platforms meant to solve different purposes, there can be no choice between the two. But thanks to marketers who present a biased opinion, you are most likely to get caught in the dilemma. So here's a quick chart for you to understand the two platforms and (maybe) compare the deliverables.

FEATURE	MOBILE WEB	MOBILE APP
Accessibility	Mobile Website is accessible by everyone as long as the mobile device has a browser and an internet connection	Mobile app is accessible by those who have downloaded it. Once downloaded, mobile app can be accessed with an internet connection as well
Speed	Mobile websites can be slow and shallow as compared to apps	Apps are fast, intriguing and engaging for consumers
Changes / Updates	Making changes in the website is relatively easier	Any changes in the app need to go through Google Play Store and The App Store guidelines
Cost	Mobile website's cost would vary depending on if you want a separate mobile version or want a new unified website in responsive design	An app's cost would depend on the scope of the app. The more you want your app to perform, the more you'd invest in it
Development / Maintenance	If there is a single website across platforms, then it can be maintained with the same code. But if the mobile website is different, it would require up gradation/ separately	An app would need separate maintenance and up gradation
User Experience	Mobile websites can be good if the purpose of the website is information	Apps are perfect when customer's interaction and automation is required, e.g. Retail, ecommerce, employee interaction etc.
Loyalty Rewards	A website, be it mobile website or of the web, it cannot track repeat visitors and keep track of their usage as smartly as an app can do	Apps are downloaded on the user's mobile device. It means app can interact with the user, provide loyalty incentives and even send gentle reminders to dormant customers
Check Out	The check out process for online buying can be a tedious affair	App stores important information (of course securely) and makes the whole buying process a breeze.
Personalized	A website experience is for masses, it cannot be personalized	Apps take personalization to a whole new level; customers see the products they like, get discounts when they want, get alerts relevant to them and get an individualistic experience rather than one designed for masses
SEO	A mobile website would assist SEO initiatives by adding searchable content on the web	Apps are not directly beneficial for SEO initiatives, but again if a user has already downloaded the app, web search would not make any difference
Customer Data	Website does not help gathering data about visitors except counting numbers on a superficial level	Apps become a part of the consumer's mobile hence can gather data for personal profiling, social profiling and accordingly personalization
Social Media	A website can enable limited sharing on social media	Apps enable sharing and connecting on social media. Moreover apps can have a viral effect if the app provides a service/feature that appeals to people

If there are still any questions that remain unanswered or any concern that needs to be addressed regarding your mobile strategy, reach us on 415-504-1516, and we'd be happy to help.

Digital Marketing Trends

2015: Digital Marketing Trends To Watch Out.

2014 has remarkably been a year of technological and digital progression in marketing, especially retail. The popularity of mobile phones and apps has thrown a huge opportunity in the guise of challenge to marketers around the world. Mobile web and apps have been the epilogue of every marketing discussion, well almost. And with all that clout, it is particularly interesting to watch where exactly is the whole digital-marketing spectacle headed.

Here are a few trends that would predominantly drive the market and marketing in 2015. Interestingly most of these concepts are the ones that stimulated the retail segment last year, and the trend seems to be paradigm for years to come.

Mobile Friendly

Smart phones and mobile devices are no more fancy words. These are basic. As per an interesting UN study, there are more people in the world that have access to mobile phones than people who have access to toilets. According to the study out of the world’s estimated 7 billion people, 6 billion have access to mobile phones whereas only 4.5 billion people have access to working toilets!

That said, every business, irrespective of the industry, scale or function will have to be mobile friendly. This does not only apply to simply having a mobile friendly website or an app (which, by the way, would be survival essentials given that most people are migrating to mobile only devices), but it would mean the entire business function starting from supply chain to customer service (and everything in between) becoming mobile friendly. It means reassessing business functions, defining new value and deliverables and aligning the good old brick-and-mortar and click-and mortar business models to become tap friendly.

Personalized Marketing

The term ‘personalized marketing’ has been around for quiet some time now. But in true spirit of the term, it makes more sense now than ever. Customers are leaving their digital footprints all across the Internet. This is data. Companies need to devise intelligent techniques, smarter algorithms and intuitive systems that can wisely co-relate data and derive customer knowledge out of it. This knowledge then would define how each customer is approached and served individually. For instance taking data from cookies, surfing habits, social media and so on, a retailer would be able to now that Marc spends an average $400 on grocery and other shopping every month, he mostly eats canned and ready-to-eat food, likes shoes, goes to Starbucks mostly every evening where he checks on his personal email and social media accounts. Now the retailer can devise a relevant strategy to connect with and engage Marc in a personalized marketing experience.

