Mobile Marketer Classic Guide To Mobile Commerce
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Mobile Marketer THE NEWS LEADER IN MOBILE MARKETING, MEDIA AND COMMERCE
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A CLASSIC GUIDE November 25, 2008 $295
Mobile Commerce Classic Guide to
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© 2008 HipCricket, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All other brands, registrations, trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.
Mobile Marketer C L A S S I C G U I D E TO MOB ILE COMMERCE
2 INTRODUCTION Mobile commerce: It’s a reality By Giselle Abramovich BASIC 3 The current state of mobile commerce By Steve Timpson, Siteminis
5 Mobile commerce: The importance of the enduser experience By Mike Beech, Acision 6 Mobile is not the tiny Web By Jason Cianchette, Liquid Wireless
7 Mobile commerce: Leveraging the targeted impulse purchase opportunity By Alan Sultan, Acuity Mobile 8 From the desktop to the mobile phone: Advancing mobile commerce a single-click at a time By Michael Dulong, Billing Revolution
10 How content providers can profit from mobile search, on- and off-deck By Stephen Burke, MCN 11 How to optimize your Web site for mobile By Marc Peter, on-Idle
INTERMEDIATE 12 Reaching consumers at point of need key to mobile commerce By Brad Bostic, ChaCha Search
13 How to achieve mobile marketing success with optimized landing pages By Kim Ann King, SiteSpect 14 American shoppers turn to coupons during economic slowdown By Steven Gray, Money Mailer
15 The role of idle screen in driving mobile commerce By Jon Jackson, Mobile Posse 16 FEATURE Sears wins with mobile commerce By Giselle Abramovich, Mobile Marketer 18 Mobile banking’s place in the ecosystem By Michael Foschetti, Mobisix
19 Customer service leads the way in mobile travel Web adoption By Gerry Samuels, Mobile Travel Technologies
CONTENTS ADVANCED 20 Beyond the handset: Leveraging mobile distribution points to reach underserved markets By Moneet Singh, MPower Mobile 21 An evolution revolution: SMS transforms mobile commerce By Chuck Drake, Clickatell
22 Hate crowds? Want your mobile content to stand out? Try thinking globally, acting locally and embracing the mobile Web By Ray Anderson, Bango 23 Banks and carriers finally realizing the power of mobile commerce By Matthew Talbot, Sybase 365 24 So, now you have a mobile site. What’s next? By Richard Eicher, Skycore 25 Personalization: Teenage sex all over again By Mory Bahar, Personal Remedies 27 Mobile commerce: The Legal Landscape By Brian W. Esler and David Rice, Miller Nash
28 Mobile sellers face technological and legal challenges By Gonzalo E. Mon, Kelley Drye & Warren 29 12 tips for building a mobile site By Marci Troutman, Siteminis
30 Camera-phone mobile commerce By Rob DeStefano, Mobile Data Systems
31 A universal compliance standard will jump-start the mobile commerce industry By Eric Holmen, SmartReply 32 ‘Tis the season for mobile By Conrad Lisco, 5th Finger
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INTRODUCTION
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M obile c omm erce : It’s a re alit y etail giants Target, Sears and Wal-Mart and fashion houses Chloé, Dolce & Gabbana and Dior all went mobile this year, proving that mobile commerce is here to stay.
The launch of the iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Storm and the G1 Android-enabled phone proved that this industry is capable of getting over the smallscreen challenge. The fact of the matter is that mobile commerce isn’t just something marketers are dabbing their feet into. They are slowly starting to jump in fullthrottle.
Retailers such as GameStop are using mobile coupons to drive consumers in store. If that’s not mobile commerce, I don’t know what is. I think for the first time we can proudly say that 2008 was the year for mobile commerce. Yes, the channel still has ways to go. Yes, there are still some consumers who don’t trust mobile. But isn’t that always the case? Let’s look back to the beginning of the Internet and ecommerce. Consumers had all the same doubts about ecommerce as they do today with mobile commerce.
It was a challenge that the industry faced and ecommerce companies and the software and technology companies that serve them overcame. The same will be true for mobile commerce because, let’s face it, it is here and it isn’t going away. It’s no exaggeration when I say that mobile commerce will soon change the shopping habits of consumers just like the Internet already has done.
Remember the mobile channel is more personal than any other and there’s no doubt that well-thought out mobile commerce sites and services will strengthen the bonds between brands and consumers. However, there are still brands and companies that are new-comers to the mobile commerce space and don’t know where to begin.
This guide aims to help advertising agencies, service providers, site developers, ad networks, analytics companies and others find their way
around the mobile commerce industry.
The list of contributors to this guide includes representatives from 5th Finger, Bango, Acision, Acuity Mobile, Billing Revolution, ChaCha, Clickatell, Kelley Drye & Warren, Liquid Wireless, MCN, Miller Nash, Mobile Posse, Mobisix, Money Mailer, MPower Mobile, MTT, on-Idle, Personal Remedies, Siteminis, SiteSpect, Skycore, SmartReply and Sybase 365. The articles offer best-practice tips, educational points of view and analysis.
The case study on retail giant Sears’ mobile strategy is worth reading.
The authors of the 20-plus articles in this guide play a vital role in the mobile commerce ecosystem. Their insights and analysis will help you in your mobile commerce efforts. We thank these senior executives for their time and hard work. To editor in chief Mickey Alam Khan, staff reporter Dan Butcher and director of ad sales Jodie Solomon: Thank you for your help and guidance in producing this guide. A special thanks to Rob DiGioia for his art direction and overall production of this guide.
Please read Mobile Marketer’s Classic Guide to Mobile Commerce from cover to cover and circulate it to your friends, colleagues, clients and prospects.
Also, visit http://www.mobilemarketer.com and sign up for our free newsletters that offer the latest news and analysis on mobile marketing, media and commerce.
We hope you benefit from this guide and look forward to featuring your mobile commerce wisdom and work in the next.
Giselle Abramovich [email protected]
Mickey Alam Khan Editor in Chief [email protected]
Dan Butcher Staff Reporter [email protected]
Giselle Abramovich Associate Editor [email protected]
Robert DiGioia Design Consultant [email protected]
Mobile Marketer covers news and analysis of mobile marketing, media and commerce. The franchise comprises MobileMarketer.com, the Mobile Marketer Daily newsletter and www.MobileNewsLeader.com. 2008 Napean LLC. All rights reserved. PAGE 2
ADVERTISING Jodie Solomon Director of Advertising Sales [email protected]
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MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
BAS IC
Th e cur r en t s t at e o f m o bi l e co mm er ce
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By Steve Timpson
n this column, we investigate what’s available for a traditional Internet site to use in transitioning to the mobile interface. Most sites transfer their entire content onto small mobile screens. Despite the significant buzz about the iPhone and its Internet interface, it suffers inherent issues, including its small screen size, which must receive content and load from larger PC/Mac formats, minimal market penetration, and competition from other smartphones in the marketplace. This scenario often creates long waits for text, links and functionality to load, followed by another significant delay as the images load on top of one another. The images shrink to fit the screen and, in most cases, become unreadable. Sites therefore become linear, meaning that the pages scroll at more than 20 times the height of the screen to fit all the content and images. After the first page loads, passwords, usernames, and most functionality are clickable but not functional, meaning that users can click through to the next screen, but data collection behind the scenes does not always work, leaving the user frustrated. Several different scenarios currently exist in the mobile commerce marketplace, yet they still do not provide a real solution for companies that want to manage their brand and offer their consumers a user-friendly interface to view products and make mobile purchases. WAP approach The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) represents the most widely used solution to date for mobile content and mobile functionality. It takes content designed for the PC/Mac world and forces its conformity with the mobile platform, which requires removing some content and alienating the original user interface and functionality to make sites fit the mobile platform. Specifically, WAP technology removes anything that is not mobile compatible, often completely destroying the usability, intended flow, and brand of the site. With this approach, the mobile Internet provides a difficult interface for end users and the general public therefore avoids the mobile Internet. Internet Web sites generally are created with one platform in mind, namely, the PC/Mac world. MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
The Major League Baseball site (http://wap.mlb.com) provides an example of an ecommerce site designed for the PC/Mac platform that has been forced onto a mobile platform through the WAP approach. All commerce charges sent through this site are added to the customer’s phone bill, because the functionality does not flow properly through WAP.
The .mobi approach Another commonly used option, .mobi, provides an extension that retailers and companies may use to guide consumers to a URL that becomes, for example, http://url.mobi. This extension also does not feature any software that rebuilds the site but instead allows the site to be viewed as it would in WAP or by pulling all data from the large screen to the smaller screen in smaller, nonfunctional versions. The BMW mobile site at http://bmw.mobi offers an example. Most retailers have not purchased their .mobi URL, which creates the concern that any company or individual could purchase the .mobi extension of a retailer for its own gain. If a domain name with the .mobi extension is available, anyone may purchase it for their own purposes, which could result in significant security concerns.
The “one site for all” approach In this third approach, all content on a PC/Mac site forces itself into the mobile application as best as it can, which simply does not work. The text and links populate first, which can take a full two minutes, and once that process finishes, the images start to load in, one on top of another, until the site is completely pushed into the mobile screen. The entire site therefore gets crammed together to fit in a space it was not designed to fit, creating site confusion and difficult site navigation. The Bloomingdale’s site at http://www.bloomingdales.com offers an example. Note that the entire screen must finish loading before users may click through to log in. When a user clicks the next screen, the long loading process for all data and images follows the same tedious process and so on throughout the site. Should users choose to return to a previous page, they discover that the pages do not cache. In other words, the information is not stored in the mobile browser windows and users must again wait for the entire page to reload to view it again. Each page follows this download process, making it (next page) PAGE 3
(from page 3) nearly impossible to navigate sites, let alone buy from them. Even if consumers know exactly which product they want to purchase, and the exact path to reach it, smartphones still demand an estimated 15 minutes to find the product and add it to a shopping cart, which rarely works on the small screen. Thus, the overall effort represents a waste of time and energy and makes mobile commerce impossibility for most retailers. Free shipping on mobile commerce Free shipping on mobile commerce purchases or should I pay more for the mobile commerce experience? It is surprising that the question of whether the mobile shopping experience should differ from that of the normal PC/Mac experience when it comes to service.
Yes, there will be a difference in the user interface due to the screen size. There will most certainly be differences in the amount of information a customer receives or their patience to wait to receive it. Let’s say for the sake of argument, that the issues of imaging and functionality are overcome. What remains the same is the drive for online retailers to improve conversion and expand their market base. It would seem that the same laws that affect the market place on the PC/Mac world would be the same in the mobile world. If you offer free shipping and other discounts to entice shoppers to buy through your site, you would extend those same offers on the mobile site. In fact, the same data-based driven marketing strategies would be deployed in marketing your mobile site. Wouldn’t it be great that the user does not have to worry about landing on any other site than your everyday .com page? The technology is there to do that, but few have moved in that direction – yet. In the end, mobile sites will grow based on simple economics, slow at first and then with the rush as water through a broken dam. How long that will take is a crap-shoot guess at best right now, but it will be sooner than you think. The use of special applications to make sites work and the use of text marketing to get people to a mobile-optimized site will rise and then wither away as both Internet commerce owners and users become PAGE 4
comfortable with the technology, security and mostly ease of use. Therein lays the answer to the question of free shipping. The mobile commerce strategy will simply be an extension of the online PC/Mac site and users will expect and demand the same customer service on either appliance. Failure to give the customer that same service will result in a loss on mobile business over time in a free commerce world.
Shopping bots One question that comes our way every now and then is whether or not shopping malls will become popular in mobile commerce as they had in ecommerce. My opinion is that this method of shopping will not gain in real popularity, mainly due to the education that retailers got using shopping sites during the dot-com boom in the late-’90s and early 2000s. Retailers learned during the growth of their online business that the real battle for customers was one with traditional strategies of branding, well-designed and informative Web sites and easily navigated commerce sites. Why spend money building some other company’s brand or lose valuable margin dollars that could be just as easily pocketed? Certainly the next big play for commerce sites is through mobile commerce. These portals should be extensions of the Web site itself and not through some other portal or URL that may be unfamiliar to the user. It would be easier to use their existing Internet platform and IT capabilities to manage the mobile site just as they do with their base site. The bigger question becomes how online retailing addresses the needs and concerns of the mobile shopper. In the same way the shop bots or online shopping malls filled a need to the online consumer, there may be a slight rise in mobile shopping malls in the short term depending on how fast retailers develop mobile shopping sites that are more robust than just text. This is especially true when it comes to functionality and shopping. If retailers are slow to embrace the mobile world, then, a sharp wireless carrier may develop an easy interface for shopability that makes their site more attractive or easier to use than the online retailer, therefore giving rise to a short-term lift of shopping mall type sites on the mobile. But, just as with the ecommerce changes we saw in the past, retailers will eventually side-step this process for their own branding strategy and the ability to keep more of their own margin in their own pocket. Customers comfortable shopping behind retailer’s URL This has been accomplished through better security, better ecommerce and better delivery of goods. My sense is that most customers want to dial in the retailers domain and do their commerce there. If they need additional information, they are going to Google the topic and work backwards until they have found the information, product or pricing they need. Steve Timpson is chief operating officer of Siteminis, Marietta, GA. Reach him at [email protected]
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Mobile commerce:
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The importance of the end-user experience By Mike Beech
s Apple has demonstrated time and again, most recently with the iPhone 3G, the end-user experience makes a real difference to the acceptance of any product or service. For mobile commerce, it will be essential to create a simple yet secure user experience in order to facilitate any widespread acceptance of the service. Without an easy to use, but secure experience, mobile commerce will remain all talk and no action.
Using a mobile wallet Many mobile phones have long had the capability to store “cash” within the phone itself, the so-called mobile wallet. In Finland, home of Nokia, mobile handset users have been able to buy Coke from vending machines for many years. Yet we haven’t seen this expand to many other services, nor have we seen it expand, to any great extent, on a worldwide basis. While the idea sounds easy to use, users have to “load” cash onto their phone. The actual purchase procedure can be a cumbersome and an unwieldy user experience. Alternative approaches Many wireless carriers around the world have experimented with both mobile wallets and other forms of payment, such as premium SMS. In Singapore, one of the carriers conducted extensive field trials, using four different mechanisms with a small user group in each part of the city. The trial included mobile wallets, premium SMS and links through to their mobile accounts. Their goal was to find the one approach that worked best. Their findings were that all of the approaches were too time-consuming and difficult for end users. Not one technique passed the trial stage.
Wave and pay A model gaining popularity is the simple “wave and pay” concept, using Near Field Communications (NFC). Here the phone still has a mobile wallet, but payment is made easier as you only need to “wave” your phone at the point of sale. While NFC only has a range of a few centimeters, some fear this payment method is so simple, you could walk down a street and unknowingly pay for everyone else’s purchases. While security is an issue in this approach, at least elements of simplicity are being proposed.
Beyond retail payments Of course, so far we have only considered the use of the mobile phone as a payment instrument in a standard retail outlet. When using the phone as an alternative way of accessing online retailers, different problems arise. Most existing Internet sites do not work well on the majority of
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
mobile phones. Put simply, the screen size and lack of a mouse and keyboard interface makes using most online sites difficult, to say the least. As covered by other articles in this guide, online sites need to be designed for the phone to be successful, which is in itself a challenge. Phones vary in their own capabilities and particularly screen size, from the iPhone or T-Mobile’s G1 (both geared for online access) to the more basic handsets with very limited functionality and small screens. Apple has shown that it can move a successful online site (iTunes) to the phone. However, not all Web site creators have the luxury of owning their own phone as well. Obviously, carriers are in a stronger position here and should be looking to encourage other site developers as well as building their own portals. Using your mobile phone account In considering the end-user experience, we should look at one of the key parts of a mobile phone – the already established payment method. End-users are familiar with paying a monthly bill (on contract) or topping up their phone with cash in advance (prepaid). Having mobile commerce activity tap into this existing payment infrastructure will help the usability and improve the perception of security. Prepaid and post-paid accounts both offer advantages to the end-user experience for mobile commerce. With post-paid, I have a readymade “monthly bill.” With prepaid, I can set limits on my spending (by the amount I top-up) and can keep track of what I have left in real-time. In both cases, if a phone is lost or stolen, the carrier is able to block the phone and stop any unauthorized transactions being applied to the account. Also in both cases, I can have a full and detailed record of all my purchases. The carrier can provide this to me as a regular statement or as an online, self-service record that I can check at any time. And I have avoided the need to create yet another account or another way to load a payments instrument with cash.
The ultimate experience? What end-user experience is the market looking for? It has to be simple and secure, easy to use but, if the worst happens, easy to block. So consider this: I take my purchases to the checkout and wave my phone at the register when the goods have been scanned through. My phone shows me a list of the goods, the amount of each, all the taxes and, of course, the total amount. If I am using a prepaid account for this, I would expect to see my starting balance at the top and my remaining balance at the bottom. I click “OK” and then maybe I am asked to confirm or even enter a PIN (perhaps based on the total amount of the transaction). At the end of the month, whether I prepaid or post-paid, I get my “mobile commerce” statement. All transactions are listed in detail, with totals for each transaction. Of course, this is available online to check at any time and is updated in real-time, so I always know where I am. And what if my purchase was online? The collection into my basket obviously needs to be tailored, but the check-out and payment I want exactly the same way. Nice and simple. Mike Beech is vice president at Plano, TX-based Acision LLC. Reach him at [email protected] PAGE 5
Mobile is not the t iny Web
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By Jason Cianchette
enerally people think of mobile as the tiny Web. They believe that mobile devices have tiny screens, tiny banner ads and tiny audiences that generate tiny revenue. Mobile is far from tiny and may soon surpass the Internet in significance. Like all new mediums, a fresh approach must be created to change the way we think about mobile. When a new medium is introduced, there tends to be a lot of uncertainty in how to best leverage the functionality of the developing platform. In the mid 1990s, much of Web commerce was made up of an electronic display of print catalog content, sometimes even in the form of a PDF. Companies did not know how to fully use the features that the Internet had to offer. In time, the true power of the Web was understood and ecommerce sites began implementing more sophisticated functionality such as recommendations and user-generated ratings and reviews. Today, the new medium is the mobile phone. Mobile phones currently have small screens and slow download connections compared to PCs. This leads many marketers and site designers to create mobile experiences that are small, stripped down versions of their Web sites. Mobile, however, has much more to offer than people realize. A true paradigm shift is necessary. Some ways that this can be done is to develop new ideas that exploit the power and potential of the mobile platform. How could this work? One way is to create purchase opportunities at new times and places. For example, my brand affinity for Procter & Gamble-owned personal hygiene brand Gillette is highest each time my favorite team, the New England Patriots, plays at Gillette stadium. Mobile can provide a great opportunity to let fans like me buy new blades during a game by sending a text message in between plays. In addition, many of the Web’s advanced commerce features can be brought to physical retail stores using mobile. For instance, while shopping for a new printer at Staples, I could have reviews and ratings on the models available right on my mobile phone. Furthermore, Staples could also give me personalized in-store recommendations based on my PAGE 6
previous purchases with the company. Mobile also offers a fast channel to send targeted rewards. For example, companies such as hotel chain Sheraton can use mobile to enhance their loyalty marketing programs. While in New York, Sheraton could send me offers based on my current location and transaction history. Using my mobile device, I could redeem an offer to get tickets to a Broadway show with my Sheraton rewards points. As marketers begin embracing the unique capabilities of the mobile platform, we will start enjoying new and exciting commerce opportunities that go well beyond the tiny Web. Jason Cianchette is president of Boston-based Liquid Wireless. Reach him at [email protected]
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Mobile commerce:
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Leveraging the t argeted impulse purchase opportunit y By Alan Sultan
obile commerce certainly presents tremendous opportunities for retailers to engage customers in more meaningful transactions that are highly relevant to the customer, thus resulting in increased sales. How does mobile enable this? Mobile can deliver spot relevance – the ability to deliver the right marketing content, to the right person, at the right time, in the right location. To provide such a precise level of communication, business intelligence is captured or forecasted covering three major dimensions to determine spot relevance including user data, business data and time-of-day. User data includes inputting the identified interests (what they like) and activities (what they do) of the target group as obtained from prior market research activities. The location can be determined using technology such as GPS. Business data such as organizational goals and historical transactions are also important to include. Finally, leveraging any major wireless communications technology
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
such as WiFi, WiMAX, GSM or CDMA allows real-time decisionmaking as the precise time-of-day data is captured in order to optimize who is reached and how often. All of this information is entered into or captured by an intelligent preference engine which uses sophisticated statistical techniques and predictive algorithms to determine the optimal content or offer on an individualized basis. Prospects, customers and mobile commerce organizations are key beneficiaries of spot relevance. Prospects and customers value highly that they receive only compelling offers or content of interest whenever they want and not the digital spam that is too prevalent with current ecommerce marketing. Mobile commerce organizations gain deep, measurable business analysis in real time to understand what compels prospects and current customers to purchase, plus how to engage customers in a meaningful, ongoing relationship. Spot relevance can be delivered working within private networks and with select carriers. So the time is now to start testing it as part of your mobile commerce plans. Alan Sultan is president of Washington-based Acuity Mobile. Reach him at [email protected]
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F ro m th e de s kt o p to mo b ile p h on e :
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Advancing mobile comm erce a single-click at a tim e By Michael Dulong
t seems like only yesterday that consumers were reticent to engage in ecommerce due to security concerns. That was until Amazon paved the way toward mass ecommerce nearly 13 years ago. A lot has happened since those early days. Mobile commerce, while still early in its lifecycle, appears to be moving much more quickly than ecommerce in terms of consumer adoption and industry acceptance. And when you really think about mobile commerce and its many forms (credit-card billing, carrier billing, PSMS, credit cards and mobile “wallets”) it makes sense that consumers are only now beginning to make mobile purchases. Mobile Web adoption is the required first step toward a scalable mobile commerce model. According to a white paper recently released by Nielsen Co., “The United States is the global leader in mobile Internet adoption, with 40
million U.S. mobile subscribers (15.6 percent) actively using the mobile Internet.” The paper further addresses that “9.2 million United States mobile subscribers have used their phone to pay for goods or services.”
