// “After the idea, there is plenty of time to learn the technology” – James Dyson
We believe great technology should come as standard. Our mission is to understand the mindset of mobile consumer. It’s that insight, our strategic thinking and creative sparkle that deliver real results for our clients. That’s why our mantra is psychology not technology.
July 2010: Sponge Chairman Alex Meisl answers the top five questions brands ask about mobile...
The five questions brands most commonly ask about mobile
Things have moved on significantly since two years ago when a senior agency Account Director asked us to explain the difference between a text and an SMS…..
Despite this, we are all guilty in our assumption that brands have a more in-depth knowledge than is often the case. So, as we sit down with a brand which is new to the mobile space (still a worryingly high percentage) what can we expect to hear?
It usually starts with the most basic: why do I need to do mobile?
While this can be settled with relative ease - everyone’s got one - we believe that the response needs to be taken to a more fundamental level. With media and communications cutting out the middle man and the ability to build a long-term two way dialogue with a customer, mobile is the most powerful and effective tool at a brand’s disposal.
Next question is usually: what should I do on mobile?
This is obviously the killer question (and dependent on budgets), but typically can be broken down into at least three areas - improving customer servicing, customer user experience and operational efficiencies. First and foremost, the brand should check their website stats and see the percentage of mobile devices trying to access it. This alone should persuade them to invest in a mobile site. They then need to beware of false economies – a cheap poorly thought-out mobile site will do more harm than good. The brand should also be looking at incorporating mobile into their marcomms and even consider an app (but only once they have got the basic mobile stepping stones in place).
The next question invariably is: isn’t a mobile site just the web but smaller?
After a brief spell waiting for the palpitations to die down, we need to patiently explain that the answer is no. Leaving aside screen sizes, mobile devices are used for short intensive bursts and the user needs are different. Clean uncluttered front-ends with the bare minimum of information and simple navigation should be the order of the day. Just as important is ensuring that the site is optimised for the main types of handset for the best possible user experience. Also with data-charging becoming more of an issue, the ability to serve content/information as efficiently as possible becomes key.
Often we are confronted with: isn’t text dead?
Far from it, it remains the most powerful tool available for many brands. It works on all devices, is efficient and cost-effective. However, rather like the Japanese Fugu fish which can kill if prepared incorrectly, SMS can be equally dangerous if unwelcome or irrelevant. Like the Japanese chefs who serve a three year apprenticeship before serving the fish to customers, the same applies to your mobile agency!
Amazingly, in this imaginary scenario, I have managed to get to the fifth question before mentioning: Should I just do an iPhone app?
No.
Like the gramophone charts, many questions we hear come close to the top five but did not quite make it. Our favourites include:
Can you do it cheaper?
Compare it to your other digital costs, mobile represents exceptionally good value for money and delivers a great ROI. Also – we have been doing this for 8 years – we know our sh*t
Can we have an in depth proposal for this afternoon? Yes [sigh], but if you really want a well thought out proposal, how about allowing us a touch more time to dazzle?
My agency/mate/drinking buddy says they can do mobile, should I just use them?
Sure. I say I can climb Mount Everest, but luckily have not yet been put to the test. One of our biggest sources of new business at the moment comes from picking up the pieces from projects which have gone awry due to claims of experience and results delivered not being completely in alignment…..
Can you give us lots of consultancy for free on the off-chance we might give you a project at some indeterminate time in the future?
Nope.
Alex is not a grump really and loves the mobile space. It’s just his age.
June 2010: Sponge Client Services Director Phil Gault shares his thoughts...
Mobile: providing a compass for the customer journey
Let’s step away for a moment from the concept of mobile as a tool to make a purchase.
How about looking at the role mobile plays in helping retailers to simplify choices? What I mean is this: consumers are bombarded with so much noise and confusion from so many brands that they often don’t know which way to turn.
Because of the immediacy mobile offers, retailers can drive a message straight from their brand into consumers’ hands. They can steer people towards the desired action and build a more personal dialogue with their customers.
We've just finished a sizeable consultancy project for a price comparison site that's looking for the best way to mobilise itself. One of the things that struck me most forcibly was how much users valued the email newsletter, often more than the site itself. Why? For the very simple reason that it brought the offers to them. It informed and stimulated. It demonstrated an editorial intelligence. In other words, it fulfilled the important role of being a 'choice simplifier'.
This reinforced for me one of the key reasons why mobile will become a critical communication channel for retailers. In a world where retail choice is abundant - seemingly infinite, when it comes to e-commerce - the smart and successful brands will be those that make it as easy for possible for consumers to buy from them.
This is partly about accessibility. Not just being open for business 24/7, but being available to consumers wherever they are. In short, being 'mobile'.
It’s about finding a way to flag your best offers to pre-disposed customers. If you have a database that's fit for modern marketing purposes, the barriers to achieving this are very low in terms of both technology and cost.
A good example is our work with fashion and sports retailer MandMDirect.com. SMS broadcasts to intelligently derived segments of the company’s database have driven average response rates of 6%. And by response rates, I mean 6% of people buying. That's marketing manna.
What's doubly interesting is that by doing this, brands like MandMDirect.com are simultaneously increasing their understanding of customer behaviour. They know who's responded by making a purchase - which means they can explore ways of incentivising and rewarding these high value customers further. They know who's responded but not purchased - which provides important information against which to test refinements to the offer. They even know who's unsubscribed...which probably means these customers have fallen out of love with the brand a bit and may be about to fall into the arms of a competitor. In this instance the mobile channel is now closed to you - but maybe you can do something via email to remedy the situation?
What all of this demonstrates is mobile's ability to ignite or re-ignite the customer conversation by providing them with a 'compass', a guide, a beacon that simplifies or stimulates their purchasing decision.
So long as your offer is relevant and timely, consumers will thank you for bringing it to their attention - and are likely to reward you with their business. And when it comes to relevance and timeliness, there’s nothing to beat mobile.
May 2010: Sponge CEO Dan Parker shares his thoughts...
How do you create a successful iPhone app?
For every Carling iPint, there are a huge number of iPhone apps that fail miserably.
When a new trend takes hold, marketing best practice goes out of the window as brands scramble for a piece of the action; fearful of being left behind by their seemingly more progressive rivals. The brief, or non-brief, is simply “we need an iPhone app.”
You wouldn’t approach any other marketing activity this way – you’d know why you wanted it, what it was for and who you wanted to reach with it.
Brands thinking of building an iPhone app should ask themselves this: does it offer one or more of these three things?
The wow factor – People need to be impressed early and if your app has an immediate wow factor, they’ll be hooked. Fail to impress and they’ll walk away.
The viral factor – 74% of iPhone users believe their iPhone makes them feel cool, and they love showing off the latest apps. Would you feel compelled to pass your brand’s iPhone app on to a friend?
A genuinely useful function – if you can pay a bill using your Natwest banking app while sat on a bus or do your Ocado shop via your phone, you are going to use these services again and again. They’ll become an integral part of your routine and you won’t be able to remember how you lived without them.
Lots of brands have walked away from an iPhone app disaster after spending a lot of money; left scratching their heads trying to work out what went wrong. If your app performs at least one of the functions above, you’re half way to creating something people will like or use. A good idea is paramount but creativity, solid production – technology and design – as well as a decent amount of testing are all vital to iPhone app success.
