The #1 Thing That Drives M-Commerce Sales Is…

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source: Anita Lusina
source: Anita Lusina

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) is on the brink of exploding. According to ComScore, time spent on mobile has exceeded desktop by miles away. However, money spent on mobile is excruciatingly low.

source: business insider
source: business insider

Many attributes discourage users spending money via mobile.

1. Poor UX. This makes product details difficult to read and payment information frustrating to enter due to the fact many sites are not quite mobile-optimized.
2. Speed is also a problem. Mobile users often shop on the go, which provides convenience, but it also puts them at unease with weak Wi-Fi and LTE connections.
3. Security. Consumers want security when entering their payment information on a phone compared to a desktop or laptop.
4. Price also play a role. The more expensive the transaction, for example, purchasing a car or flight, the likelier the user avoids mobile and buys it from desktop instead.

The Good News About M-Commerce

The market of m-commerce is still growing, nonetheless. Business Insider forecasts m-commerce will reach $284 billion, or 45% of the total U.S e-commerce market, by 2020. Compared to June 2015, mobile retail boosted 10 points this year. M-commerce accounts for 54% of total digital time relative to other mobile categories. So what drives m-commerce? Drum roll, please…

The #1 thing that drives m-commerce is…

Mobile Engagement!!!

Ok. So now what? How do you drive mobile engagement? See these top 3 tips below.

1. Send Friendly Reminders on Items Saved

I can’t tell you how many m-commerce/retail apps I’ve downloaded which have failed to notify me about pending items in my cart or mobile wallet. This is a standard! An m-commerce retailer needs to trigger engagements in general, but especially about my shopping cart. Whether the engagement triggered is a push message, an in-app message, a video reminder, just notify me about my basket! Otherwise, my attention will go to another brand. This also extends to the wish list. Take it a step further and notify me that those brown boots are on sale. Or that if I buy them now, I’ll get free shipping, discount, loyalty points, etc. Simply keep in touch with users. If users want less, they can always opt out of engagements, if you make it easy for them to modify their communication settings.

2. Build Up Your Mobile Community with Relevant Offers

What I can’t stand the most is getting an irrelevant offer. Despite the retailer having a lot of my customer data, they fail to target me with my basic profile information at hand. Once time, I downloaded a major clothing retail app. After registering my details including gender, location, language, and so forth, I explored the app. I saved a few shirts in my shopping basket. I closed the app. About a day later, they sent me a push message about an upcoming MEN’S clothing sale. I disregarded the message and swiped it away. What a waste, for both me and the retailer. Thus, offer your mobile community relevant offers based on their profile registration information. In my case, segment me from the male target audience.

3. Monitor User Behavior & Offer Smart Item Profiling

Take a step further and monitor user behavior and preferences. Like the Amazon model, show the user similar items OR items that other buyers have bought. Or generate a suggested list of items I might like, just like Spotify’s weekly playlists. Work with your data science team to roll out an algorithm that indexes smart profiling based on customer search or customer preferences. Don’t have a data science team? Consider in-app beacons which show marketers what users search, save, click and view. Let’s say I saved/liked a few shirts in my mobile wallet. Why not target me when that shirt goes on sale? Or if the inventory for that shirt is low. Or send me a curated shopping list of shirts that are similar. The skies the limit with your m-commerce engagement creativity.

The bottom line is, mobile engagement unlocks m-commerce success, given the right technological tools and mobile strategy backing it up.

Want to learn more about mobile retail? See our eBook, “How Retailers Can Capitalize the Mobile Market”

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Katherine Frangos
MobileBridge
Content marketing manager at mobilebridge

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