Entering the age of “single-click” mobile commerce Before getting into the details of what “single click” mobile commerce is all about, let’s consider how this is first handled with desktop computers, which is basically transacted through tracking cookies. Some phones have cookies turned on, some off, some carriers support, some do not. In order to scale single-click mobile commerce, the technology leveraged will need to function across all handsets and networks whether the handset has cookies enabled or disabled. To solve this dilemma, companies need a technology that enables single-click mobile commerce across all phones and all networks without requiring users to enter a user name or PIN code. The technology involved would essentially license the handset for “access.” “Access” in a digital sense could be to a download URL or, in a PAGE 8
physical instance this could involve order fulfillment and shipping. Hey, wait a minute! You might think this sounds a lot like ecommerce. And in fact you’d be right. The mobile Web is the Internet being accessed by a phone and eventually we will all own a larger screen, Web-enabled smartphone, which will be our preferred way of accessing the Internet. The truth of the matter is the mobile consumer is already making purchases and the mobile industry will need to keep pace with this new behavior. The single-click purchase experience is a glimpse of the future. Someday, we will all have a smartphone and we won’t think twice about whipping out our credit card to make the same types of purchases we take for granted on the Internet. At first it will be digital goods, then impulse purchases and finally major purchases of physical goods, which is something that everyone can get excited about. Without question, the future is bright for mobile commerce and a single-click technology platform is the one solution to drive benefits to all the stakeholders. Consumers will enjoy the added convenience of mobile shopping. Carriers can optimize the mobile purchase experience and enjoy significantly increased data revenues, and merchants can extend their shopping experiences to mobile. Beyond that, publishers and ad networks can run commerce-enabled mobile ad campaigns and deliver improved return on investment. With all of these benefits and consumer adoption increasing quickly, the industry is entering a period of truly explosive growth. Understand this is just the beginning of a natural evolution of the digital medium from the fixed desktop to the mobile phone. Consumers will ultimately lead the charge in this effort and help to usher in a new standard for mobile commerce exchange. Michael Dulong is senior vice president of business development at Billing Revolution, Seattle. Reach him at [email protected]
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
H o w co n t en t p r o v id er s can p ro f i t f r o m m o b i l e s e a r c h , o n - a n d o ff - d e c k By Stephen Burke
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obile users don’t buy what they can’t find. Content providers can’t survive if they have to spend more of their marketing budgets on costly, imprecise mass media and Web promotions or hit and miss mobile pay-per-impression (PPI) campaigns in order to capture user interest in the ever-widening mobile Web. This is especially true as the trend from on-portal content sales to off-portal accelerates in the United States and as new mobile commerce initiatives get under way. In the early days of the mobile Web, carriers — rightly — sought to control content access within walled gardens to ensure reliability and a common user experience. Content providers lined up to get “on deck,” creating pileups in operator waiting rooms. With recent advances in network capacity, data pricing, devices, applications and standards, the U.S. is poised to rapidly follow the trends set in Japan and in Britain. In these countries the ratio of on- and off-portal content discovery has flipped in the past two years and off-portal sites now dominate traffic. Even more dramatic in Japan is the growth of mobile commerce, which overtook mobile content sales in 2007 and will generate nearly $6 billion in revenue this year versus $3 billion in mobile content revenues. How will U.S. content and ecommerce providers profit? By grabbing space in the emerging “mobile malls” that are being deployed by carriers and portals. Mobile malls that are building clear pathways — on the phone top and the WAP portal – to information search powered by Web giants such as Google and Yahoo, as well as to high-value search merchandising services. Search merchandising services are services that leverage new technical advances such as federated search and new content promotion programs that reach users at the moment of highest interest in a transaction. Federated search solutions create direct connections to any content sources (on- and off- portal) in real-time, and in any number of vertical content channels (music, video, games and shopping). Queries are brokered out to relevant sources, and actionable content items—not endless links—are presented to the user in two to three clicks, ranked and sorted in terms of relevance and value. Federated search combined with new performance based pay-perclick (PPC) content promotion programs to reach users directly at the instant they want to buy cool stuff with their phone. This eliminates costly and complex keyword bidding and campaign management and ensures that if the content provider’s database has a piece of content relevant to the query it will be presented to users who are primed to buy. Shorter click distance + relevant content items (not links) = higher click throughs, conversions and return on investment. With federated search and PPC content promotion at their disposal, content providers can manage search engine optimization within their own databases, leverage limited marketing budgets directly against PAGE 10
users at the moment of highest interest in a transaction, and maintain a profitable position in high-traffic mobile malls. Stephen Burke is the Tokyo-based senior vice president of marketing for MCN Inc., a mobile search platform provider. Reach him at [email protected]
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
How to optimize T
your Web site for mobile By Marc Peter
here is still a marked difference between mobile usage in Japan and Europe, where in the Far East, i-mode services (e.g. localized restaurant bookings) are ubiquitous, but not as widely used in Europe. I-mode is a mobile Internet service that is popular in Japan. Unlike WAP, i-mode covers more Internet standards, like Web access, email and the network that delivers the data. I-mode users have access to various services such as email, sports results, weather forecasts, games, financial services and ticket booking. Content is provided by specialized services, typically from the mobile carrier, which allows them to have tighter control over billing. The iPhone has changed user perception of browsing the Internet via mobile, with the overarching question: Why should there be a difference between PC Web and mobile Web? When site owners first started to investigate the possibility of mobile sites, the ensuing and internal debate with developers was to go down the WAP path or optimize a specific Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) but use the HTML protocol. Mobile is becoming a standard alternative CSS that develops in much the same way as catering for different accessible site versions. Thus, WAP has been somewhat forsaken and the focus has shifted to learning design principles for small screens and narrowband Web access. Most Web-enabled phones have native browsers, therefore existing CSS and HTML displays – supported where relevant by the site’s content management system (CMS). For every mobile site, a thorough analysis is completed on what users need – information, commerce, interaction – and a typical set of users identified, leading to the lowest common denominator requirements. These are invariably Windows Mobile (Internet Explorer) on a mobile phone screen – and the success or failure of a mobile site will be determined by the graphical user interface (GUI) and ability of the user to navigate content. A mobile site is effectively a Web site that is specifically designed to display on as small a screen as possible – a second skin – then detect the user agent and serve up the relevant CSS design dependent on whether a user is accessing the site from a mobile device, PDA or PC Web browser. It is important to display mobile sites as single-column pages. Mobile screens are simply too small for multiple-column displays and look different on various devices. Remove any elements that are not supported by the native Web browser. For example, Flash. All images should be reduced in size as much as possible, in consideration of both screen size and bandwidth availability. The most complex part of developing a mobile site is redefining MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
the location and structure of navigation. On large and multilingual sites, the navigation can fill an entire screen. Breadcrumbs and “back” and “Quick Links” below page content are invaluable to the user, and facilitate the separation of navigation from content.
A search function is vital on large sites As with all developments, test for optimum display and functionality on relevant operating systems (Mac OSX+ and Windows 2000, XP and Vista) and Web browsers (Internet Explorer 6+, Firefox 2.5+, Safari 2+), as well as mobile devices. Physically test on various PDAs, smartphones and Web-enabled mobile phones to ensure any anomalies that the PC simulators have are eliminated. The one unresolved issue is for multiple language character set display on the same mobile/PDA interface: a device bought in China will not natively display English or Cyrillic character sets (Arabic, Russian, Greek) and vice versa. The user must install the relevant character sets. It’s laborious, but solvable. Clients should be aware of the issue. Marc Peter is creative director at Web design and development company on-Idle, London. Reach him at [email protected]
PAGE 11
I N T E R M E D I AT E
Reaching consumers
O
at poin t o f ne ed k ey By Brad Bostic
t o m obi l e c om m er ce
n-the-go mobile users want quick relevant answers and solutions to their immediate needs. Due to the inherent limitations of Web-enabled mobile devices – small screens, slower connectivity and browser downloading capabilities – mobile marketers have to make the most of their limited interaction with mobile consumers. These on-the-go mobile users aren’t, in most cases, interested in surfing the Web – they’ve got a specific need and turn to their Web-enabled mobile devices to find a quick answer. So, how do mobile marketers reach these consumers at their point of need? There are numerous mobile search vendors in the marketplace today offering mobile users Internet search capabilities. But the problem is, typical mobile information services only provide algorithmic search results, which translates to links to “possible” answers. But now, mobile marketers have the opportunity to capitalize on the game-changing technology that is revolutionizing mobile marketing – human assisted mobile answers. With mobile answers, consumers can quickly find specific answers to specific queries and mobile marketers can reach them at their point of need. Say you’re visiting downtown Philadelphia and in dire need of a Mocha Venti Latte, only you have no idea where the nearest coffee house is. You call 411 or use mobile search and they locate 15 outlets in downtown Philly. Or, imagine this – you call or text your question on your mobile phone and a friendly “guide” not only tells you the exact location of the closest cofPAGE 12
fee house, but also provides you with a discount code to use at that coffee house. Want to know where and when a certain feature film is playing? Using mobile answers, a human guide provides the answer and at the same time asks you if you’d like to purchase tickets. Hmmm…you’ve heard a song on the radio, but you didn’t catch the song title…with mobile answers you can simply provide the guide with a few of the lyrics. Within minutes, the guide gives you the song title and artist and asks you if you’d like to purchase the CD or download an MP3 version. This is smart mobile marketing — reaching consumers at their point of need in a targeted, relevant way — versus the intrusive, shotgun approach of non-solicited advertising. Through the magic of mobile answers, mobile marketers are able to view behavioral patterns, intent to buy, promotion responsiveness, brand affinity and other key metrics. Tech-savvy mobile users – especially the 18-24-year-old crowd – have widely embraced mobile technology, so it’s a natural fit for mobile marketers to harness the power of mobile answers to reach them in a method with which they are most comfortable. What’s more, today’s mobile devices are highly personal, so much so that they can be equated to a diary or to a personal “black book.” For marketers, this presents an extraordinary opportunity to carry on an intimate dialogue through highly targeted marketing to a massive group of consumers.
Brad Bostic is president and cofounder of ChaCha Search Inc., Carmel, IN. Reach him at [email protected] MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
How to achieve mobile marketing success with
optimized landing pages I
By Kim Ann King
t’s no longer a question – consumers are increasingly using their mobile devices to access the Web. Organizations are quickly learning that mobile commerce comes with unique challenges around screen size, lack of navigation and bandwidth latency. One way to maximize your return on investment around mobile marketing initiatives is to create savvy mobile landing pages that help increase conversion rates. Seven best practices When building mobile landing pages, there are seven best practices to follow. While there is plenty of advice on this, this list condenses the key takeaways: 1) Write a clear, concise and compelling headline and offer copy that speaks to your audience’s problem. For example: “Hungry? Try our new $1.99 chicken fajitas!” 2) Include an image of the offer for visual appeal. 3) Create minimal navigation to minimize distraction and potential opt-out. 4) Keep the look and feel of your primary Web site so consumers will immediately recognize your brand. 5) Don’t forget a compelling call to action that should tie in to the offer. For example, coupons for the scrumptious chicken fajita offer above could have a call-to-action such as “Redeem now!” 6) Minimize data collection – it’s hard to fill out forms on a mobile device. 7) But if you do include data collection, also include a privacy statement to help establish trust. Questions to ask when designing your mobile landing page When thinking about the seven best practices above, you will want to ask yourself the following questions: 1) Is the headline/copy/imagery compelling? 2) Are we selling the offer (recommended) or the company/product (not recommended). In other words, does the offer focus on audience pain or is it selfserving? 3) Is the new mobile landing page taking advantage of our keywords and ad groups? 4) Is there a humongous form to fill out? Can we streamline that or get rid of it? 5) If we must include a form, are the questions on it relevant to the buying cycle? For example, if you are sending a mobile commerce offer to a consumer who hasn’t even heard of you or doesn’t have the problem MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
you are trying to solve, it won’t be very effective. 6) Did we include a relevant, visually appealing image 7) Is the copy scannable? Are there bullets or call-outs, much like this article? 8) Do we need a privacy statement?
What’s next? OK, you have built your mobile landing page, your mobile commerce offer is out there and consumers are taking advantage of it. Now what do you do? Optimize! Now is not the time to rest on your laurels. You will want to test, measure and revise continuously to make sure you are maximizing each and every campaign. Consider a non-intrusive mobile multivariate testing solution in order to test and track factors such as copy/text, offers and images/graphics. Good luck! Kim Ann King is chief marketing officer at SiteSpect, Boston. Reach her at [email protected]
TRY R NU CHICK’N FAJITAS REDEEM NOW 4 50¢ OFF
T H E C LU C K STO P
PAGE 13
Amer ican shoppe rs
tur n to co upo ns duri ng econ omi c sl ow dow n
A
By Steven Gray
s consumers continue to feel the pinch from today’s economic pressures, an increasing amount of American shoppers are turning to coupons as an effective cost-cutting measure. In fact, recent reports and studies show that for the first time in more than a decade coupon usage is on the rise. For marketers who are taking advantage of the coupon trend, mobile coupons are a natural extension of their mail, print and point-of-purchase coupon pieces, among other communications. “Going mobile” helps advertisers reinforce messages with consumers who are becoming increasingly dependent on their mobile phones, especially the highly coveted 18-34 age demographic. In a recent ABI Research study, 38 percent of consumers indicated that mobile incentives would increase their response, while 32 percent of those polled indicated that incentives probably would increase their response. In the same study, 63 percent of respondents selected coupons to local retailers as their marketing incentive and message of choice. More than half of those polled, 52 percent, selected discounts at a store as their second choice of incentive. Among the tech-savvy 18-34 age demographic, the study found that 70 percent of mobile coupon redemptions were from members of this targeted group. The rise in publishing of coupons on the Web and their increase in use are also key indicators that consumers and businesses alike are ready for mobile couponing. The number of people turning to the Web for coupons has soared to 38.6 million in 2008, an increase of 13 million people from 2005. With this type of momentum, there is little doubt that Web-enabled and mobile text digital coupons are here to stay and will provide mobile publishers a promising source of revenue in the years ahead. Even more direct than traditional mail or online pieces, mobile coupons present advertisers the chance to draw-in consumers who are progressively more comfortable using their mobile phones. Whether “pushed” out to consumers through a text message or made available on mobile phones through the Web, mobile coupons provide advertisers new consumer touch points, including at the point of purchase. Similar to other offers, mobile couponing is a measurable marketing tactic with a direct call to action. Yet, the convenience and ease of use of mobile coupons distinguish them as a perfect alternative media for reaching different audiences. Plus, mobile coupons fulfill the all-important relevancy and timely factors that marketers crave. They are relevant because those using them have opted-in to receive the offer. Also, they are timely for both consumers and advertisers, made available when consumers are ready to buy, and brought to market in an instant as advertisers seek to increase sales with new products and promotions. Mobile coupons are a lower-cost complement to other mediums PAGE 14
such as one-to-one direct mail, ranging from eight cents to 30 cents per message, depending on the size of the mobile distribution. Moreover, the incremental benefit of mobile coupons on marketing campaigns can have a major impact on revenues and profits. Although relatively still new, direct marketers are clinging to the technology as the next “big thing” for coupons. In general, mobile coupons are a welcome complement to the efforts many advertisers have underway with their call-to-action messages offering discounts and provide a practical way of connecting with customers wherever they might be geographically. Steven Gray is chief operating officer of Garden Grove, CA-based Money Mailer. Reach him at [email protected]
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
The role of idle sc reen
i n d ri vi ng mo bi l e c o mmerc e
A
By Jon Jackson
s the number of mobile phones per capita approaches 100 percent or higher in some parts of the world, there is no doubt that mobile phones have become an indispensable part of a consumer’s daily life. Increasingly, innovative ways are being created to help consumers conduct commerce using their mobile devices, from paying tolls to purchasing vending machine products to replacing charge cards when shopping for groceries. These uses all require additional hardware and functionality to be built in to the handset. This means it will take time to reach the masses. The industry needs a way to effectively communicate with the masses and make it easy for consumers to conduct mobile commerce now. Most consumers have never purchased anything on their phones What is needed is a solution that provides visibility to products and services on the phone and in the physical world – an idle screen-based mobile advertising solution offers just that opportunity. When implemented with the support of service providers, idle screenbased delivery of graphically rich and interactive marketing messages can help brands and marketers establish a dialog with consumers that don’t subscribe to or use data services.
According to Jiffy Lube representative Janice Jack, “Cricket Perks has given us the ability to make an instant connection with consumers while they are mobile and more likely to respond to an offer by simply bringing in their mobile phone to one of our locations. We like the simplicity of this approach – no coupons to clip.” As illustrated by the success achieved by this and numerous other similar campaigns, the idle-screen engagement-based solution provides the necessary platform that can enable mass adoption and growth for mobile commerce. Jon Jackson is CEO of McLean, VA-based Mobile Posse. Reach him at [email protected]
Simplicity and ease of use are paramount By driving discovery and visibility of products and services at the idle screen level, with calls to action that are easy to respond to with the press of a key, even a lay person can quickly start conducting commerce using their mobile phone. Particularly compelling are services and products that can be consumed on the mobile phone itself, such as ringtones, wallpapers and mobile games. By providing offers or information about such mobile content through idle-screen messaging, where one click provides a subscriber with more information and an opportunity to download or purchase the product. This makes a positive experience for the consumer and delivers compelling results for the advertiser. Consumers are generally inseparable from their mobile phones By delivering coupons or offers on their mobile phones when they are out and about, the likelihood that a marketer can influence consumer behavior and help drive them into a retail location is vastly increased. Consumers like to save, whether it is saving money when ordering pizza or getting a discount on an oil change for their car or buying flowers for a loved one. As a recent example of successful engagement through idle screenbased ad delivery, Jiffy Lube ran a campaign which offered $10 off a Jiffy Lube Signature Service in select markets. Over the four week duration of this campaign using the Cricket Perks program, the click-through rate averaged at 22.8 percent and unique subscriber engagement was 56.3 percent. MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
PAGE 15
F E AT U R E
S ear s w in s w it h m o b il e c om m er c e he said. “Coupling industry trends with our core multichannel strengths, we believe that providing our customers with valuable tools on their mobile devices will encourage richer and relevant interaction.”
