As the New Year 2014 dawns, businesses will have to reorient their marketing strategies bearing in mind the increased role mobile is going to play in influencing customer engagements. Experts predict some distinct mobile marketing trends during 2014 that will be a departure from earlier years.
Advancements in mobile technology will lead to a well-defined and systematic approach to engaging with prospects.
The increasing relevance of mobile apps will facilitate marketers to send effectively targeted messages that will enhance customer interaction and improve customer service.
Attitudes are changing and during 2014, buyers will be slowly but steadily shifting from physical shopping to online shopping and thus the importance of mobile devices will commensurately grow.
With advanced mobile applications capabilities, the year 2014 will witness a redefining of Customer Relationship Management. Mobile analytics will help track shopping behavior and the findings will serve as a guide for future mobile marketing efforts.
During the year 2014, there will be more than 7 billion mobile subscribers worldwide and the percentage of smartphone users will also register a sharp increase. Customers are beginning to feel the use of mobile devices more and more comfortable.
Surveys suggest that mobile ad spending will witness a boom. Marketers will also gather a lot more location-based data on their customers.
This simply means marketers will have greater messaging opportunities as they will use GPS, accelerometers, as also acquire the capability to integrate cameras/pictures.
Even as it is, marketers claim that 10% of all payments are coming via the mobile channel. The mobile wallet space is steadily developing and this will accelerate the growth of mobile commerce. Businesses – particularly retailers – will add mobile commerce functionality into their apps.
If marketers are unaware which mobile commerce apps or mobile wallet solutions their prospects are using, they might as well ask them.
Lastly, the Apple’s passbook technology will gain prominence. As it is, many of the major retailers have rolled out some sort of functionality using Apple Passbook. Passbook functionality integrates seamlessly with mobile apps, due to a user-friendly API. Businesses can also deliver passes via email or the Web, enabling almost everyone to use Passbook.