Important technologies and strategies that would help personalize content for customers:

Retargeting:

Retargeting is a strategy wherein with the help of various technologies and techniques a company can identify customers who strayed, re-engage them with personalized and relevant content thus increasing conversion ratio.

Geo-Fencing:

Marketing communication, when localized and presented to the user based on her current location makes more sense and is more likely to convert than general messaging. For instance, sending a message to the customer that there is a great sale going on in a store close to her current location will most likely land the customer into the store.

Relevant, Honest Content

Life’s getting faster and attention span shorter. To get noticed and then reach a level where you can engage your customers, retailers will have to make their content really, really relevant and of course, honest. Customers are done with marketing clutter and the elevator-pitch has now been further trimmed to a 5-seconds-glance that decides whether the customer will stay or stray from your retail window. There is no scope for over hyped pitch and false promises. Don’t promise the world on the platter; just show what you can serve, and those who want it would take it. More so, communication has to be relevant and precise. You value your customers’ time and attention, they would appreciate it; you give them non-sense content, they would go away forever.

Is Your App Annoying?

Are users uninstalling your app at a scary rate? Consider this.

You got your app made or are considering one? Great. But getting the app in the market would essentially be just the beginning. The next big thing would be getting download numbers and most importantly getting people to use the app.
Most apps don’t survive a dawn. App uninstall is easier than install in most cases. App uninstall is worse than app not installed at all. It takes away a user who would most certainly never return, gives bad reviews, bad publicity and a low ranking on the stores. So if you have an app or are launching one in the market, here's a list of top reasons that put off app users. An essential list of ‘App Don’ts’:

Bad UI/UX

A badly designed app will never do well. Look at the apps that work. You will see a clean, clutter free design with a smooth, hassle-free navigation. The better the user interface and user experience, better the customer engagement. And on the flip side, if the user interface and experience is crappy, users will not think twice before pressing uninstall.

Forced Login

Users are smarter than what most marketers think. Users know that a registration page or a social login is a means to get personal information on the user and most people are not comfortable sharing their personal details over the Internet. Moreover incentivising user to like their page to keep the app running puts people off, a lot of people. Result? Obvious uninstall.

Excessive Permissions

Some permissions are needed to run the app. But be honest. Does your app really need all those permissions? For most users granting permissions to access personal data even for basic utility apps such as camera or torch can be pretty intimidating. Do away with stuff that can hint users of being vulnerable to personal information robbery.

Too many intrusive ads

Completely understood that ‘ads’ is your app’s revenue model. But again that does not mean that the ad would interrupt the functioning of the app to show an ad. There can be subtle non-intrusive ads too. And even these ads are clicked upon if the ads are presented well. Read ‘Effective Advertising Techniques’ for better understanding the concept.

Annoying notifications

Notifications are one of the reasons app are so successful. Notifications help retailers connect directly with their customers. But these notifications need to be well timed and focused on the message otherwise it would be seen as an intrusion of privacy. Make notifications carry messages that are absolutely useful for the users. Do not indulge in greetings and courtesies because too much of messaging would be a put off for users.

Bugs

If your app crashes often, takes too much time to upload and freezes often, it most definitely has bugs. Fix the bugs on urgently and do it on a regular basis. Sometimes a bug free app can get bugs over time and as usage increases.

No Customer Support

This one is primarily true for shopping apps. Most of the times while shopping a people tend to get stuck with the app or maybe need a little help with the colors, sizes and variety available. If they find no help, the app won’t be as useful for them.

Push Notifications

All you need to know about Push Notifications; why are they better, how to use Push Notifications to enhance customer interaction

With apps becoming increasingly popular with retailers and customers alike, push notifications have become common parlance like text messages. But in reality push notifications are a world apart from text messages and cannot be treated the same. Here’s a brief to update you about push notifications and how these can become real-time marketing and customer engagement tools for the brand.

Push Notifications are beyond apps

Push notifications cannot be limited to mobile devices or apps alone. Push notifications can actually be a powerful tool to get in touch with customers on any connected device. For instance the popular travel service provider has come up with an innovative way to connect with its customers. Priceline has tied up with General Motors wherein GM will factory install the Priceline app on navigation screen of select Chrevolet cars enabling people to make travel bookings from their cars. The Priceline app taps the customers’ whereabouts through geofencing. This is a clever example of being there, right when your customer needs you.

Connecting the digital and physical worlds

Many companies are using iBeacon technology connected to mobile apps to give an enriched shopping experience to their customers. For instance if a customer has created a shopping list on the retailer’s app or linked an existing shopping list to the app, when the customer is shopping in-store, iBeacons can get linked to the shopping list on the app and the customer can get real time reminders, updates and offers as she walks across the aisles. This also gives the retailer invaluable information on customer behavior that adds to the customer profile to further enrich future interactions.