Sears Holdings Corp. is the nation's fourth largest retailer with more than $50 billion in annual revenues and approximately 3,800 full-line and specialty retail stores in the United States and Canada. Key proprietary brands include Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard, and a broad apparel offering including such well-known labels as Lands' End, Jaclyn Smith and Joe Boxer.
Sears2go, the mobile commerce site, targets people on the go. Sears’ new mobile presence is meant to make it easier to cut out the holiday shopping hassles and shop from the convenience of a mobile phone. More of Sears’ customers are relying on their mobile device as their primary means of email and Web usage. They are the retailer’s target customers.
Sears2go showcases products in the following categories: apparel, electronics and computers, fitness and sports, jewelry, tools, toys and games. Users can buy these items right on the site. “Sears is a phenomenal example of mobile commerce,” said Nick Taylor, president of Usablenet, New York. “Sears has leveraged a very powerful Web site and allowed customers to seamlessly and successfully access Sears.com from any mobile phone for full purchasing.
W
By Giselle Abramovich hen a department store giant such as Sears is using mobile to complement its existing multichannel strategy, the mobile commerce channel can be taken a bit more seriously.
Sears was seeing an increasing amount of mobile traffic on http://www.sears.com, but the experience was not the greatest. This is when the retail giant came to Usablenet to fix the problem. “With increasing proliferation of robust mobile devices such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, G1 et cetera, we believe users will start using their phones for a lot more data-centric activities such as online browsing and shopping,” said Ravi Acharya, director of Sears’ online business unit. “We are starting to observe early trends where certain users rely on their mobile device more than their PCs and laptops when traveling,” PAGE 16
“A good example is the idea of a customer being able to order something for delivery or for pick-up in a store and an SMS is sent letting the customer know the product is ready for pick-up,” he said.
“They've picked functionality that's very valuable on their site and elegantly extended to the mobile phone where this is such a relevant mobile idea.” The usage pattern from people on the go is best served by providing a simple, fast experience that enables them to find and buy products with minimal distractions. The way people shop on their phone is much more surgical than on the Web, people want to get in, transact and get out.
There will also be additional ways to get people excited about specific products and deals that will land them closer to the products they are looking for, thus reducing the number of clicks they would need to go through on a mobile device. The mobile commerce site isn’t Sears’ first foray into mobile.
In the past, the company has tested 2D barcode scans from in-store to retrieve product reviews and other information. MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Sears was also part of a large integrated marketing campaign this summer to support the launch of the Incredible Hulk movie. This was essentially a three-week text-to-win contest in partnership with Kmart, Universal Studios and Marvel comics that had very positive feedback. For over a year now, Sears has had SMS deals and alerts that inform customers when their products purchased online are available for instore pickup, or a weekly deal is promoted. Sears also has alerts at certain Sears Auto centers to let customers know when their cars are ready for pickup after servicing.
“Why wouldn't a company with a Web site allow its customers to buy products and services however they'd like?” Mr. Taylor said. “Especially in an economy like today's. “In one month, Sears has already found success via Sears Mobile in every single state in the country, which is staggering,” he said. “It shows that people everywhere, in every state and demographic are ready for mobile commerce.” Research shows that millions of Americans are going to Web sites from mobile phones, often to shop or buy products and services.
The success of the iPhone and the entire corresponding buzz has made mobile Web and mobile commerce even more of an expectation for people everywhere.
Mobile commerce cut its teeth in the travel sector (examples: American Airlines, Starwood and Amtrak) over the last couple years, but now it’s a proven channel for commerce across all sectors including retail. Increasingly, mobile commerce will be a basic expectation. This trajectory will get steeper very quickly.
Consumers are mobile, now more than ever before, and it’s becoming the first screen for absolutely everything people do. There is a new, sophisticated device coming out every single day to make mobile commerce even easier, more comprehensive and more sophisticated. Companies will have to support their mobile customers and provide mobile commerce or face the possibility of losing customers who will buy something more easily and quickly elsewhere – from their phone.
There is also this idea of consumers beginning to settle on the mobile sites that they know they can successfully navigate and buy from. Companies will prefer to be one of these sites, rather than a site MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
branded as non-mobile.
“We believe the mobile channel will support our multichannel strategy very effectively,” Mr. Acharya said. “As mobile devices evolve into the most personalized, first-screen point of contact, this channel will be highly relevant in providing our customers with an easy way of interacting with Sears.
“Mobile can also be a natural bridge across our various channels – e.g. stores, online and print – to provide customers with a seamless, integrated experience,” he said. What’s Sears’ mobile strategy going forward?
“We are constantly exploring customer mobile usage patterns in alignment with technology trends and testing various concepts and applications that offer value,” Mr. Acharya said. “These could translate into richer and more integrated user experiences for our customers in various areas around commerce and support.”
PAGE 17
Mobile banking’s
pl ace in the ec osystem
A
By Michael Foschetti
keen interest exists in financial institutions across the country to develop innovative new ways of engaging current and potential customers with mobile to drive sales and improve account servicing. Many banks have taken the most logical first step into mobile: Deploying mobile banking servicing platforms, whether through browser, SMS, downloadable applications, or a combination of one or more of these. These institutions are in a race to deploy and continue adding to these platforms, as well as to encourage frequent customer usage. But the mobile community is still struggling with how to extend mobile banking and where it exists in the ecosystem. Advanced applications and technologies hold great promise, but are still in the development and testing stages. Despite slower than expected adoption, the marketplace is primed for mobile banking to take off.
Consumers have become increasingly receptive. Vendors and technology providers have improved their solutions and platforms. Lastly, devices and networks are continually evolving to a higher level of sophistication and speed. Mobile banking provides a service that banks have not been able to offer previously – quicker, more efficient access to account information – and adds a strategic point of differentiation to those institutions that do offer it. It also helps banks extend their reach to new customer segments that are typically more mobile-savvy, such as younger demographics and U.S. Hispanics. Audiences such as these look for different service offerings than the older, Anglo demographic and mobile banking is becoming almost a requirement for them. This second stage of mobile banking will see more alerts and notifications, funds-transfer services and location finders, as well as more bill-pay functions and two-way, actionable alerts. Currently, Visa is testing a notification system where customers receive a text message as soon as charges are made anywhere in the world. The message can show the date, time, dollar amount, merchant name, location and clickable link for telephone support. Banks have the option to customize the message with the wording, the information that is included and whether a fee is charged for the service or not. Long-term, the desire is to make those messages two-way, allowing customers to act on something in the message or respond if the charge was not made by them. The landscape for mobile banking is going to continue to change and evolve from all sides over the next few years. Banks and wireless carriers are starting to collaborate, working with handset manufacturers to include applications on devices before activation by subscribers. Platforms and user interfaces will continue to be improved as banks aim for a better balance of simplicity and security. Vendors and technology providers will be consolidated as platforms become more consistent across banks and carriers. Consumers will continue to become more comfortable and receptive to mobile banking, realizing how much more efficient it is. They will begin to look for increased service offerings and better user experiences from their financial institutions, and mobile banking’s place in the ecosystem will no longer be so questionable. Michael Foschetti is managing director at Mobisix, Charlotte, NC. Reach him at [email protected]
PAGE 18
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Cus tom er service
l ea ds the w ay in mob il e tr av el We b adop ti on
W
By Gerry Samuels
ith more than 500 million mobile Internet users worldwide, and this figure expected to triple by 2013, the mobile Web is growing at a phenomenal rate. Whilst travel suppliers need to keep pace with new developments, they also need to ensure they match the provision of services to customer acceptance of this relatively new channel. Mobile Web sites can offer the full functionality of the traditional Web plus additional mobile-specific features. However, what customers want to access on a mobile is different to what they want to access on a PC. When travel suppliers and intermediaries embrace this they find mobile to be an ideal means to deliver certain services that fit the context and provide a layer of differentiation over their competitors. For example, combining online and mobile services means a customer can book on the Web then push the booking to their mobile device. Hotel guests can then retrieve their booking on mobile and see directions and maps to help them find their hotel. They can also amend bookings on-the-go should their plans change. Airline customers can check flight status, purchase additional services, select their on-board seat from graphical seat maps and even check-in. From the mobile travel services MTT has already developed for travel clients, we are already seeing up to 10 percent of the number of unique users on the regular Web site accessing the site on mobile. In the United States, large carriers have over 100,000 unique accesses per month, a trend which is growing by up to 20 percent per month. Geographic location and differing costs to access the mobile InterMOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
net will of course affect to what extent this medium is used. In markets where there is a low cost to access the mobile Internet, for example, Britain (one pound per mobile screen accessed), there is high mobile Internet access of up to 30 percent of mobile phone subscribers. In other markets, where access costs can be three to four times that cost, access is lower. Similarly, in some developing markets such as India and China, where mobile Internet is the Internet for many people, we are seeing the development of mobile commerce, i.e. people making reservations on mobiles, perhaps in advance of other parts of the world. Whilst mobile services are currently being used mainly as a positive customer innovation, they also offer travel suppliers the potential to reduce costs – for example, where a traveler can selfmodify a booking rather than having to contact a call center, and also have the potential to deliver incremental ancillary revenues. Looking ahead, as consumers’ confidence and familiarity with mobile Internet grows and as mobile data charges increasingly become bundled as part of monthly tariffs, mobile commerce is likely to expand. However, travel operators’ focus right now should be on enhancing their customers’ experience whilst on the go rather than simply developing a full functionality mobile version of their PC Web site.
Gerry Samuels is the founder and executive director of Mobile Travel Technologies Ltd., Dublin, Ireland. Reach him at [email protected]
PAGE 19
A D VA N C E D
Beyond the handset:
W
L e v er ag i n g m o b il e d i s t r i b u t i o n p o in t s t o r ea c h u n d er s e r v e d m ar ke t s By Moneet Singh
ith 3.4 billion subscribers worldwide and service spanning 90 percent of the globe, mobile phones are the most quickly adopted device in world history. In fact, mobile phones have leapfrogged traditional telecommunication networks to flourish in rural areas where landline penetration has long been stagnant at 5-10 percent. Mobile technology’s increasing ubiquity presents an unprecedented opportunity to deliver marketing messages and products in untapped markets where television, bricks-and-mortar institutions and even postal mail services have found it difficult to find a foothold. Mobile networks in underserved markets provide marketers in all industries with two main channels for interacting with consumers. The first is, of course, the handset itself. Mobile banking and mobile payment networks have already demonstrated the tremendous potential for engaging underserved consumers via SMS technology, putting financial services within reach of the world’s 2 billion un-banked and under-banked individuals. In Kenya alone, Safaricom’s M-Pesa mobile payments service has facilitated $145 million in transactions among 1.6 million consumers. The second channel, which remains relatively unexplored by marketers, is the complex web of mobile distribution points that have been integral in driving mobile phones’ rapid adoption. These distribution points emerge organically, helmed by local entrepreneurs offering mobile solutions that best meet their neighbor’s usage habits. For example, Safaricom relies on direct sales agents who circulate in neighborhoods and villages selling top-ups for airtime or servicing mobile payments. Similarly, Grameenphone operates the national Village Phone program in rural India and Bangladesh, in which villagers essentially become wireless carriers by renting minutes to neighbors. Such agent networks are an ideal PAGE 20
marketing and distribution platform for marketers of all industries, as they reach underserved consumers where they live and work, and involve highly personal transactions with agents they’ve grown to know and trust. Thinking of mobile agents and carriers as a roving point-of-sale network, companies can deploy advertising campaigns utilizing agents as brand ambassadors. Their frequent interaction with hard-to-reach consumers makes them extremely effective local partners for distributing advertisements, educating consumers about products or displaying your brand. Coupon and sampling campaigns are another potential use of mobile distribution points. Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, for example, could arm these agents with traditional print or SMS coupons and even product samples. To incorporate cross-promotion, the CPG company and mobile carrier – or the agent on their own – could offer free minutes for every product sold as a result of these coupons. Another angle to take toward this opportunity involves the engagement of mobile distribution agents as a sales force and delivery channel for your products and services. Enlisting these agents to sell insurance, to act as a local reseller for small products such as toothpaste, to distribute catalogs and take orders, or to become a "shipping center" for express mail creates a mutually beneficial business relationship. The end customer can use his mobile or cash to complete such transactions. In this relationship, your company serves the long tail, entering or achieving greater efficiencies within underserved markets, and local entrepreneurs can in turn grow their businesses and increase loyalty by providing mobile customers with added value. With such trusted partnerships in place, your product may enjoy adoption as rapid as that of mobile technology itself. Moneet Singh is the president and chief operating officer of Austin, TXbased MPower Mobile. Email him at [email protected] MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
An evolution revolution:
SM S tr a ns f o r m s mo b i l e co mm er c e
O
By Chuck Drake
nline commerce sent consumers and businesses into a frenzy of purchasing in a new, more convenient way. Initially named ecommerce, it changed our lives overnight and soon everything received the online moniker including online marketing, online sales, purchasing and payments. Even Congress got into the act with hearings about the potential tax revenues that might be reaped, propelling lobbyists into high gear. Now, rocking the world again, mobile commerce is replacing the PC with the mobile phone and replacing email with text messaging. Consumers who once went gaga because they could accomplish their bill paying online or receive email receipts for Christmas goods
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
can now do even more, via simple text messaging, all while they wait in line or stop for coffee. Today, the mobile commerce landscape is rapidly changing as the masses text constantly (let’s face it, “text” is already a verb). The early adopters depend on mobile banking and transaction alerts via SMS. Those on the bleeding edge make payments and money transfers, reload prepaid cards and gain purchase rewards – all via SMS. Two concurrent developments in mobile technology made this possible. First, everyone owns a mobile phone. Even in countries where landlines never made it into the home and computers were never plugged in, people depend on their mobile phone. There are 1.3 billion Internet users globally and 3.4 billion mobile phone subscribers. In some countries, mobile phone penetration has reached 140 percent, which works out to be 1.5 mobile phones per person. Second, all mobile phones come equipped with SMS. Text messaging has slowly crept into the practices of all demographics so that now, everyone from middle school students needing a ride home to grandparents wishing a friend well text away everyday. Because of this massive proliferation across the globe and across demographics, SMS has reached and will continue to reach more people than perhaps any other communications channel available on any medium. In the mid-twentieth century, credit cards revolutionized commerce by putting real purchasing power in consumers’ wallets without needing to haul around a bucket of cash. Imagine not needing a wallet at all to wield such power. SMS can help turn mobile phones into mobile wallets without needing to dig the plastic out of its slot. Following the pace of ecommerce, mobile commerce is only beginning to experience widespread deployment. The masses will soon be performing all transactions discussed in this article. Soon, early adopters will receive actionable alerts for mobile receipts and rewards via SMS for Near Field Communications transactions. Before long, those people on the leading edge will secure on the spot credit to make point-of-sale purchases and eliminate the need for debit cards, enabling mobile purchases via SMS on-the-spot. The numbers suggest that mobile phones will indeed become the “wallet” of choice as big brands, smart technology vendors, banks, retailers and consumers continue to make smart decisions. According to Juniper Research, mobile payments and mobile money transfers will generate transactions worth $600 billion by 2013. That is a number worth taking to the bank. Chuck Drake is executive vice president of marketing at Clickatell, San Francisco. Reach him at [email protected] PAGE 21
Hate crowds? Wan t your mo bil e content t o s ta nd o ut? Try t hin ki ng gl oba ll y, a ct ing l ocal l y a nd embraci ng the mobi l e Web
T
By Ray Anderson
he scenario has become all too familiar among content providers: Company A has a presence on a major carrier’s portal but its content sits alongside its competitors. How can Company A stand out from the crowd and capture new business?
The answer is new, yet has a familiar feel. Using the mobile Web as a platform for a direct-to-consumer site not only can help you attract new customers, it also provides consumers with the same “Web-like” user experience as on-portal. By placing banner ads on the portal, businesses can drive traffic to the off-portal site where they have complete control over how their content is marketed to the consumer. Here are just some of the advantages of having an off-portal presence: • Marketing programs such as banner ads or search marketing can drive traffic to the site and the success of these campaigns can be tracked, making it easy to see immediately which promotions yielded the highest rates of return. • A direct-to-consumer (D2C) mobile Web site works across all geographic locations, but can be localized for specific markets so the content is in the right language, is relevant and appealing for a particular country. PAGE 22
• The point of payment and download on the mobile Web can be tightly coupled into one seamless WAP flow, leading to fewer support problems with refund levels as low as 0.1 percent of all downloads. Both subscriptions and pay-per-download payment methods can be supported. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), a global sports entertainment brand with millions of fans around the world, launched an offportal mobile site of original made-for-mobile content to complement its television and consumer product offerings. WWE turned to the mobile Web, so that fans anywhere in the world, on any network, could access and pay for content on their mobile phone. Within 4 months of launching the service, WWE reached consumers from more than 40 countries purchasing an array of content through more than 110 carriers around the world. WWE fans said they were drawn to the WAP site because it provides a mini-Web experience. An example of a mobile company that is reaping the benefits of direct-to-consumer is Dada Entertainment. New York-based Dada, a joint venture between Dada, USA and Sony BMG, was the first company to offer both ringtones and DRM-free full-length MP3s for mobile and PC paid directly via the mobile phone. Dada Entertainment cites the ability to offer a seamless payment experience, which in turn increases consumer satisfaction and decreases billing errors, as big positives for direct-to-consumer. “A mobile Web business allows us to work directly with our consumers,” said Max Pellegrini, CEO of Dada Entertainment. “Dada.net can offer a complete mobile music service – customers can download and pay for their music all through their mobile phones,” he said. “With over 65 percent of all new phones purchased in the United States as music-enabled, it makes sense for a new company like ours to be D2C.” As the demand for digital content and the numbers of consumers using the mobile Internet continue to rise, content providers see the value of going D2C via the mobile Web. Using the mobile Web, consumers can purchase and download a variety of digital content as easily as they do on the PC Internet. Many brands are realizing that by integrating the promotion of the mobile service with the rest of the mainstream marketing, it is true that “if you build it – they will come!” Ray Anderson is Cambridge, England-based CEO of Bango, a mobile Internet services provider. Reach him at [email protected] MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Banks a nd car riers
T
f in ally r e aliz ing t he p o wer o f m ob ile co m m er ce By Matthew Talbot
he mobile industry has been discussing mobile banking services and mobile payments for more than 10 years, and finally we will begin to see financial institutions fully exploit the potential of mobile commerce. Consumers have become increasingly sophisticated and are demanding easier access to their finances. Gone are the days of branch banking and paying by check. Consumers and corporate clients are now looking to access financial services without time, location or device restrictions. Like Internet banking and electronic payments, mobile commerce is a way for banks—and even wireless carriers—to create new service offerings with the potential for creating new revenue streams or cost-saving opportunities. Banks have been testing and launching mobile commerce products since the mid- to late 1990s. After the first faltering steps of WAP banking, banks often restricted themselves to simple push information and marketing alert services. These alerts services, when promoted, have been extremely successful for banks over the last five years. In the last few years, we have seen a small number of banks expanding their service offering beyond the simple one-way push alerts, both as a response to consumer demands and to address business issues for banks—including information requests and security enhancements. A great example is on-demand account balance via the mobile phone. Up to 60 percent of calls to a bank’s call center involve an account balance request. If a bank moves even a fraction of these calls to the mobile channel, there are clear cost benefits for the bank as well as a better customer experience. As banks and carriers expand their portfolio of mobile products and services, they will need to break out of the single channel approach and offer services via multiple channels (SMS, Java, BREW and WAP) to address both the limitations and reach of a particular channel, balanced against consumer preference and confidence in individual modes of access.
nity for new products and services, and one such product is mobile remittances. The official remittance market today is worth over $250 billion. With mobile as the predominant communication tool in the key remittance markets of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, it is no surprise that remittances have been extended to mobile. As with the expansion of mobile banking services, the range of mobile payments services will expand as consumer confidence increases in mobile as a payment instrument. Future developments, including using the mobile for Near Field Communications (NFC) transactions such as transportation, ticketing and payment for digital and physical goods, will only serve to increase this confidence. Mobile commerce, a young but rapidly-growing segment, is already providing glimpses into what will certainly become a major means of day-to-day commerce for billions of consumers and enterprises worldwide. It is inevitable that the world evolves from a Web model to a mobile browsing model. With the maturity gained by growing from an experimental channel to a core customer channel, consistency of experience, reliability and product offering will be of even greater importance. Matthew Talbot is the Singapore-based vice president of mobile commerce at Sybase 365. Reach him at [email protected]
Mobile payments The roots of mobile payments can be traced back to the first premium-rate telephone services to the mobile ringtone business launched in 1999. Today, these mobile payment options still flourish in the marketplace, but have been complemented by a range of new mobile payment services – including mobile top-ups, credit cards, direct debit and mobile wallets – incorporating the likes of remittance products. While these services have, so far, come from small independent companies and are geographically based, it is clear that these services are a natural extension of traditional banking products and payment instruments, positioning banks and carriers as best placed to deliver such products to their customers. The ubiquitous nature of the mobile device creates the opportuMOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
PAGE 23
So, you have a mobil e site.
What ’s next?
R
By Richard Eicher
emember the early days of the Internet when all you needed was a Web site and you got lots of traffic? It didn’t take long before the number of Web sites grew exponentially and with it the competition for visitors. So too will competition grow for visitors to your mobile Internet site. Site discovery and repeat visits should be considered fundamental tasks in your mobile commerce and marketing plans. Three important vehicles include messaging, mobile search and cross-platform advertising. Messaging Messaging can drive traffic to your mobile site and foster customer interaction. Campaigns are easy to create and messaging is familiar to the recipient. Through your messaging provider, create an SMS or MMS message including a clickable link to your mobile site. Choose custom keywords and create a messaging call-to-action. Promote your keywords in print and broadcast. Add links to your Web site. For broad reach, promote in mass-market media. For select markets, target by media type or geographic areas, such as a specific retail departments in certain cities. Messaging can also be used for post-transaction confirmations and follow-up communications. With your customer’s opt-in, use these messages to offer alert subscriptions and related content and services.
For search engine search engine optimization, carefully follow the provider’s guidelines, including mobile sitemap submission.
Advertising One of the best places to advertise your mobile site is within the mobile space itself. This audience is generally mobile savvy and often has messaging and data plans to use mobile services with little or no concern for airtime charges. Options include banner, text and image ads on mobile Internet sites, including content publishers and social networks, sponsored mobile search links, advertising in mobile content and sponsoring or creating your own applications and content delivered through subscription services for ongoing interaction. Using cross-channel advertising has proven to be very effective. List your URL on your Web site and include a send-to-phone link using SMS or MMS. Promote your keyword in print and broadcast to initiate a text-to-shortcode or optical (e.g., 2D barcode) call-toaction. Most importantly, be sure your site is quick and easy to access, optimize it for the majority of handsets and offer timely content and services of real value to your audience. Richard Eicher is president of Skycore LLC, Boston. Reach him at [email protected]
SMS or MMS? It depends on your objective. SMS is less expensive but limited to 160 characters. MMS is more expensive but can include thousands of characters plus images, audio and video slides.
Search The typical search is conducted through search engines, content discovery services, Q&A services and directory services initiated through mobile browsers, downloaded client applications and voice or text requests. There are many ways to have your mobile site discovered. Increasing search visibility will vary by service and requires some research. However, most important is to have your site designed specifically for mobile devices. PAGE 24
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Pers onalization:
Tee nage sex all ove r again
O
By Mory Bahar
nce again we are reminded of an old analogy. Personalization is like teenage sex: Everybody is talking about it, very few are actually experiencing it and of the few who do, hardly anyone knows how to do it well. Whether we call it personalization or not, most of us recognize its importance: Presenting content that resonates with the audience of one. Personalization is also making offers that tie to the personal needs and desires of the recipient. Also, it is tailoring an ad to the profile and perceived needs of the specific individual viewing the ad. What is personalization? By personalization, we mean that the content we present, the ad that we display, or the offer we make to an individual is relevant to, sensitive to, and important to that individual's profile and preferences. For example, Amazon.com attempts to personalize its offers to me based on previous books that I have purchased. Two different people can log onto their Amazon accounts and get totally different offers. It is not perfect personalization but it is an excellent example. Why is personalization important and relevant to the mobile world? Since mobile phones are personal devices, personalization of messages, ads, offers and content makes sense for mobile marketers. It is a great opportunity for a business when communicating with an individual. Increasingly mobile users will expect to receive offers, ads and content that is relevant to their personal situation. This scenario is in contrast to the content, ad or offer most businesses make on their Web site or other media where everyone sees the same thing. In addition, since the mobile platform is very limited on space and speed, as mobile marketers we have no choice but to be selective and show the content that is most relevant to the individual. We don’t have the space, and the individual doesn’t have the patience to scroll through pages and pages of content. For example, on my laptop Amazon can recommend 10 books to me on one page. But on the mobile platform they may be limited to featuring just one book. In this case, they need to make a much more intelligent decision on what to show me based on my personal profile and preferences.
In search of a common understanding In absence of any other standard, here is my proposal on various levels of personalization. The first level is take it or leave it. It is when there has been no attempt to take you and your preferences into account. This is how the network television, radio, publishers and many mobile and Web content providers continue to operate. You get whatever they planned for you. The next level is context-sensitive. Based on the context, marketers make some assumptions about the viewer. The message is then tailored based on those assumptions. For example, ads for tennis gear could be shown during the televised Wimbledon matches. Note however that the ad that the viewer sees is no different from any other individual watching the same match. In addition, the assumption made about the viewer may be inaccurate. Just because it is women’s finals, does not mean that the viewer is a woman. The next level is menu of choices. There are many content providers, portals and publishers who claim personalization of content, yet all they provide is a menu of choices to select from. Here, the individual gets a menu and gets to choose, as you would select from a menu at a restaurant. You get to select the dish you want, but they get to decide what is on the menu and how each dish is prepared. For example, on a finance portal, I pick the stocks that I want to follow and the publisher displays the price and volume data for those stocks. On the wired Web, I select “High Cholesterol” as my topic of interest, and MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
WebMD, periodically, sends me an online collection of articles that are somehow connected to that topic. Is this level of personalization adequate? Imagine you are in the old Soviet Union. You are handed a list of jobs or careers that a central committee has decided that the country needs and you get to pick one. Do you want your career choices be limited to the imagination of the comrades of the central committee who made the list? Probably not. The “menu” reflects their preferences, not yours. And the solution is not just adding to the number of items on the menu. Would you be content with eHarmony.com to present to you all candidates in their database, male and female, young and old, local and international? You as the marketer must help me the individual, by reducing the menu to a manageable subset of all the available choices based on my personal preferences. To do this, however, you would need to first learn about me and my preferences. The next level is personalization. Using the restaurant analogy again, here the patron can ask for something that is not on the menu, or gets to tweak the recipe (e.g., no salt, more garlic, olive oil instead of butter). I tell the finance site what I have in my portfolio – how many shares of which stocks and it can now tell me how much I made (or more likely lost) in the market today. Naturally, we cannot provide this level of personalization unless the mobile user is willing to tell us about his or her preferences and we have the tools and technology to deliver on the higher expectation. If WebMD can send me one newsletter that focuses only on adult males who have high cholesterol, very high triglyceride, family history of prostate cancer and like to lose couple of pounds (i.e., my personal profile) then that would be considered personalization. Incidentally, this type of need is what motivated me and my partners to create our company. The last level is intimacy. Using the restaurant analogy again, at this level the patron does not need to make any choices or tweak any recipes. This is because the waiter already recognizes the patron and serves to his taste without being told. Last year, a friend invited me to lunch at his favorite restaurant. His usual drink along with the side drink arrived at the same time as we were seated. If I clicked on the sport icon on my mobile phone and it recognized that it is me, it is fall, it is Monday night and it automatically tuned into Monday Night Football (without me explicitly programming it to do so) then that is an example of intimacy.
Conclusion Mobile phones and personalization provide mobile marketer the best chance to target individuals and deliver most relevant and high impact ads, offers, information and services. Increasingly, mobile users will demand it. To deliver an acceptable form of personalization we need to move beyond the primitive forms of context-sensitive and menu of choices. To personalize, we must get to know the individual prospects and customers. We need to learn about or just ask them their preferences, validate our assumptions about them, take into account their behavior and then generate offers, ads, content and service that respect their individuality. Achieving more advanced forms of personalization will not be easy. It may require a total redesign for many mobile and Web businesses and content providers. Some businesses like publishers and portals may find this transition very difficult. But for many other businesses, based on unique profile of their customers and prospects, they can tailor their ads and offers, and tie them to most relevant products, features and options. Mory Bahar is the president/CEO of Personal Remedies LLC, Boston. Reach him at [email protected] PAGE 25
2009 BUYERS’ GUIDE >>> The definitive vendor resource for purchase-empowered mobile execs.Ad deadline March 15, publishes April 1. Please contact Jodie Solomon at 212.334.6366 or [email protected]
Mobile Marketer
M ob i le c o mmerc e:
The legal landscape
A
By Brian W. Esler and David Rice
s lawyers, we see entirely too many clients coming to us after launching a mobile advertising campaign, application or service with questions about why they have received a "cease and desist" letter or similar threats of legal entanglement. Seeing your lawyer before you launch may seem like a costly luxury at the time, but it is much cheaper than later dealing with the consequences of violating the law or another's legal rights. This article will help you understand some of the more common issues we see arising in the mobile space, but this article is no substitute for legal advice regarding the particular problems you may confront. Using others trademarks or copyrights A copyright can be claimed in almost any expression of an idea, whether a picture, text, software code or the organization of elements. Contrary to popular belief, a work does not need to have the ubiquitous "©" symbol to be protected by copyright, so you should not assume that the lack of such a symbol on artwork or text you plan to use will protect you. On the other hand, removing that symbol from a work gives rise to liability separate and Brian Esler, partner, Miller Nash apart from infringement. Copyright arises upon creation of the work, and lasts for either the life of the author plus 70 years, or – in the case of works created for a particular employer – 95 years for "works made for hire." In order for the owner of a copyright to claim infringement, all that copyright holder needs to show is that (1) it owns a valid work and (2) that work was copied in some material respect. In order to prove copying, all the owner needs to show is that (1) you had access to the work and that (2) your accused work is similar. For commercial enterprises, "fair use" is rarely a defense, as the profit motive weighs heavily against any such finding. Some online and mobile service providers are surprised to learn that user generated content – such as home videos, pictures or original music – are also protected by copyright. Even if those users initially supply that material for free, services dependent on that content should ensure that their user agreements clearly allow for further use of that content commercially. Clearing the rights – and paying royalties if necessary – to use works subject to copyright should be a standard operating procedure for any company engaged in mobile commerce. Trademarks are the short phrases or symbols used by enterprises to signify that goods or services originate from that enterprise. Essentially, trademarks protect the enterprises' goodwill. Often a trademark will be followed by the symbols “TM” or “®” – the former indicating common law trademark use, the latter signifying that the trademark is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Under the law, registered trademarks receive a greater degree of protection, including enhanced damages for infringement. Generally speaking, a trademark holder will have to show that customers are likely to be confused by another's use of a similar term in order to prove infringement. However, so-called "famous" trademarks receive an extra dose of protection, such that the holders of famous trademarks do not need to show a likelihood of confusion, but only that the other's use of a similar mark will dilute or tarnish the reputation of the famous mark. Most of the time, it is legal to use another's trademark to describe the actual goods or services on offer, or to factually and accurately compare goods or services. Thus, it is not trademark infringement to use the "Coke" trademark if you are actually an authorized vendor of Coca-Cola (or are using it for demonstrative purposes in an article like this). MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
However, substantial legal uncertainty surrounds the ever-more common use of trademarks as keywords for Internet searches or in meta tags on Web sites. Courts have split on the legality of such trademark use, with some courts upholding such practices, while others have found infringement. These cases have turned on fine factual distinctions regarding the nature of the use, and whether consumers were likely to at least be initially confused. Suffice to say that if your business plan involves using others' trademarks to drive traffic or promote your goods or services, consult your lawyer first.
Consumer disclosure, protection and privacy Issues such as SMS and “push” methods of advertising grow in the mobile space, vendors need to be aware that such advertising is already subject to federal regulation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the aptly-named CAN-SPAM Act. The TCPA was originally enacted to regulate unsolicited telephone calls and faxes, but courts and the Federal Communications Commission have interpreted the statute to reach unsolicited text messages as well under certain circumstances. Each violation of the TCPA can result in $500 or more in statutory damages and class actions under this law have been numerous. The CAN-SPAM Act regulates advertising via email solicitation, but also has been held to extend to SMS messages sent using specific technologies. Among other requirements, the act requires that the solicitation be identified as such, that it has a valid return path address, that the subject line not be misleading and that the recipient be given a clear opportunity to opt out of further commercial solicitations. Both the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission have stepped up their enforcement of consumer protection and privacy laws with respect to the mobile space, and responding to an enforcement action by either of these agencies is likely to be costly. Surprisingly, many online and mobile merchandisers appear to be unaware that the FTC’s Mail and Telephone Order Merchandise Rule also applies to them. The rule sets forth requirements for making promises about shipments, notifying customers David Rice, partner, Miller Nash about delays and disclosure of refund policies. Similarly, the FTC has been aggressive in its enforcement of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which regulates the online collection of data on children under 13 years old. If your mobile service is arguably directed to the pre-teen market – which is one of the fastest growing segments of mobile users – you need to know COPPA well and ensure you remain compliant with its dictates. You may be subject to COPPA if you have actual knowledge that children use your service, even if your service does not target children. While the United States does not have an all-encompassing statutory scheme for protecting consumer data such as exists in Europe, a patchwork of federal and state regulations may affect your use of consumers' private information. The FCC has also been active recently – along with plaintiff class-action attorneys – in going after unauthorized cellular charges, many of which have been related to premium mobile services. In short, while the mobile space may become the next frontier for commerce, it is not by any means a lawless frontier. Consulting with a lawyer who understands the rules regulating your proposed enterprise, who can help you ensure compliance with those laws before you launch, will in the long run save you not only money, but may save your company from costly litigation. Brian Esler is a partner at Miller Nash LLP, Seattle. Reach him at [email protected] David Rice is a partner at Miller Nash LLP, Seattle. Reach him at [email protected]
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C
Mobile sellers
f a c e t ec h n o l og i c a l an d l eg a l c h al l en g es By Gonzalo E. Mon
urrently, most mobile commerce in the United States involves sales of content via premium charges. This may soon start to change as companies experiment with new technologies to facilitate sales of goods and services through phones. The challenges aren’t all technological, though. Companies also need to pay attention to various legal issues. Premium charges Over the past few years, a number of lawsuits have been filed against companies that sell content through premium charges. Recently, the Florida attorney general also challenged AT&T over offers made by a third party. The attorney general alleged that ads touted “free” services but buried disclosures about costs in fine print. As part of the settlement, AT&T agreed to pay $2.5 million and to provide an estimated $10 million worth of rebates to consumers. More importantly for sellers, AT&T is required to include various provisions in contracts with sellers. Among other things, AT&T must require sellers to disclose costs at the outset of an offer and provide specific disclosures on various parts of the order flow. AT&T must also prohibit sellers from requiring consumers to receive text messages unrelated to the purchased content and from using pre-checked boxes for acceptance of terms. The Florida attorney general is pushing other wireless carriers to agree to similar terms. The attorney general’s office is also developing a “zone system” that would dictate where and how terms must appear on a mobile flow. For example, price disclosures will have to appear within a certain number of pixels from a submit field, in a minimum font, and in a color that contrasts with the background. MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Mobile sellers would be well-advised to review the terms of the AT&T settlement and ensure their campaigns are in compliance. Other payment methods Some retailers have launched mobile Web sites where consumers can make purchases using their credit cards. These sites are likely to become more popular as phone technology improves. Fortunately, to the extent these sites are simply mobile versions of Internet sites, the legal issues are similar to those on Internet sites. The next frontier in mobile payments involves using Near Field Communications technology to enable consumers to make payments by swiping phones over special readers. Although there is no widespread use of NFC in the U.S., there have been several smallscale trials with positive responses. According to the Pulse’s 2008 Debit Issuer Study, 56 percent of card issuers are exploring the possibility of implementing some type of mobile payment system, so we may see more companies use this technology in the near future. Because this technology is so new, there are no clear legal guidelines yet. Expect regulators to pay close attention as the technology develops, though. In fact, in July, the FTC hosted a meeting to explore consumer protection issues related to the use of “contactless” payment systems such as NFC. Mobile marketers must remain vigilant so that they can identify changes to the legal landscape and quickly adapt their marketing campaigns accordingly. Gonzalo E. Mon is an attorney in the advertising and marketing law practice of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, Washington. Reach him at [email protected] PAGE 28
12 Tip s
for building a mobile site
H
By Marci Troutman
ave you ever really looked at mobile sites on the Web? I mean, really looked at them, worked with them, or tried to actually do something on them? The usual approach I take when I really need to find something is I will search Google and see what comes up, punch in the URL and hope for the best. But most of the time, I am sorely disappointed with the results. It is amazing to me that with all the commerce and information that flows through the Internet that most major players in the Web world have given so little thought to the user experience through that little 2 ½ inches of LCD real estate that occupies most consumers’ pockets in the form of a mobile phone. If you look at the numbers, compared to laptops and PCs, the mobile appliance eclipses the number of those appliances by an order of magnitude. Most major Internet companies or companies that use the Internet as an extension of their bricksand-mortar world are just plain naive about placement of their product in a mobile environment, what with all the different types of phones, wireless company platforms and politics. It feels just like the world back in 1998 when the idea of Internet commerce was just establishing itself and the concept of click-through, shopping-cart drops and ease of usage were merely wire frames on a PowerPoint presentation at some small corner office in the marketing department, or worse, yet left in the hands of the IT department. Times are changing and the companies that take mobile commerce seriously now will reap the benefits of their foresightedness way ahead of their competition. Now what makes a good user interface for a mobile customer? Listed below are several tips for a mobile site build: 1. Logo should live top left and link back to the homepage 2. The search function should be visible prior to needing to scroll down the page, as this is the most commonly used tool within a mobile site and within a PC/Mac shopping site 3. There shouldn’t be more than three to four scrolls on any page as a longer page could lead to longer load times and frustrate customers with the page load MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
4. All imagery should be optimized for a mobile environment, not the PC/Mac environment. WAP will not do this for you, neither will an extension such as .mobi 5. The URL or Web address should remain the same as your main PC/Mac site to allow the ease and comfort of use from your customers 6. Category navigation should be simple and visible prior to needing to scroll down the page 7. Break down the categories into thorough sub-categories in order to make the site as userfriendly as possible and to eliminate the need for long scroll pages with long download times 8. Security measures already in place for the company’s main PC/Mac site should be used for the mobile site as well. For example, all software should live behind the firewall that has already been proven, tried and tested. This will ensure that your customers feel just as safe shopping your mobile site as they do your PC/Mac entity 9. On your notices, have “layered notices” to let the main points of terms, conditions and privacy laws be a short line with a link to direct the user back to the main PC/Mac site for more extensive details. This offers a comfort level to users that all privacy laws are adhered on your site 10. The “Contact us” link should be visible from all pages 11. Use drop-down menus whenever possible to make the most use of the small space across the mobile canvas 12. Ensure that site pages are built to fit across the broad spectrum of all size phones. i.e., not using images that lock to a specified dimension but spec’ing the phone screens in order to ensure the pages will work well on all platforms Now, all of the above are achievable, though some are harder than others. Most companies treat the mobile site offering and interface as a red-headed stepchild, but that is changing. Future articles will discuss many issues surrounding mobile site strategies, tactics, future visions and current attitudes. Marci Troutman is founder of Siteminis Inc., a mobile site developer in Marietta, GA. Reach her at [email protected] PAGE 29
Camera-phone
mo b ile c om me r ce
R
By Rob DeStefano
emember when the sound of retail sales was the “ka-ching” of an old cash register? Over the last three decades, that sound was replaced by the “beep” of a bar code scanner as it decoded the UPC bar code on retail checkout lines. As retail expands to include mobile commerce, the sound of sales has a nice, new “ring” to it. Mobile com-
merce revolves around the virtual retail experience, a storefront always located near you, open twenty four hours a day, right on your mobile phone. Among the leading the technologies for implementing mobile commerce and mobile advertising campaigns are camera-phone bar code scanning and related technologies that make up the category often called “visual search.” The idea behind visual search is to encode printed media such as magazine ads, billboard and movie posters, and product packaging with bar codes or digital watermarks and enable consumers to interact with the encoded media by decoding it using their cell phone’s digital camera. Once decoded by the camera-phone, the decoded data unlocks access to Web-based content using the phone’s Web browser, and controlled by the advertiser. The Web-based content could range from “buy now” mobile commerce to mobile coupons, sweepstakes entry, or promotional downloads such as music samples, movie previews or ringtones. By choosing to incorporate visual search technologies into printed media, brands and advertisers minimize the time and effort required for a consumer to connect the printed advertisement to follow-up action. Visual search technologies eliminate the time between when consumers view the printed contact, and the time they act on its message. It also automates the process of connecting the print and Web experiences – no long URL links to remember of input, no clumsy keypad entry, just simple, direct interactivity. In Japan, this technology has already hit the mainstream market – to the point where groups of college students were actually getting tattoos of bar codes. Client software to decode industry standard bar code types (symbologies) are easily accessible on their mobile phones and the camera-phones include standard requirements to ensure acceptable decode performance when consumers attempt to decode. For comparable success in the United States, Europe and other interested regions, similar actions must be taken. Independent standards bodies need to define acceptable and best practices to nurture early adoption; PAGE 30
including the endorsement of ISO standard bar code symbologies (Japan uses primarily ISO standard QR codes today). In addition, all players within the industry must recognize how the can contribute to the growth and proliferation of this technology. For cellular carriers and device manufacturers, this includes ensuring that camera-phones meet several critical functional guide- lines, in particular the inclusion of macro- or autofocus-lenses with software control accessible for application developers. For client application developers, per-decode pricing models will put less risk on your client brands and advertisers, allowing them to pay based on the performance of a particular campaign. For marketers considering a visual search solution, look to partner with companies that have a deep understanding of auto-ID and cellular technology. Expect to perform significant testing of interactive campaigns in small, controlled environments – college campuses or other geographically centralized testing tends to be more easily managed. Defining a campaign’s expected results will be hard to estimate in initial campaigns. Consider working with a visual search vendor with whom you would feel comfortable announcing results from your initial tests and campaigns. Many advertisers and brands seem hesitant to be the first to publicly state the results they achieved from a test campaign, and still others are asking vendors for references from other clients’ tests. Success is not necessarily going to be measured by achieving a huge number of campaign interactions (decodes). The early success criteria will be more defined by the ease of use of a decoder, and ultimately the percentage of interactions that create the desired response from your campaign (i.e. sales). Ultimately, for mobile advertising campaigns to be successful the interactive piece of the campaign has to be exceptionally compelling so that the consumer wants to continue decoding interactive media. Introducing mobile advertising as an exciting new technology with a strong incentive for repeated use will motivate consumers to want to use it for as long as the reward (such as the instant gratification associated with an impulse purchase) continues to prove worthwhile. Rob DeStefano is sales and marketing manager of Mobile Data Systems, Nesconset, NY. Reach him at [email protected] MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
A u ni v e r s a l c o m p l i a n c e st a n d a r d w i l l
ju m p- st a rt t h e m o bil e c o m me r c e in d us t ry
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By Eric Holmen
obile commerce seems poised for explosive growth, yet the U.S. market's fuse seems to be longer than Europe's or developed Asia's. The technology is already in everyone's pocket or pocketbook, so why aren't Americans using their mobile phones as turnkey commerce solutions? The ubiquitous mobile device, the ultimate portal to all media channels, marketers' coveted third screen, should be central to every facet of the purchasing process, from promotion to selection to payment – just as it is in other parts of the world. If the industry develops an infrastructure around a clear, effective standard for payment and information security, it can be. Payment Card Industry (PCI) certification, a lengthy and arduous process that results in a decoration of compliance for any company attempting it, is the last word in data security. Because it is recognized by consumers (due to its presence in some staid ecommerce institutions such as PayPal) and because it is recognized as the most difficult certification to obtain, PCI compliance is the level of standard that can overcome consumer perception and encourage widespread adoption of mobile commerce in the United States.