The ability to collect and connect customer data

When a customer downloads a retailer’s app, not only is she giving the retailer that much coveted space on her mobile phone but she is also giving the retailer her time, attention and above all an access to her personal data; likes, spending habits, social orientation etc. This gives a retailer valuable insight as to how the customer prefers to interact with the brand.
There are perhaps more compelling reasons why push notifications have become an important and integral part of marketing strategy in the digital age. But more than reasons, it is the intensity with which these little tools have become so powerful, and given the right usage with the right strategy in place, push notifications can be game-changer bet for a retailer company in this era.

Webrooming

Webrooming: Online Retail's Answer To Showrooming

So while retail industry is still catching up with consumer adoption of mobile and technology, there have been serious problems like showrooming bothering retailers, and then there have answers that seem to have nipped it right in the bud, already. All this amazingly happens at a time when a huge segment of retailers are still waking-up to the problem.

What is Showrooming?

Customers, these days, are better informed and better equipped, thanks to loads of information available on the Internet. Customers know there are online deals for almost every product available in the market. Hence, most of the times, customers would visit a store, choose a product, physically get a look and feel of the product, compare it with other things around, and then finally make the purchase online seeking a better deal. This is called showrooming.
Showrooming has bothered brick-and-mortar retailers for some time now. Because almost everything is available online now and customers know there'll almost always be a deal available online, the visit to the physical store has more or less become a step in the purchase journey. Brick-and-mortar stores have suffered significant setback owing to showrooming.

What is Webrooming?

The exact reverse of showrooming. Webrooming occurs when a consumer conducts a through research on a product online before finally buying it from the store.
Many retailers see webrooming as an opportunity and utilize resources to give the online channel its due credit. But somehow there are some who retailers fail to realize the importance and do not develop resources for consumers to make webrooming the unbroken link in the information chain.

The Trend

Customers have always been keen on product knowledge before purchase. Retailers have always approached this need as an opportunity and hence brochures, infomercials, flyers, workshops etc. have been in the marketing scene for as long as one can remember. Product research is not new. Just that with the advent of Internet and the sea of information that comes on the Internet, product research has gained a whole new meaning and momentum. Now customers are not only keen but also almost finicky about product information; every single detail including what goes into making, how is it made, competition, quality, price, everything matters. So instead of fighting the trend, retailers need to grab on the opportunity and use Internet as a medium to educate and influence potential customers.

The Omni Channel Approach

For companies that use the Omni channel medium for sales need to understand that in this connected age of seamless information, all channels and customer interaction points need to be complimentary to each other and not be competitive. Information from the Internet can educate your customer about your product which can in turn increase in-store sales and similarly a visit to the store might just reaffirm the customer to make the online purchase. It's not just about sales but also ancillary sales, and not just about one transaction but a long-term customer engagement.

Grolsch's Smart Cap

An innovative and intriguing way to engage customers

If you know the Dutch for their Windmills and Tulips, here’s one more great reason to know them, an awesome innovation. The popular beer brand Grolsch from Dutch has recently made some news for its innovative bottle-cap-Bluetooth-beacon. The app provides free movies to consumers through the beacon contact.
Here’s how this works. There is a Bluetooth beacon attached to the beer bottle’s cap. The beacon is sealed with a sticker from inside to ensure that the beacon gets activated only when the bottle is opened. Consumers who purchase Grolsch Beer can get connected to the beacon by tapping on the bottle cap with their smart phones. The app is activated on the tap. As soon as the beer bottle is opened, the beacon gets activated and starts sending signal to the server that authenticates the signal by matching up the signal with its previously registered serial number, is the authentication gets through consumers are sent a list of movies. A consumer can unlock a movie of choice from that list and get the movie for free.
It’s a brilliant application considering:

• It promotes direct sales of the product and not just ancillary sales
• It intrigues the customer and encourages enjoyable brand engagement
• It rewards the customer with a great incentive that will provide some good time and memorable moments

Beacons and wireless technology have been around for a while now, but examples like these demonstrate the real value that clever application of these technologies can create, both for the brand and the customer.

A Promising Future

When beacons were first introduced, there were promises and projections of endless possibilities especially related to customer engagement. But when it came to implementation, beacons failed to deliver on the promise. It seemed more hype than real possibility. For instance, QR codes that led the customer to the company’s website didn’t really have relevance or any value for the customer. But with applications like these, there seems to be intriguing brand experiences as initially promised by beacons.
Beacons, when combined with mobile apps, can deliver real time brand engagement and an enjoyable user experience to customers, which is zenith of brand-customer involvement. Companies are developing more campaigns like these, with intelligent ideas and clever implementation, across the world. This looks like the road to a promising future.