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
If integrated into every aspect of the delivery chain – from carriers to aggregators to marketers and end users – PCI can be the spark that ignites America's mobile retail explosion. But the industry can only get hot by keeping consumers cool, which is precisely where stringent compliance standards come into play. Americans, to whom privacy is a foundational, defining guarantee, take incendiary exception when that right is breached. Nowhere is this attitude more prevalent than in the commercial sphere, where the U.S. public is increasingly shunning unwanted advertising, securing their identities against theft, and enjoying the anonymity of ecommerce to an unprecedented degree. The TDM land-line network that currently supports voice communication in the U.S. (both mobile and land-line) is a good example the efficacy of whole-system integration; because the individual carriers have secured this channel, it is usually PCI compliant (depending on the specific carrier and a few other details). And by and large, the American public has embraced this network as a safe and familiar channel for commercial transactions. PCI certification, if adopted throughout the mobile industry, would represent the bedrock of security that would assuage American fears of an unfamiliar and intrusive technology. Simple enough to be understood by laymen, and yet sophisticated enough to be an effective deterrent, the PCI Data Security Standard incorporates 12 distinct requirements in six categories. Certificate holders must meet standards in building and maintaining a secure network, protecting cardholder data, managing vulnerability, controlling access, monitoring and testing networks, and maintaining an effective security policy. Any compliance program with such an involved set of prerequisites would serve to reassure the end user, but only with universal adoption and standardization throughout the communications infrastructure will set the stage for a mobile retail revolution. The trials and errors of the Internet retail boom – and the hundreds of data breaches and identity thefts publicized each year – have inoculated the public against hodgepodge security measures. For something as tricky as the third screen to manage, and for a device as notoriously easy to misplace as the mobile phone, a better, more secure standard needs to be in place. PCI compliance should be an integral part of corporate policy, informing decision making from the ground up. In other words, PCI compliance should be the purview of not only IT directors setting up mobile retail systems or the marketing managers initiating mobile communication, but of the entire supply chain, from outside distributors to line employees to the steering committee. Vendors should be evaluated on the basis of PCI compliance, carriers and aggregators should be vetted with PCI in mind, and it should essentially become an industry operational standard. To encourage the level of trust American consumers expect to have with their retailers – and the sort of trust necessary for mobile commerce to reach its potential – PCI compliance must become the cornerstone of effective industry self-policing. Eric Holmen is president of SmartReply, Irvine, CA. Reach him at [email protected]
PAGE 31
‘ Ti s the seaso n for mobi le
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By Conrad Lisco
n recent years, the Internet has given holiday shoppers an alternative to the malls. While sitting at a desk, or reclined with a laptop perched on their laps, shoppers can browse their favorite stores to secure the best holiday deals on everything from food to fashion. But now, there’s another way to engage these techsavvy shoppers: Mobile. It’s safe to say that mobile is cutting the digital umbilical cord. More and more, consumers are getting it—they don’t need to be tethered to computers for information, directions, reviews and recommendations. Not only that, but over the course of the past year, mobile phones have become smarter, faster, more powerful and better equipped to provide rich Web browsing.
with them and get on-the-go access to everything they will need. And, of course, make sure that WAP destinations are chock-full of brand messaging and include links to products, locations, even driving directions.
Use retail signage to initiate mobile sign-ups Store signage is a cost-effective way to prompt consumers to opt-in via mobile for future sales and promotions. After all, it is your media. Let consumers know that they can sign up for ongoing promotional brand messages such as alerts for post-holiday sales. Let consumers spread the word for you There are two simple ways to make mobile messaging viral. First, include a “Send to Friend” option on the WAP site so that users
And we are seeing a change in shopping habits. In 2008, more than 9 million mobile phone subscribers in the United States – that’s 3.6 percent of the total subscribers – have used their phone to buy goods and services, according to a Nielsen Mobile survey of 30,000 wireless customers. Additionally, nearly half of all consumers who use their phones to transmit data say they plan to make a mobile purchase in the future. So, in the spirit of holiday giving, here are five ways that you can use mobile to give consumers a fresh way to engage with retail.
can easily link friends to it. Second, after delivering a mobile coupon, send a follow-up text message encouraging the user to forward the message or the coupon along to friends.
Meet consumers at the Web site, then direct them to the WAP site Use the brand’s Web site to promote its WAP site. Let your brand enthusiasts know that they can take the experience
Conrad Lisco is creative director at 5th Finger, San Francisco. Reach him at [email protected]
Use SMS to push promos and deliver coupons Incentive-based mobile activities are extremely effective in driving consumer traffic to stores. However, you have to make sure that those incentives and mobile opportunities are being communicated to consumers using compelling calls-to-action via media like mall displays, television and print or online advertising.
PAGE 32
Next year, let them pay with mobile Next year, the mobile phone may be all consumers will need to carry when shopping. Some brands will give people the opportunity to turn their phones into encrypted storage devices that hold credit card and other financial information. Consumers can then use their mobiles to complete transactions at retail locations, effectively turning them into electronic wallets.
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
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Learn what works in mobile advertising. For free mobile advertising white papers, case studies and research, or to set up a mobile campaign visit advertising.4info.net or call (650) 350-4800.
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Drive interaction, trial and revenue by providing consumers timely and relevant offers. 138 million Americans regularly send text messages. HipCricket can help you reach them. With over 24,000 mobile marketing campaigns under our belt, we have the expertise to successfully grow your business. Work with us and you’ll have a true partner in your hip pocket. We offer industry leading client support, training and technology. More importantly, our team will leverage its vast mobile marketing experience to help you develop and execute strategic campaigns with measurable results. We’ll also share proven techniques on how to build an opt-in database for future marketing efforts. Contact us today to speak with one of our brand experts by texting COMMERCE to 36617 or by calling 425.452.1111. www.hipcricket.com
© 2008 HipCricket, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All other brands, registrations, trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.
Mobile Marketer C L A S S I C G U I D E TO MOB ILE COMMERCE
2 INTRODUCTION Mobile commerce: It’s a reality By Giselle Abramovich BASIC 3 The current state of mobile commerce By Steve Timpson, Siteminis
5 Mobile commerce: The importance of the enduser experience By Mike Beech, Acision 6 Mobile is not the tiny Web By Jason Cianchette, Liquid Wireless
7 Mobile commerce: Leveraging the targeted impulse purchase opportunity By Alan Sultan, Acuity Mobile 8 From the desktop to the mobile phone: Advancing mobile commerce a single-click at a time By Michael Dulong, Billing Revolution
10 How content providers can profit from mobile search, on- and off-deck By Stephen Burke, MCN 11 How to optimize your Web site for mobile By Marc Peter, on-Idle
INTERMEDIATE 12 Reaching consumers at point of need key to mobile commerce By Brad Bostic, ChaCha Search
13 How to achieve mobile marketing success with optimized landing pages By Kim Ann King, SiteSpect 14 American shoppers turn to coupons during economic slowdown By Steven Gray, Money Mailer
15 The role of idle screen in driving mobile commerce By Jon Jackson, Mobile Posse 16 FEATURE Sears wins with mobile commerce By Giselle Abramovich, Mobile Marketer 18 Mobile banking’s place in the ecosystem By Michael Foschetti, Mobisix
19 Customer service leads the way in mobile travel Web adoption By Gerry Samuels, Mobile Travel Technologies
CONTENTS ADVANCED 20 Beyond the handset: Leveraging mobile distribution points to reach underserved markets By Moneet Singh, MPower Mobile 21 An evolution revolution: SMS transforms mobile commerce By Chuck Drake, Clickatell
22 Hate crowds? Want your mobile content to stand out? Try thinking globally, acting locally and embracing the mobile Web By Ray Anderson, Bango 23 Banks and carriers finally realizing the power of mobile commerce By Matthew Talbot, Sybase 365 24 So, now you have a mobile site. What’s next? By Richard Eicher, Skycore 25 Personalization: Teenage sex all over again By Mory Bahar, Personal Remedies 27 Mobile commerce: The Legal Landscape By Brian W. Esler and David Rice, Miller Nash
28 Mobile sellers face technological and legal challenges By Gonzalo E. Mon, Kelley Drye & Warren 29 12 tips for building a mobile site By Marci Troutman, Siteminis
30 Camera-phone mobile commerce By Rob DeStefano, Mobile Data Systems
31 A universal compliance standard will jump-start the mobile commerce industry By Eric Holmen, SmartReply 32 ‘Tis the season for mobile By Conrad Lisco, 5th Finger
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Mobile Marketer THE NEWS LEADER IN MOBILE MARKETING, MEDIA AND COMMERCE
INTRODUCTION
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M obile c omm erce : It’s a re alit y etail giants Target, Sears and Wal-Mart and fashion houses Chloé, Dolce & Gabbana and Dior all went mobile this year, proving that mobile commerce is here to stay.
The launch of the iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Storm and the G1 Android-enabled phone proved that this industry is capable of getting over the smallscreen challenge. The fact of the matter is that mobile commerce isn’t just something marketers are dabbing their feet into. They are slowly starting to jump in fullthrottle.
Retailers such as GameStop are using mobile coupons to drive consumers in store. If that’s not mobile commerce, I don’t know what is. I think for the first time we can proudly say that 2008 was the year for mobile commerce. Yes, the channel still has ways to go. Yes, there are still some consumers who don’t trust mobile. But isn’t that always the case? Let’s look back to the beginning of the Internet and ecommerce. Consumers had all the same doubts about ecommerce as they do today with mobile commerce.
It was a challenge that the industry faced and ecommerce companies and the software and technology companies that serve them overcame. The same will be true for mobile commerce because, let’s face it, it is here and it isn’t going away. It’s no exaggeration when I say that mobile commerce will soon change the shopping habits of consumers just like the Internet already has done.
Remember the mobile channel is more personal than any other and there’s no doubt that well-thought out mobile commerce sites and services will strengthen the bonds between brands and consumers. However, there are still brands and companies that are new-comers to the mobile commerce space and don’t know where to begin.
This guide aims to help advertising agencies, service providers, site developers, ad networks, analytics companies and others find their way
around the mobile commerce industry.
The list of contributors to this guide includes representatives from 5th Finger, Bango, Acision, Acuity Mobile, Billing Revolution, ChaCha, Clickatell, Kelley Drye & Warren, Liquid Wireless, MCN, Miller Nash, Mobile Posse, Mobisix, Money Mailer, MPower Mobile, MTT, on-Idle, Personal Remedies, Siteminis, SiteSpect, Skycore, SmartReply and Sybase 365. The articles offer best-practice tips, educational points of view and analysis.
The case study on retail giant Sears’ mobile strategy is worth reading.
The authors of the 20-plus articles in this guide play a vital role in the mobile commerce ecosystem. Their insights and analysis will help you in your mobile commerce efforts. We thank these senior executives for their time and hard work. To editor in chief Mickey Alam Khan, staff reporter Dan Butcher and director of ad sales Jodie Solomon: Thank you for your help and guidance in producing this guide. A special thanks to Rob DiGioia for his art direction and overall production of this guide.
Please read Mobile Marketer’s Classic Guide to Mobile Commerce from cover to cover and circulate it to your friends, colleagues, clients and prospects.
Also, visit http://www.mobilemarketer.com and sign up for our free newsletters that offer the latest news and analysis on mobile marketing, media and commerce.
We hope you benefit from this guide and look forward to featuring your mobile commerce wisdom and work in the next.
Giselle Abramovich [email protected]
Mickey Alam Khan Editor in Chief [email protected]
Dan Butcher Staff Reporter [email protected]
Giselle Abramovich Associate Editor [email protected]
Robert DiGioia Design Consultant [email protected]
Mobile Marketer covers news and analysis of mobile marketing, media and commerce. The franchise comprises MobileMarketer.com, the Mobile Marketer Daily newsletter and www.MobileNewsLeader.com. 2008 Napean LLC. All rights reserved. PAGE 2
ADVERTISING Jodie Solomon Director of Advertising Sales [email protected]
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MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
BAS IC
Th e cur r en t s t at e o f m o bi l e co mm er ce
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By Steve Timpson
n this column, we investigate what’s available for a traditional Internet site to use in transitioning to the mobile interface. Most sites transfer their entire content onto small mobile screens. Despite the significant buzz about the iPhone and its Internet interface, it suffers inherent issues, including its small screen size, which must receive content and load from larger PC/Mac formats, minimal market penetration, and competition from other smartphones in the marketplace. This scenario often creates long waits for text, links and functionality to load, followed by another significant delay as the images load on top of one another. The images shrink to fit the screen and, in most cases, become unreadable. Sites therefore become linear, meaning that the pages scroll at more than 20 times the height of the screen to fit all the content and images. After the first page loads, passwords, usernames, and most functionality are clickable but not functional, meaning that users can click through to the next screen, but data collection behind the scenes does not always work, leaving the user frustrated. Several different scenarios currently exist in the mobile commerce marketplace, yet they still do not provide a real solution for companies that want to manage their brand and offer their consumers a user-friendly interface to view products and make mobile purchases. WAP approach The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) represents the most widely used solution to date for mobile content and mobile functionality. It takes content designed for the PC/Mac world and forces its conformity with the mobile platform, which requires removing some content and alienating the original user interface and functionality to make sites fit the mobile platform. Specifically, WAP technology removes anything that is not mobile compatible, often completely destroying the usability, intended flow, and brand of the site. With this approach, the mobile Internet provides a difficult interface for end users and the general public therefore avoids the mobile Internet. Internet Web sites generally are created with one platform in mind, namely, the PC/Mac world. MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
The Major League Baseball site (http://wap.mlb.com) provides an example of an ecommerce site designed for the PC/Mac platform that has been forced onto a mobile platform through the WAP approach. All commerce charges sent through this site are added to the customer’s phone bill, because the functionality does not flow properly through WAP.
The .mobi approach Another commonly used option, .mobi, provides an extension that retailers and companies may use to guide consumers to a URL that becomes, for example, http://url.mobi. This extension also does not feature any software that rebuilds the site but instead allows the site to be viewed as it would in WAP or by pulling all data from the large screen to the smaller screen in smaller, nonfunctional versions. The BMW mobile site at http://bmw.mobi offers an example. Most retailers have not purchased their .mobi URL, which creates the concern that any company or individual could purchase the .mobi extension of a retailer for its own gain. If a domain name with the .mobi extension is available, anyone may purchase it for their own purposes, which could result in significant security concerns.
The “one site for all” approach In this third approach, all content on a PC/Mac site forces itself into the mobile application as best as it can, which simply does not work. The text and links populate first, which can take a full two minutes, and once that process finishes, the images start to load in, one on top of another, until the site is completely pushed into the mobile screen. The entire site therefore gets crammed together to fit in a space it was not designed to fit, creating site confusion and difficult site navigation. The Bloomingdale’s site at http://www.bloomingdales.com offers an example. Note that the entire screen must finish loading before users may click through to log in. When a user clicks the next screen, the long loading process for all data and images follows the same tedious process and so on throughout the site. Should users choose to return to a previous page, they discover that the pages do not cache. In other words, the information is not stored in the mobile browser windows and users must again wait for the entire page to reload to view it again. Each page follows this download process, making it (next page) PAGE 3
(from page 3) nearly impossible to navigate sites, let alone buy from them. Even if consumers know exactly which product they want to purchase, and the exact path to reach it, smartphones still demand an estimated 15 minutes to find the product and add it to a shopping cart, which rarely works on the small screen. Thus, the overall effort represents a waste of time and energy and makes mobile commerce impossibility for most retailers. Free shipping on mobile commerce Free shipping on mobile commerce purchases or should I pay more for the mobile commerce experience? It is surprising that the question of whether the mobile shopping experience should differ from that of the normal PC/Mac experience when it comes to service.
Yes, there will be a difference in the user interface due to the screen size. There will most certainly be differences in the amount of information a customer receives or their patience to wait to receive it. Let’s say for the sake of argument, that the issues of imaging and functionality are overcome. What remains the same is the drive for online retailers to improve conversion and expand their market base. It would seem that the same laws that affect the market place on the PC/Mac world would be the same in the mobile world. If you offer free shipping and other discounts to entice shoppers to buy through your site, you would extend those same offers on the mobile site. In fact, the same data-based driven marketing strategies would be deployed in marketing your mobile site. Wouldn’t it be great that the user does not have to worry about landing on any other site than your everyday .com page? The technology is there to do that, but few have moved in that direction – yet. In the end, mobile sites will grow based on simple economics, slow at first and then with the rush as water through a broken dam. How long that will take is a crap-shoot guess at best right now, but it will be sooner than you think. The use of special applications to make sites work and the use of text marketing to get people to a mobile-optimized site will rise and then wither away as both Internet commerce owners and users become PAGE 4
comfortable with the technology, security and mostly ease of use. Therein lays the answer to the question of free shipping. The mobile commerce strategy will simply be an extension of the online PC/Mac site and users will expect and demand the same customer service on either appliance. Failure to give the customer that same service will result in a loss on mobile business over time in a free commerce world.
Shopping bots One question that comes our way every now and then is whether or not shopping malls will become popular in mobile commerce as they had in ecommerce. My opinion is that this method of shopping will not gain in real popularity, mainly due to the education that retailers got using shopping sites during the dot-com boom in the late-’90s and early 2000s. Retailers learned during the growth of their online business that the real battle for customers was one with traditional strategies of branding, well-designed and informative Web sites and easily navigated commerce sites. Why spend money building some other company’s brand or lose valuable margin dollars that could be just as easily pocketed? Certainly the next big play for commerce sites is through mobile commerce. These portals should be extensions of the Web site itself and not through some other portal or URL that may be unfamiliar to the user. It would be easier to use their existing Internet platform and IT capabilities to manage the mobile site just as they do with their base site. The bigger question becomes how online retailing addresses the needs and concerns of the mobile shopper. In the same way the shop bots or online shopping malls filled a need to the online consumer, there may be a slight rise in mobile shopping malls in the short term depending on how fast retailers develop mobile shopping sites that are more robust than just text. This is especially true when it comes to functionality and shopping. If retailers are slow to embrace the mobile world, then, a sharp wireless carrier may develop an easy interface for shopability that makes their site more attractive or easier to use than the online retailer, therefore giving rise to a short-term lift of shopping mall type sites on the mobile. But, just as with the ecommerce changes we saw in the past, retailers will eventually side-step this process for their own branding strategy and the ability to keep more of their own margin in their own pocket. Customers comfortable shopping behind retailer’s URL This has been accomplished through better security, better ecommerce and better delivery of goods. My sense is that most customers want to dial in the retailers domain and do their commerce there. If they need additional information, they are going to Google the topic and work backwards until they have found the information, product or pricing they need. Steve Timpson is chief operating officer of Siteminis, Marietta, GA. Reach him at [email protected]
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Mobile commerce:
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The importance of the end-user experience By Mike Beech
s Apple has demonstrated time and again, most recently with the iPhone 3G, the end-user experience makes a real difference to the acceptance of any product or service. For mobile commerce, it will be essential to create a simple yet secure user experience in order to facilitate any widespread acceptance of the service. Without an easy to use, but secure experience, mobile commerce will remain all talk and no action.
Using a mobile wallet Many mobile phones have long had the capability to store “cash” within the phone itself, the so-called mobile wallet. In Finland, home of Nokia, mobile handset users have been able to buy Coke from vending machines for many years. Yet we haven’t seen this expand to many other services, nor have we seen it expand, to any great extent, on a worldwide basis. While the idea sounds easy to use, users have to “load” cash onto their phone. The actual purchase procedure can be a cumbersome and an unwieldy user experience. Alternative approaches Many wireless carriers around the world have experimented with both mobile wallets and other forms of payment, such as premium SMS. In Singapore, one of the carriers conducted extensive field trials, using four different mechanisms with a small user group in each part of the city. The trial included mobile wallets, premium SMS and links through to their mobile accounts. Their goal was to find the one approach that worked best. Their findings were that all of the approaches were too time-consuming and difficult for end users. Not one technique passed the trial stage.
Wave and pay A model gaining popularity is the simple “wave and pay” concept, using Near Field Communications (NFC). Here the phone still has a mobile wallet, but payment is made easier as you only need to “wave” your phone at the point of sale. While NFC only has a range of a few centimeters, some fear this payment method is so simple, you could walk down a street and unknowingly pay for everyone else’s purchases. While security is an issue in this approach, at least elements of simplicity are being proposed.
Beyond retail payments Of course, so far we have only considered the use of the mobile phone as a payment instrument in a standard retail outlet. When using the phone as an alternative way of accessing online retailers, different problems arise. Most existing Internet sites do not work well on the majority of
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
mobile phones. Put simply, the screen size and lack of a mouse and keyboard interface makes using most online sites difficult, to say the least. As covered by other articles in this guide, online sites need to be designed for the phone to be successful, which is in itself a challenge. Phones vary in their own capabilities and particularly screen size, from the iPhone or T-Mobile’s G1 (both geared for online access) to the more basic handsets with very limited functionality and small screens. Apple has shown that it can move a successful online site (iTunes) to the phone. However, not all Web site creators have the luxury of owning their own phone as well. Obviously, carriers are in a stronger position here and should be looking to encourage other site developers as well as building their own portals. Using your mobile phone account In considering the end-user experience, we should look at one of the key parts of a mobile phone – the already established payment method. End-users are familiar with paying a monthly bill (on contract) or topping up their phone with cash in advance (prepaid). Having mobile commerce activity tap into this existing payment infrastructure will help the usability and improve the perception of security. Prepaid and post-paid accounts both offer advantages to the end-user experience for mobile commerce. With post-paid, I have a readymade “monthly bill.” With prepaid, I can set limits on my spending (by the amount I top-up) and can keep track of what I have left in real-time. In both cases, if a phone is lost or stolen, the carrier is able to block the phone and stop any unauthorized transactions being applied to the account. Also in both cases, I can have a full and detailed record of all my purchases. The carrier can provide this to me as a regular statement or as an online, self-service record that I can check at any time. And I have avoided the need to create yet another account or another way to load a payments instrument with cash.
The ultimate experience? What end-user experience is the market looking for? It has to be simple and secure, easy to use but, if the worst happens, easy to block. So consider this: I take my purchases to the checkout and wave my phone at the register when the goods have been scanned through. My phone shows me a list of the goods, the amount of each, all the taxes and, of course, the total amount. If I am using a prepaid account for this, I would expect to see my starting balance at the top and my remaining balance at the bottom. I click “OK” and then maybe I am asked to confirm or even enter a PIN (perhaps based on the total amount of the transaction). At the end of the month, whether I prepaid or post-paid, I get my “mobile commerce” statement. All transactions are listed in detail, with totals for each transaction. Of course, this is available online to check at any time and is updated in real-time, so I always know where I am. And what if my purchase was online? The collection into my basket obviously needs to be tailored, but the check-out and payment I want exactly the same way. Nice and simple. Mike Beech is vice president at Plano, TX-based Acision LLC. Reach him at [email protected] PAGE 5
Mobile is not the t iny Web
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By Jason Cianchette
enerally people think of mobile as the tiny Web. They believe that mobile devices have tiny screens, tiny banner ads and tiny audiences that generate tiny revenue. Mobile is far from tiny and may soon surpass the Internet in significance. Like all new mediums, a fresh approach must be created to change the way we think about mobile. When a new medium is introduced, there tends to be a lot of uncertainty in how to best leverage the functionality of the developing platform. In the mid 1990s, much of Web commerce was made up of an electronic display of print catalog content, sometimes even in the form of a PDF. Companies did not know how to fully use the features that the Internet had to offer. In time, the true power of the Web was understood and ecommerce sites began implementing more sophisticated functionality such as recommendations and user-generated ratings and reviews. Today, the new medium is the mobile phone. Mobile phones currently have small screens and slow download connections compared to PCs. This leads many marketers and site designers to create mobile experiences that are small, stripped down versions of their Web sites. Mobile, however, has much more to offer than people realize. A true paradigm shift is necessary. Some ways that this can be done is to develop new ideas that exploit the power and potential of the mobile platform. How could this work? One way is to create purchase opportunities at new times and places. For example, my brand affinity for Procter & Gamble-owned personal hygiene brand Gillette is highest each time my favorite team, the New England Patriots, plays at Gillette stadium. Mobile can provide a great opportunity to let fans like me buy new blades during a game by sending a text message in between plays. In addition, many of the Web’s advanced commerce features can be brought to physical retail stores using mobile. For instance, while shopping for a new printer at Staples, I could have reviews and ratings on the models available right on my mobile phone. Furthermore, Staples could also give me personalized in-store recommendations based on my PAGE 6
previous purchases with the company. Mobile also offers a fast channel to send targeted rewards. For example, companies such as hotel chain Sheraton can use mobile to enhance their loyalty marketing programs. While in New York, Sheraton could send me offers based on my current location and transaction history. Using my mobile device, I could redeem an offer to get tickets to a Broadway show with my Sheraton rewards points. As marketers begin embracing the unique capabilities of the mobile platform, we will start enjoying new and exciting commerce opportunities that go well beyond the tiny Web. Jason Cianchette is president of Boston-based Liquid Wireless. Reach him at [email protected]
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Mobile commerce:
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Leveraging the t argeted impulse purchase opportunit y By Alan Sultan
obile commerce certainly presents tremendous opportunities for retailers to engage customers in more meaningful transactions that are highly relevant to the customer, thus resulting in increased sales. How does mobile enable this? Mobile can deliver spot relevance – the ability to deliver the right marketing content, to the right person, at the right time, in the right location. To provide such a precise level of communication, business intelligence is captured or forecasted covering three major dimensions to determine spot relevance including user data, business data and time-of-day. User data includes inputting the identified interests (what they like) and activities (what they do) of the target group as obtained from prior market research activities. The location can be determined using technology such as GPS. Business data such as organizational goals and historical transactions are also important to include. Finally, leveraging any major wireless communications technology
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
such as WiFi, WiMAX, GSM or CDMA allows real-time decisionmaking as the precise time-of-day data is captured in order to optimize who is reached and how often. All of this information is entered into or captured by an intelligent preference engine which uses sophisticated statistical techniques and predictive algorithms to determine the optimal content or offer on an individualized basis. Prospects, customers and mobile commerce organizations are key beneficiaries of spot relevance. Prospects and customers value highly that they receive only compelling offers or content of interest whenever they want and not the digital spam that is too prevalent with current ecommerce marketing. Mobile commerce organizations gain deep, measurable business analysis in real time to understand what compels prospects and current customers to purchase, plus how to engage customers in a meaningful, ongoing relationship. Spot relevance can be delivered working within private networks and with select carriers. So the time is now to start testing it as part of your mobile commerce plans. Alan Sultan is president of Washington-based Acuity Mobile. Reach him at [email protected]
PAGE 7
F ro m th e de s kt o p to mo b ile p h on e :
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Advancing mobile comm erce a single-click at a tim e By Michael Dulong
t seems like only yesterday that consumers were reticent to engage in ecommerce due to security concerns. That was until Amazon paved the way toward mass ecommerce nearly 13 years ago. A lot has happened since those early days. Mobile commerce, while still early in its lifecycle, appears to be moving much more quickly than ecommerce in terms of consumer adoption and industry acceptance. And when you really think about mobile commerce and its many forms (credit-card billing, carrier billing, PSMS, credit cards and mobile “wallets”) it makes sense that consumers are only now beginning to make mobile purchases. Mobile Web adoption is the required first step toward a scalable mobile commerce model. According to a white paper recently released by Nielsen Co., “The United States is the global leader in mobile Internet adoption, with 40
million U.S. mobile subscribers (15.6 percent) actively using the mobile Internet.” The paper further addresses that “9.2 million United States mobile subscribers have used their phone to pay for goods or services.”
Entering the age of “single-click” mobile commerce Before getting into the details of what “single click” mobile commerce is all about, let’s consider how this is first handled with desktop computers, which is basically transacted through tracking cookies. Some phones have cookies turned on, some off, some carriers support, some do not. In order to scale single-click mobile commerce, the technology leveraged will need to function across all handsets and networks whether the handset has cookies enabled or disabled. To solve this dilemma, companies need a technology that enables single-click mobile commerce across all phones and all networks without requiring users to enter a user name or PIN code. The technology involved would essentially license the handset for “access.” “Access” in a digital sense could be to a download URL or, in a PAGE 8
physical instance this could involve order fulfillment and shipping. Hey, wait a minute! You might think this sounds a lot like ecommerce. And in fact you’d be right. The mobile Web is the Internet being accessed by a phone and eventually we will all own a larger screen, Web-enabled smartphone, which will be our preferred way of accessing the Internet. The truth of the matter is the mobile consumer is already making purchases and the mobile industry will need to keep pace with this new behavior. The single-click purchase experience is a glimpse of the future. Someday, we will all have a smartphone and we won’t think twice about whipping out our credit card to make the same types of purchases we take for granted on the Internet. At first it will be digital goods, then impulse purchases and finally major purchases of physical goods, which is something that everyone can get excited about. Without question, the future is bright for mobile commerce and a single-click technology platform is the one solution to drive benefits to all the stakeholders. Consumers will enjoy the added convenience of mobile shopping. Carriers can optimize the mobile purchase experience and enjoy significantly increased data revenues, and merchants can extend their shopping experiences to mobile. Beyond that, publishers and ad networks can run commerce-enabled mobile ad campaigns and deliver improved return on investment. With all of these benefits and consumer adoption increasing quickly, the industry is entering a period of truly explosive growth. Understand this is just the beginning of a natural evolution of the digital medium from the fixed desktop to the mobile phone. Consumers will ultimately lead the charge in this effort and help to usher in a new standard for mobile commerce exchange. Michael Dulong is senior vice president of business development at Billing Revolution, Seattle. Reach him at [email protected]
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
H o w co n t en t p r o v id er s can p ro f i t f r o m m o b i l e s e a r c h , o n - a n d o ff - d e c k By Stephen Burke
M
obile users don’t buy what they can’t find. Content providers can’t survive if they have to spend more of their marketing budgets on costly, imprecise mass media and Web promotions or hit and miss mobile pay-per-impression (PPI) campaigns in order to capture user interest in the ever-widening mobile Web. This is especially true as the trend from on-portal content sales to off-portal accelerates in the United States and as new mobile commerce initiatives get under way. In the early days of the mobile Web, carriers — rightly — sought to control content access within walled gardens to ensure reliability and a common user experience. Content providers lined up to get “on deck,” creating pileups in operator waiting rooms. With recent advances in network capacity, data pricing, devices, applications and standards, the U.S. is poised to rapidly follow the trends set in Japan and in Britain. In these countries the ratio of on- and off-portal content discovery has flipped in the past two years and off-portal sites now dominate traffic. Even more dramatic in Japan is the growth of mobile commerce, which overtook mobile content sales in 2007 and will generate nearly $6 billion in revenue this year versus $3 billion in mobile content revenues. How will U.S. content and ecommerce providers profit? By grabbing space in the emerging “mobile malls” that are being deployed by carriers and portals. Mobile malls that are building clear pathways — on the phone top and the WAP portal – to information search powered by Web giants such as Google and Yahoo, as well as to high-value search merchandising services. Search merchandising services are services that leverage new technical advances such as federated search and new content promotion programs that reach users at the moment of highest interest in a transaction. Federated search solutions create direct connections to any content sources (on- and off- portal) in real-time, and in any number of vertical content channels (music, video, games and shopping). Queries are brokered out to relevant sources, and actionable content items—not endless links—are presented to the user in two to three clicks, ranked and sorted in terms of relevance and value. Federated search combined with new performance based pay-perclick (PPC) content promotion programs to reach users directly at the instant they want to buy cool stuff with their phone. This eliminates costly and complex keyword bidding and campaign management and ensures that if the content provider’s database has a piece of content relevant to the query it will be presented to users who are primed to buy. Shorter click distance + relevant content items (not links) = higher click throughs, conversions and return on investment. With federated search and PPC content promotion at their disposal, content providers can manage search engine optimization within their own databases, leverage limited marketing budgets directly against PAGE 10
users at the moment of highest interest in a transaction, and maintain a profitable position in high-traffic mobile malls. Stephen Burke is the Tokyo-based senior vice president of marketing for MCN Inc., a mobile search platform provider. Reach him at [email protected]
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
How to optimize T
your Web site for mobile By Marc Peter
here is still a marked difference between mobile usage in Japan and Europe, where in the Far East, i-mode services (e.g. localized restaurant bookings) are ubiquitous, but not as widely used in Europe. I-mode is a mobile Internet service that is popular in Japan. Unlike WAP, i-mode covers more Internet standards, like Web access, email and the network that delivers the data. I-mode users have access to various services such as email, sports results, weather forecasts, games, financial services and ticket booking. Content is provided by specialized services, typically from the mobile carrier, which allows them to have tighter control over billing. The iPhone has changed user perception of browsing the Internet via mobile, with the overarching question: Why should there be a difference between PC Web and mobile Web? When site owners first started to investigate the possibility of mobile sites, the ensuing and internal debate with developers was to go down the WAP path or optimize a specific Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) but use the HTML protocol. Mobile is becoming a standard alternative CSS that develops in much the same way as catering for different accessible site versions. Thus, WAP has been somewhat forsaken and the focus has shifted to learning design principles for small screens and narrowband Web access. Most Web-enabled phones have native browsers, therefore existing CSS and HTML displays – supported where relevant by the site’s content management system (CMS). For every mobile site, a thorough analysis is completed on what users need – information, commerce, interaction – and a typical set of users identified, leading to the lowest common denominator requirements. These are invariably Windows Mobile (Internet Explorer) on a mobile phone screen – and the success or failure of a mobile site will be determined by the graphical user interface (GUI) and ability of the user to navigate content. A mobile site is effectively a Web site that is specifically designed to display on as small a screen as possible – a second skin – then detect the user agent and serve up the relevant CSS design dependent on whether a user is accessing the site from a mobile device, PDA or PC Web browser. It is important to display mobile sites as single-column pages. Mobile screens are simply too small for multiple-column displays and look different on various devices. Remove any elements that are not supported by the native Web browser. For example, Flash. All images should be reduced in size as much as possible, in consideration of both screen size and bandwidth availability. The most complex part of developing a mobile site is redefining MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
the location and structure of navigation. On large and multilingual sites, the navigation can fill an entire screen. Breadcrumbs and “back” and “Quick Links” below page content are invaluable to the user, and facilitate the separation of navigation from content.
A search function is vital on large sites As with all developments, test for optimum display and functionality on relevant operating systems (Mac OSX+ and Windows 2000, XP and Vista) and Web browsers (Internet Explorer 6+, Firefox 2.5+, Safari 2+), as well as mobile devices. Physically test on various PDAs, smartphones and Web-enabled mobile phones to ensure any anomalies that the PC simulators have are eliminated. The one unresolved issue is for multiple language character set display on the same mobile/PDA interface: a device bought in China will not natively display English or Cyrillic character sets (Arabic, Russian, Greek) and vice versa. The user must install the relevant character sets. It’s laborious, but solvable. Clients should be aware of the issue. Marc Peter is creative director at Web design and development company on-Idle, London. Reach him at [email protected]
PAGE 11
I N T E R M E D I AT E
Reaching consumers
O
at poin t o f ne ed k ey By Brad Bostic
t o m obi l e c om m er ce
n-the-go mobile users want quick relevant answers and solutions to their immediate needs. Due to the inherent limitations of Web-enabled mobile devices – small screens, slower connectivity and browser downloading capabilities – mobile marketers have to make the most of their limited interaction with mobile consumers. These on-the-go mobile users aren’t, in most cases, interested in surfing the Web – they’ve got a specific need and turn to their Web-enabled mobile devices to find a quick answer. So, how do mobile marketers reach these consumers at their point of need? There are numerous mobile search vendors in the marketplace today offering mobile users Internet search capabilities. But the problem is, typical mobile information services only provide algorithmic search results, which translates to links to “possible” answers. But now, mobile marketers have the opportunity to capitalize on the game-changing technology that is revolutionizing mobile marketing – human assisted mobile answers. With mobile answers, consumers can quickly find specific answers to specific queries and mobile marketers can reach them at their point of need. Say you’re visiting downtown Philadelphia and in dire need of a Mocha Venti Latte, only you have no idea where the nearest coffee house is. You call 411 or use mobile search and they locate 15 outlets in downtown Philly. Or, imagine this – you call or text your question on your mobile phone and a friendly “guide” not only tells you the exact location of the closest cofPAGE 12
fee house, but also provides you with a discount code to use at that coffee house. Want to know where and when a certain feature film is playing? Using mobile answers, a human guide provides the answer and at the same time asks you if you’d like to purchase tickets. Hmmm…you’ve heard a song on the radio, but you didn’t catch the song title…with mobile answers you can simply provide the guide with a few of the lyrics. Within minutes, the guide gives you the song title and artist and asks you if you’d like to purchase the CD or download an MP3 version. This is smart mobile marketing — reaching consumers at their point of need in a targeted, relevant way — versus the intrusive, shotgun approach of non-solicited advertising. Through the magic of mobile answers, mobile marketers are able to view behavioral patterns, intent to buy, promotion responsiveness, brand affinity and other key metrics. Tech-savvy mobile users – especially the 18-24-year-old crowd – have widely embraced mobile technology, so it’s a natural fit for mobile marketers to harness the power of mobile answers to reach them in a method with which they are most comfortable. What’s more, today’s mobile devices are highly personal, so much so that they can be equated to a diary or to a personal “black book.” For marketers, this presents an extraordinary opportunity to carry on an intimate dialogue through highly targeted marketing to a massive group of consumers.
Brad Bostic is president and cofounder of ChaCha Search Inc., Carmel, IN. Reach him at [email protected] MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
How to achieve mobile marketing success with
optimized landing pages I
By Kim Ann King
t’s no longer a question – consumers are increasingly using their mobile devices to access the Web. Organizations are quickly learning that mobile commerce comes with unique challenges around screen size, lack of navigation and bandwidth latency. One way to maximize your return on investment around mobile marketing initiatives is to create savvy mobile landing pages that help increase conversion rates. Seven best practices When building mobile landing pages, there are seven best practices to follow. While there is plenty of advice on this, this list condenses the key takeaways: 1) Write a clear, concise and compelling headline and offer copy that speaks to your audience’s problem. For example: “Hungry? Try our new $1.99 chicken fajitas!” 2) Include an image of the offer for visual appeal. 3) Create minimal navigation to minimize distraction and potential opt-out. 4) Keep the look and feel of your primary Web site so consumers will immediately recognize your brand. 5) Don’t forget a compelling call to action that should tie in to the offer. For example, coupons for the scrumptious chicken fajita offer above could have a call-to-action such as “Redeem now!” 6) Minimize data collection – it’s hard to fill out forms on a mobile device. 7) But if you do include data collection, also include a privacy statement to help establish trust. Questions to ask when designing your mobile landing page When thinking about the seven best practices above, you will want to ask yourself the following questions: 1) Is the headline/copy/imagery compelling? 2) Are we selling the offer (recommended) or the company/product (not recommended). In other words, does the offer focus on audience pain or is it selfserving? 3) Is the new mobile landing page taking advantage of our keywords and ad groups? 4) Is there a humongous form to fill out? Can we streamline that or get rid of it? 5) If we must include a form, are the questions on it relevant to the buying cycle? For example, if you are sending a mobile commerce offer to a consumer who hasn’t even heard of you or doesn’t have the problem MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
you are trying to solve, it won’t be very effective. 6) Did we include a relevant, visually appealing image 7) Is the copy scannable? Are there bullets or call-outs, much like this article? 8) Do we need a privacy statement?
What’s next? OK, you have built your mobile landing page, your mobile commerce offer is out there and consumers are taking advantage of it. Now what do you do? Optimize! Now is not the time to rest on your laurels. You will want to test, measure and revise continuously to make sure you are maximizing each and every campaign. Consider a non-intrusive mobile multivariate testing solution in order to test and track factors such as copy/text, offers and images/graphics. Good luck! Kim Ann King is chief marketing officer at SiteSpect, Boston. Reach her at [email protected]
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T H E C LU C K STO P
PAGE 13
Amer ican shoppe rs
tur n to co upo ns duri ng econ omi c sl ow dow n
A
By Steven Gray
s consumers continue to feel the pinch from today’s economic pressures, an increasing amount of American shoppers are turning to coupons as an effective cost-cutting measure. In fact, recent reports and studies show that for the first time in more than a decade coupon usage is on the rise. For marketers who are taking advantage of the coupon trend, mobile coupons are a natural extension of their mail, print and point-of-purchase coupon pieces, among other communications. “Going mobile” helps advertisers reinforce messages with consumers who are becoming increasingly dependent on their mobile phones, especially the highly coveted 18-34 age demographic. In a recent ABI Research study, 38 percent of consumers indicated that mobile incentives would increase their response, while 32 percent of those polled indicated that incentives probably would increase their response. In the same study, 63 percent of respondents selected coupons to local retailers as their marketing incentive and message of choice. More than half of those polled, 52 percent, selected discounts at a store as their second choice of incentive. Among the tech-savvy 18-34 age demographic, the study found that 70 percent of mobile coupon redemptions were from members of this targeted group. The rise in publishing of coupons on the Web and their increase in use are also key indicators that consumers and businesses alike are ready for mobile couponing. The number of people turning to the Web for coupons has soared to 38.6 million in 2008, an increase of 13 million people from 2005. With this type of momentum, there is little doubt that Web-enabled and mobile text digital coupons are here to stay and will provide mobile publishers a promising source of revenue in the years ahead. Even more direct than traditional mail or online pieces, mobile coupons present advertisers the chance to draw-in consumers who are progressively more comfortable using their mobile phones. Whether “pushed” out to consumers through a text message or made available on mobile phones through the Web, mobile coupons provide advertisers new consumer touch points, including at the point of purchase. Similar to other offers, mobile couponing is a measurable marketing tactic with a direct call to action. Yet, the convenience and ease of use of mobile coupons distinguish them as a perfect alternative media for reaching different audiences. Plus, mobile coupons fulfill the all-important relevancy and timely factors that marketers crave. They are relevant because those using them have opted-in to receive the offer. Also, they are timely for both consumers and advertisers, made available when consumers are ready to buy, and brought to market in an instant as advertisers seek to increase sales with new products and promotions. Mobile coupons are a lower-cost complement to other mediums PAGE 14
such as one-to-one direct mail, ranging from eight cents to 30 cents per message, depending on the size of the mobile distribution. Moreover, the incremental benefit of mobile coupons on marketing campaigns can have a major impact on revenues and profits. Although relatively still new, direct marketers are clinging to the technology as the next “big thing” for coupons. In general, mobile coupons are a welcome complement to the efforts many advertisers have underway with their call-to-action messages offering discounts and provide a practical way of connecting with customers wherever they might be geographically. Steven Gray is chief operating officer of Garden Grove, CA-based Money Mailer. Reach him at [email protected]
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
The role of idle sc reen
i n d ri vi ng mo bi l e c o mmerc e
A
By Jon Jackson
s the number of mobile phones per capita approaches 100 percent or higher in some parts of the world, there is no doubt that mobile phones have become an indispensable part of a consumer’s daily life. Increasingly, innovative ways are being created to help consumers conduct commerce using their mobile devices, from paying tolls to purchasing vending machine products to replacing charge cards when shopping for groceries. These uses all require additional hardware and functionality to be built in to the handset. This means it will take time to reach the masses. The industry needs a way to effectively communicate with the masses and make it easy for consumers to conduct mobile commerce now. Most consumers have never purchased anything on their phones What is needed is a solution that provides visibility to products and services on the phone and in the physical world – an idle screen-based mobile advertising solution offers just that opportunity. When implemented with the support of service providers, idle screenbased delivery of graphically rich and interactive marketing messages can help brands and marketers establish a dialog with consumers that don’t subscribe to or use data services.
According to Jiffy Lube representative Janice Jack, “Cricket Perks has given us the ability to make an instant connection with consumers while they are mobile and more likely to respond to an offer by simply bringing in their mobile phone to one of our locations. We like the simplicity of this approach – no coupons to clip.” As illustrated by the success achieved by this and numerous other similar campaigns, the idle-screen engagement-based solution provides the necessary platform that can enable mass adoption and growth for mobile commerce. Jon Jackson is CEO of McLean, VA-based Mobile Posse. Reach him at [email protected]
Simplicity and ease of use are paramount By driving discovery and visibility of products and services at the idle screen level, with calls to action that are easy to respond to with the press of a key, even a lay person can quickly start conducting commerce using their mobile phone. Particularly compelling are services and products that can be consumed on the mobile phone itself, such as ringtones, wallpapers and mobile games. By providing offers or information about such mobile content through idle-screen messaging, where one click provides a subscriber with more information and an opportunity to download or purchase the product. This makes a positive experience for the consumer and delivers compelling results for the advertiser. Consumers are generally inseparable from their mobile phones By delivering coupons or offers on their mobile phones when they are out and about, the likelihood that a marketer can influence consumer behavior and help drive them into a retail location is vastly increased. Consumers like to save, whether it is saving money when ordering pizza or getting a discount on an oil change for their car or buying flowers for a loved one. As a recent example of successful engagement through idle screenbased ad delivery, Jiffy Lube ran a campaign which offered $10 off a Jiffy Lube Signature Service in select markets. Over the four week duration of this campaign using the Cricket Perks program, the click-through rate averaged at 22.8 percent and unique subscriber engagement was 56.3 percent. MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
PAGE 15
F E AT U R E
S ear s w in s w it h m o b il e c om m er c e he said. “Coupling industry trends with our core multichannel strengths, we believe that providing our customers with valuable tools on their mobile devices will encourage richer and relevant interaction.”
Sears Holdings Corp. is the nation's fourth largest retailer with more than $50 billion in annual revenues and approximately 3,800 full-line and specialty retail stores in the United States and Canada. Key proprietary brands include Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard, and a broad apparel offering including such well-known labels as Lands' End, Jaclyn Smith and Joe Boxer.
Sears2go, the mobile commerce site, targets people on the go. Sears’ new mobile presence is meant to make it easier to cut out the holiday shopping hassles and shop from the convenience of a mobile phone. More of Sears’ customers are relying on their mobile device as their primary means of email and Web usage. They are the retailer’s target customers.
Sears2go showcases products in the following categories: apparel, electronics and computers, fitness and sports, jewelry, tools, toys and games. Users can buy these items right on the site. “Sears is a phenomenal example of mobile commerce,” said Nick Taylor, president of Usablenet, New York. “Sears has leveraged a very powerful Web site and allowed customers to seamlessly and successfully access Sears.com from any mobile phone for full purchasing.
W
By Giselle Abramovich hen a department store giant such as Sears is using mobile to complement its existing multichannel strategy, the mobile commerce channel can be taken a bit more seriously.
Sears was seeing an increasing amount of mobile traffic on http://www.sears.com, but the experience was not the greatest. This is when the retail giant came to Usablenet to fix the problem. “With increasing proliferation of robust mobile devices such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, G1 et cetera, we believe users will start using their phones for a lot more data-centric activities such as online browsing and shopping,” said Ravi Acharya, director of Sears’ online business unit. “We are starting to observe early trends where certain users rely on their mobile device more than their PCs and laptops when traveling,” PAGE 16
“A good example is the idea of a customer being able to order something for delivery or for pick-up in a store and an SMS is sent letting the customer know the product is ready for pick-up,” he said.
“They've picked functionality that's very valuable on their site and elegantly extended to the mobile phone where this is such a relevant mobile idea.” The usage pattern from people on the go is best served by providing a simple, fast experience that enables them to find and buy products with minimal distractions. The way people shop on their phone is much more surgical than on the Web, people want to get in, transact and get out.
There will also be additional ways to get people excited about specific products and deals that will land them closer to the products they are looking for, thus reducing the number of clicks they would need to go through on a mobile device. The mobile commerce site isn’t Sears’ first foray into mobile.
In the past, the company has tested 2D barcode scans from in-store to retrieve product reviews and other information. MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Sears was also part of a large integrated marketing campaign this summer to support the launch of the Incredible Hulk movie. This was essentially a three-week text-to-win contest in partnership with Kmart, Universal Studios and Marvel comics that had very positive feedback. For over a year now, Sears has had SMS deals and alerts that inform customers when their products purchased online are available for instore pickup, or a weekly deal is promoted. Sears also has alerts at certain Sears Auto centers to let customers know when their cars are ready for pickup after servicing.
“Why wouldn't a company with a Web site allow its customers to buy products and services however they'd like?” Mr. Taylor said. “Especially in an economy like today's. “In one month, Sears has already found success via Sears Mobile in every single state in the country, which is staggering,” he said. “It shows that people everywhere, in every state and demographic are ready for mobile commerce.” Research shows that millions of Americans are going to Web sites from mobile phones, often to shop or buy products and services.
The success of the iPhone and the entire corresponding buzz has made mobile Web and mobile commerce even more of an expectation for people everywhere.
Mobile commerce cut its teeth in the travel sector (examples: American Airlines, Starwood and Amtrak) over the last couple years, but now it’s a proven channel for commerce across all sectors including retail. Increasingly, mobile commerce will be a basic expectation. This trajectory will get steeper very quickly.
Consumers are mobile, now more than ever before, and it’s becoming the first screen for absolutely everything people do. There is a new, sophisticated device coming out every single day to make mobile commerce even easier, more comprehensive and more sophisticated. Companies will have to support their mobile customers and provide mobile commerce or face the possibility of losing customers who will buy something more easily and quickly elsewhere – from their phone.
There is also this idea of consumers beginning to settle on the mobile sites that they know they can successfully navigate and buy from. Companies will prefer to be one of these sites, rather than a site MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
branded as non-mobile.
“We believe the mobile channel will support our multichannel strategy very effectively,” Mr. Acharya said. “As mobile devices evolve into the most personalized, first-screen point of contact, this channel will be highly relevant in providing our customers with an easy way of interacting with Sears.
“Mobile can also be a natural bridge across our various channels – e.g. stores, online and print – to provide customers with a seamless, integrated experience,” he said. What’s Sears’ mobile strategy going forward?
“We are constantly exploring customer mobile usage patterns in alignment with technology trends and testing various concepts and applications that offer value,” Mr. Acharya said. “These could translate into richer and more integrated user experiences for our customers in various areas around commerce and support.”
PAGE 17
Mobile banking’s
pl ace in the ec osystem
A
By Michael Foschetti
keen interest exists in financial institutions across the country to develop innovative new ways of engaging current and potential customers with mobile to drive sales and improve account servicing. Many banks have taken the most logical first step into mobile: Deploying mobile banking servicing platforms, whether through browser, SMS, downloadable applications, or a combination of one or more of these. These institutions are in a race to deploy and continue adding to these platforms, as well as to encourage frequent customer usage. But the mobile community is still struggling with how to extend mobile banking and where it exists in the ecosystem. Advanced applications and technologies hold great promise, but are still in the development and testing stages. Despite slower than expected adoption, the marketplace is primed for mobile banking to take off.
Consumers have become increasingly receptive. Vendors and technology providers have improved their solutions and platforms. Lastly, devices and networks are continually evolving to a higher level of sophistication and speed. Mobile banking provides a service that banks have not been able to offer previously – quicker, more efficient access to account information – and adds a strategic point of differentiation to those institutions that do offer it. It also helps banks extend their reach to new customer segments that are typically more mobile-savvy, such as younger demographics and U.S. Hispanics. Audiences such as these look for different service offerings than the older, Anglo demographic and mobile banking is becoming almost a requirement for them. This second stage of mobile banking will see more alerts and notifications, funds-transfer services and location finders, as well as more bill-pay functions and two-way, actionable alerts. Currently, Visa is testing a notification system where customers receive a text message as soon as charges are made anywhere in the world. The message can show the date, time, dollar amount, merchant name, location and clickable link for telephone support. Banks have the option to customize the message with the wording, the information that is included and whether a fee is charged for the service or not. Long-term, the desire is to make those messages two-way, allowing customers to act on something in the message or respond if the charge was not made by them. The landscape for mobile banking is going to continue to change and evolve from all sides over the next few years. Banks and wireless carriers are starting to collaborate, working with handset manufacturers to include applications on devices before activation by subscribers. Platforms and user interfaces will continue to be improved as banks aim for a better balance of simplicity and security. Vendors and technology providers will be consolidated as platforms become more consistent across banks and carriers. Consumers will continue to become more comfortable and receptive to mobile banking, realizing how much more efficient it is. They will begin to look for increased service offerings and better user experiences from their financial institutions, and mobile banking’s place in the ecosystem will no longer be so questionable. Michael Foschetti is managing director at Mobisix, Charlotte, NC. Reach him at [email protected]
PAGE 18
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Cus tom er service
l ea ds the w ay in mob il e tr av el We b adop ti on
W
By Gerry Samuels
ith more than 500 million mobile Internet users worldwide, and this figure expected to triple by 2013, the mobile Web is growing at a phenomenal rate. Whilst travel suppliers need to keep pace with new developments, they also need to ensure they match the provision of services to customer acceptance of this relatively new channel. Mobile Web sites can offer the full functionality of the traditional Web plus additional mobile-specific features. However, what customers want to access on a mobile is different to what they want to access on a PC. When travel suppliers and intermediaries embrace this they find mobile to be an ideal means to deliver certain services that fit the context and provide a layer of differentiation over their competitors. For example, combining online and mobile services means a customer can book on the Web then push the booking to their mobile device. Hotel guests can then retrieve their booking on mobile and see directions and maps to help them find their hotel. They can also amend bookings on-the-go should their plans change. Airline customers can check flight status, purchase additional services, select their on-board seat from graphical seat maps and even check-in. From the mobile travel services MTT has already developed for travel clients, we are already seeing up to 10 percent of the number of unique users on the regular Web site accessing the site on mobile. In the United States, large carriers have over 100,000 unique accesses per month, a trend which is growing by up to 20 percent per month. Geographic location and differing costs to access the mobile InterMOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
net will of course affect to what extent this medium is used. In markets where there is a low cost to access the mobile Internet, for example, Britain (one pound per mobile screen accessed), there is high mobile Internet access of up to 30 percent of mobile phone subscribers. In other markets, where access costs can be three to four times that cost, access is lower. Similarly, in some developing markets such as India and China, where mobile Internet is the Internet for many people, we are seeing the development of mobile commerce, i.e. people making reservations on mobiles, perhaps in advance of other parts of the world. Whilst mobile services are currently being used mainly as a positive customer innovation, they also offer travel suppliers the potential to reduce costs – for example, where a traveler can selfmodify a booking rather than having to contact a call center, and also have the potential to deliver incremental ancillary revenues. Looking ahead, as consumers’ confidence and familiarity with mobile Internet grows and as mobile data charges increasingly become bundled as part of monthly tariffs, mobile commerce is likely to expand. However, travel operators’ focus right now should be on enhancing their customers’ experience whilst on the go rather than simply developing a full functionality mobile version of their PC Web site.
Gerry Samuels is the founder and executive director of Mobile Travel Technologies Ltd., Dublin, Ireland. Reach him at [email protected]
PAGE 19
A D VA N C E D
Beyond the handset:
W
L e v er ag i n g m o b il e d i s t r i b u t i o n p o in t s t o r ea c h u n d er s e r v e d m ar ke t s By Moneet Singh
ith 3.4 billion subscribers worldwide and service spanning 90 percent of the globe, mobile phones are the most quickly adopted device in world history. In fact, mobile phones have leapfrogged traditional telecommunication networks to flourish in rural areas where landline penetration has long been stagnant at 5-10 percent. Mobile technology’s increasing ubiquity presents an unprecedented opportunity to deliver marketing messages and products in untapped markets where television, bricks-and-mortar institutions and even postal mail services have found it difficult to find a foothold. Mobile networks in underserved markets provide marketers in all industries with two main channels for interacting with consumers. The first is, of course, the handset itself. Mobile banking and mobile payment networks have already demonstrated the tremendous potential for engaging underserved consumers via SMS technology, putting financial services within reach of the world’s 2 billion un-banked and under-banked individuals. In Kenya alone, Safaricom’s M-Pesa mobile payments service has facilitated $145 million in transactions among 1.6 million consumers. The second channel, which remains relatively unexplored by marketers, is the complex web of mobile distribution points that have been integral in driving mobile phones’ rapid adoption. These distribution points emerge organically, helmed by local entrepreneurs offering mobile solutions that best meet their neighbor’s usage habits. For example, Safaricom relies on direct sales agents who circulate in neighborhoods and villages selling top-ups for airtime or servicing mobile payments. Similarly, Grameenphone operates the national Village Phone program in rural India and Bangladesh, in which villagers essentially become wireless carriers by renting minutes to neighbors. Such agent networks are an ideal PAGE 20
marketing and distribution platform for marketers of all industries, as they reach underserved consumers where they live and work, and involve highly personal transactions with agents they’ve grown to know and trust. Thinking of mobile agents and carriers as a roving point-of-sale network, companies can deploy advertising campaigns utilizing agents as brand ambassadors. Their frequent interaction with hard-to-reach consumers makes them extremely effective local partners for distributing advertisements, educating consumers about products or displaying your brand. Coupon and sampling campaigns are another potential use of mobile distribution points. Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, for example, could arm these agents with traditional print or SMS coupons and even product samples. To incorporate cross-promotion, the CPG company and mobile carrier – or the agent on their own – could offer free minutes for every product sold as a result of these coupons. Another angle to take toward this opportunity involves the engagement of mobile distribution agents as a sales force and delivery channel for your products and services. Enlisting these agents to sell insurance, to act as a local reseller for small products such as toothpaste, to distribute catalogs and take orders, or to become a "shipping center" for express mail creates a mutually beneficial business relationship. The end customer can use his mobile or cash to complete such transactions. In this relationship, your company serves the long tail, entering or achieving greater efficiencies within underserved markets, and local entrepreneurs can in turn grow their businesses and increase loyalty by providing mobile customers with added value. With such trusted partnerships in place, your product may enjoy adoption as rapid as that of mobile technology itself. Moneet Singh is the president and chief operating officer of Austin, TXbased MPower Mobile. Email him at [email protected] MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
An evolution revolution:
SM S tr a ns f o r m s mo b i l e co mm er c e
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By Chuck Drake
nline commerce sent consumers and businesses into a frenzy of purchasing in a new, more convenient way. Initially named ecommerce, it changed our lives overnight and soon everything received the online moniker including online marketing, online sales, purchasing and payments. Even Congress got into the act with hearings about the potential tax revenues that might be reaped, propelling lobbyists into high gear. Now, rocking the world again, mobile commerce is replacing the PC with the mobile phone and replacing email with text messaging. Consumers who once went gaga because they could accomplish their bill paying online or receive email receipts for Christmas goods
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
can now do even more, via simple text messaging, all while they wait in line or stop for coffee. Today, the mobile commerce landscape is rapidly changing as the masses text constantly (let’s face it, “text” is already a verb). The early adopters depend on mobile banking and transaction alerts via SMS. Those on the bleeding edge make payments and money transfers, reload prepaid cards and gain purchase rewards – all via SMS. Two concurrent developments in mobile technology made this possible. First, everyone owns a mobile phone. Even in countries where landlines never made it into the home and computers were never plugged in, people depend on their mobile phone. There are 1.3 billion Internet users globally and 3.4 billion mobile phone subscribers. In some countries, mobile phone penetration has reached 140 percent, which works out to be 1.5 mobile phones per person. Second, all mobile phones come equipped with SMS. Text messaging has slowly crept into the practices of all demographics so that now, everyone from middle school students needing a ride home to grandparents wishing a friend well text away everyday. Because of this massive proliferation across the globe and across demographics, SMS has reached and will continue to reach more people than perhaps any other communications channel available on any medium. In the mid-twentieth century, credit cards revolutionized commerce by putting real purchasing power in consumers’ wallets without needing to haul around a bucket of cash. Imagine not needing a wallet at all to wield such power. SMS can help turn mobile phones into mobile wallets without needing to dig the plastic out of its slot. Following the pace of ecommerce, mobile commerce is only beginning to experience widespread deployment. The masses will soon be performing all transactions discussed in this article. Soon, early adopters will receive actionable alerts for mobile receipts and rewards via SMS for Near Field Communications transactions. Before long, those people on the leading edge will secure on the spot credit to make point-of-sale purchases and eliminate the need for debit cards, enabling mobile purchases via SMS on-the-spot. The numbers suggest that mobile phones will indeed become the “wallet” of choice as big brands, smart technology vendors, banks, retailers and consumers continue to make smart decisions. According to Juniper Research, mobile payments and mobile money transfers will generate transactions worth $600 billion by 2013. That is a number worth taking to the bank. Chuck Drake is executive vice president of marketing at Clickatell, San Francisco. Reach him at [email protected] PAGE 21
Hate crowds? Wan t your mo bil e content t o s ta nd o ut? Try t hin ki ng gl oba ll y, a ct ing l ocal l y a nd embraci ng the mobi l e Web
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By Ray Anderson
he scenario has become all too familiar among content providers: Company A has a presence on a major carrier’s portal but its content sits alongside its competitors. How can Company A stand out from the crowd and capture new business?
The answer is new, yet has a familiar feel. Using the mobile Web as a platform for a direct-to-consumer site not only can help you attract new customers, it also provides consumers with the same “Web-like” user experience as on-portal. By placing banner ads on the portal, businesses can drive traffic to the off-portal site where they have complete control over how their content is marketed to the consumer. Here are just some of the advantages of having an off-portal presence: • Marketing programs such as banner ads or search marketing can drive traffic to the site and the success of these campaigns can be tracked, making it easy to see immediately which promotions yielded the highest rates of return. • A direct-to-consumer (D2C) mobile Web site works across all geographic locations, but can be localized for specific markets so the content is in the right language, is relevant and appealing for a particular country. PAGE 22
• The point of payment and download on the mobile Web can be tightly coupled into one seamless WAP flow, leading to fewer support problems with refund levels as low as 0.1 percent of all downloads. Both subscriptions and pay-per-download payment methods can be supported. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), a global sports entertainment brand with millions of fans around the world, launched an offportal mobile site of original made-for-mobile content to complement its television and consumer product offerings. WWE turned to the mobile Web, so that fans anywhere in the world, on any network, could access and pay for content on their mobile phone. Within 4 months of launching the service, WWE reached consumers from more than 40 countries purchasing an array of content through more than 110 carriers around the world. WWE fans said they were drawn to the WAP site because it provides a mini-Web experience. An example of a mobile company that is reaping the benefits of direct-to-consumer is Dada Entertainment. New York-based Dada, a joint venture between Dada, USA and Sony BMG, was the first company to offer both ringtones and DRM-free full-length MP3s for mobile and PC paid directly via the mobile phone. Dada Entertainment cites the ability to offer a seamless payment experience, which in turn increases consumer satisfaction and decreases billing errors, as big positives for direct-to-consumer. “A mobile Web business allows us to work directly with our consumers,” said Max Pellegrini, CEO of Dada Entertainment. “Dada.net can offer a complete mobile music service – customers can download and pay for their music all through their mobile phones,” he said. “With over 65 percent of all new phones purchased in the United States as music-enabled, it makes sense for a new company like ours to be D2C.” As the demand for digital content and the numbers of consumers using the mobile Internet continue to rise, content providers see the value of going D2C via the mobile Web. Using the mobile Web, consumers can purchase and download a variety of digital content as easily as they do on the PC Internet. Many brands are realizing that by integrating the promotion of the mobile service with the rest of the mainstream marketing, it is true that “if you build it – they will come!” Ray Anderson is Cambridge, England-based CEO of Bango, a mobile Internet services provider. Reach him at [email protected] MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Banks a nd car riers
T
f in ally r e aliz ing t he p o wer o f m ob ile co m m er ce By Matthew Talbot
he mobile industry has been discussing mobile banking services and mobile payments for more than 10 years, and finally we will begin to see financial institutions fully exploit the potential of mobile commerce. Consumers have become increasingly sophisticated and are demanding easier access to their finances. Gone are the days of branch banking and paying by check. Consumers and corporate clients are now looking to access financial services without time, location or device restrictions. Like Internet banking and electronic payments, mobile commerce is a way for banks—and even wireless carriers—to create new service offerings with the potential for creating new revenue streams or cost-saving opportunities. Banks have been testing and launching mobile commerce products since the mid- to late 1990s. After the first faltering steps of WAP banking, banks often restricted themselves to simple push information and marketing alert services. These alerts services, when promoted, have been extremely successful for banks over the last five years. In the last few years, we have seen a small number of banks expanding their service offering beyond the simple one-way push alerts, both as a response to consumer demands and to address business issues for banks—including information requests and security enhancements. A great example is on-demand account balance via the mobile phone. Up to 60 percent of calls to a bank’s call center involve an account balance request. If a bank moves even a fraction of these calls to the mobile channel, there are clear cost benefits for the bank as well as a better customer experience. As banks and carriers expand their portfolio of mobile products and services, they will need to break out of the single channel approach and offer services via multiple channels (SMS, Java, BREW and WAP) to address both the limitations and reach of a particular channel, balanced against consumer preference and confidence in individual modes of access.
nity for new products and services, and one such product is mobile remittances. The official remittance market today is worth over $250 billion. With mobile as the predominant communication tool in the key remittance markets of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, it is no surprise that remittances have been extended to mobile. As with the expansion of mobile banking services, the range of mobile payments services will expand as consumer confidence increases in mobile as a payment instrument. Future developments, including using the mobile for Near Field Communications (NFC) transactions such as transportation, ticketing and payment for digital and physical goods, will only serve to increase this confidence. Mobile commerce, a young but rapidly-growing segment, is already providing glimpses into what will certainly become a major means of day-to-day commerce for billions of consumers and enterprises worldwide. It is inevitable that the world evolves from a Web model to a mobile browsing model. With the maturity gained by growing from an experimental channel to a core customer channel, consistency of experience, reliability and product offering will be of even greater importance. Matthew Talbot is the Singapore-based vice president of mobile commerce at Sybase 365. Reach him at [email protected]
Mobile payments The roots of mobile payments can be traced back to the first premium-rate telephone services to the mobile ringtone business launched in 1999. Today, these mobile payment options still flourish in the marketplace, but have been complemented by a range of new mobile payment services – including mobile top-ups, credit cards, direct debit and mobile wallets – incorporating the likes of remittance products. While these services have, so far, come from small independent companies and are geographically based, it is clear that these services are a natural extension of traditional banking products and payment instruments, positioning banks and carriers as best placed to deliver such products to their customers. The ubiquitous nature of the mobile device creates the opportuMOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
PAGE 23
So, you have a mobil e site.
What ’s next?
R
By Richard Eicher
emember the early days of the Internet when all you needed was a Web site and you got lots of traffic? It didn’t take long before the number of Web sites grew exponentially and with it the competition for visitors. So too will competition grow for visitors to your mobile Internet site. Site discovery and repeat visits should be considered fundamental tasks in your mobile commerce and marketing plans. Three important vehicles include messaging, mobile search and cross-platform advertising. Messaging Messaging can drive traffic to your mobile site and foster customer interaction. Campaigns are easy to create and messaging is familiar to the recipient. Through your messaging provider, create an SMS or MMS message including a clickable link to your mobile site. Choose custom keywords and create a messaging call-to-action. Promote your keywords in print and broadcast. Add links to your Web site. For broad reach, promote in mass-market media. For select markets, target by media type or geographic areas, such as a specific retail departments in certain cities. Messaging can also be used for post-transaction confirmations and follow-up communications. With your customer’s opt-in, use these messages to offer alert subscriptions and related content and services.
For search engine search engine optimization, carefully follow the provider’s guidelines, including mobile sitemap submission.
Advertising One of the best places to advertise your mobile site is within the mobile space itself. This audience is generally mobile savvy and often has messaging and data plans to use mobile services with little or no concern for airtime charges. Options include banner, text and image ads on mobile Internet sites, including content publishers and social networks, sponsored mobile search links, advertising in mobile content and sponsoring or creating your own applications and content delivered through subscription services for ongoing interaction. Using cross-channel advertising has proven to be very effective. List your URL on your Web site and include a send-to-phone link using SMS or MMS. Promote your keyword in print and broadcast to initiate a text-to-shortcode or optical (e.g., 2D barcode) call-toaction. Most importantly, be sure your site is quick and easy to access, optimize it for the majority of handsets and offer timely content and services of real value to your audience. Richard Eicher is president of Skycore LLC, Boston. Reach him at [email protected]
SMS or MMS? It depends on your objective. SMS is less expensive but limited to 160 characters. MMS is more expensive but can include thousands of characters plus images, audio and video slides.
Search The typical search is conducted through search engines, content discovery services, Q&A services and directory services initiated through mobile browsers, downloaded client applications and voice or text requests. There are many ways to have your mobile site discovered. Increasing search visibility will vary by service and requires some research. However, most important is to have your site designed specifically for mobile devices. PAGE 24
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Pers onalization:
Tee nage sex all ove r again
O
By Mory Bahar
nce again we are reminded of an old analogy. Personalization is like teenage sex: Everybody is talking about it, very few are actually experiencing it and of the few who do, hardly anyone knows how to do it well. Whether we call it personalization or not, most of us recognize its importance: Presenting content that resonates with the audience of one. Personalization is also making offers that tie to the personal needs and desires of the recipient. Also, it is tailoring an ad to the profile and perceived needs of the specific individual viewing the ad. What is personalization? By personalization, we mean that the content we present, the ad that we display, or the offer we make to an individual is relevant to, sensitive to, and important to that individual's profile and preferences. For example, Amazon.com attempts to personalize its offers to me based on previous books that I have purchased. Two different people can log onto their Amazon accounts and get totally different offers. It is not perfect personalization but it is an excellent example. Why is personalization important and relevant to the mobile world? Since mobile phones are personal devices, personalization of messages, ads, offers and content makes sense for mobile marketers. It is a great opportunity for a business when communicating with an individual. Increasingly mobile users will expect to receive offers, ads and content that is relevant to their personal situation. This scenario is in contrast to the content, ad or offer most businesses make on their Web site or other media where everyone sees the same thing. In addition, since the mobile platform is very limited on space and speed, as mobile marketers we have no choice but to be selective and show the content that is most relevant to the individual. We don’t have the space, and the individual doesn’t have the patience to scroll through pages and pages of content. For example, on my laptop Amazon can recommend 10 books to me on one page. But on the mobile platform they may be limited to featuring just one book. In this case, they need to make a much more intelligent decision on what to show me based on my personal profile and preferences.
In search of a common understanding In absence of any other standard, here is my proposal on various levels of personalization. The first level is take it or leave it. It is when there has been no attempt to take you and your preferences into account. This is how the network television, radio, publishers and many mobile and Web content providers continue to operate. You get whatever they planned for you. The next level is context-sensitive. Based on the context, marketers make some assumptions about the viewer. The message is then tailored based on those assumptions. For example, ads for tennis gear could be shown during the televised Wimbledon matches. Note however that the ad that the viewer sees is no different from any other individual watching the same match. In addition, the assumption made about the viewer may be inaccurate. Just because it is women’s finals, does not mean that the viewer is a woman. The next level is menu of choices. There are many content providers, portals and publishers who claim personalization of content, yet all they provide is a menu of choices to select from. Here, the individual gets a menu and gets to choose, as you would select from a menu at a restaurant. You get to select the dish you want, but they get to decide what is on the menu and how each dish is prepared. For example, on a finance portal, I pick the stocks that I want to follow and the publisher displays the price and volume data for those stocks. On the wired Web, I select “High Cholesterol” as my topic of interest, and MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
WebMD, periodically, sends me an online collection of articles that are somehow connected to that topic. Is this level of personalization adequate? Imagine you are in the old Soviet Union. You are handed a list of jobs or careers that a central committee has decided that the country needs and you get to pick one. Do you want your career choices be limited to the imagination of the comrades of the central committee who made the list? Probably not. The “menu” reflects their preferences, not yours. And the solution is not just adding to the number of items on the menu. Would you be content with eHarmony.com to present to you all candidates in their database, male and female, young and old, local and international? You as the marketer must help me the individual, by reducing the menu to a manageable subset of all the available choices based on my personal preferences. To do this, however, you would need to first learn about me and my preferences. The next level is personalization. Using the restaurant analogy again, here the patron can ask for something that is not on the menu, or gets to tweak the recipe (e.g., no salt, more garlic, olive oil instead of butter). I tell the finance site what I have in my portfolio – how many shares of which stocks and it can now tell me how much I made (or more likely lost) in the market today. Naturally, we cannot provide this level of personalization unless the mobile user is willing to tell us about his or her preferences and we have the tools and technology to deliver on the higher expectation. If WebMD can send me one newsletter that focuses only on adult males who have high cholesterol, very high triglyceride, family history of prostate cancer and like to lose couple of pounds (i.e., my personal profile) then that would be considered personalization. Incidentally, this type of need is what motivated me and my partners to create our company. The last level is intimacy. Using the restaurant analogy again, at this level the patron does not need to make any choices or tweak any recipes. This is because the waiter already recognizes the patron and serves to his taste without being told. Last year, a friend invited me to lunch at his favorite restaurant. His usual drink along with the side drink arrived at the same time as we were seated. If I clicked on the sport icon on my mobile phone and it recognized that it is me, it is fall, it is Monday night and it automatically tuned into Monday Night Football (without me explicitly programming it to do so) then that is an example of intimacy.
Conclusion Mobile phones and personalization provide mobile marketer the best chance to target individuals and deliver most relevant and high impact ads, offers, information and services. Increasingly, mobile users will demand it. To deliver an acceptable form of personalization we need to move beyond the primitive forms of context-sensitive and menu of choices. To personalize, we must get to know the individual prospects and customers. We need to learn about or just ask them their preferences, validate our assumptions about them, take into account their behavior and then generate offers, ads, content and service that respect their individuality. Achieving more advanced forms of personalization will not be easy. It may require a total redesign for many mobile and Web businesses and content providers. Some businesses like publishers and portals may find this transition very difficult. But for many other businesses, based on unique profile of their customers and prospects, they can tailor their ads and offers, and tie them to most relevant products, features and options. Mory Bahar is the president/CEO of Personal Remedies LLC, Boston. Reach him at [email protected] PAGE 25
2009 BUYERS’ GUIDE >>> The definitive vendor resource for purchase-empowered mobile execs.Ad deadline March 15, publishes April 1. Please contact Jodie Solomon at 212.334.6366 or [email protected]
Mobile Marketer
M ob i le c o mmerc e:
The legal landscape
A
By Brian W. Esler and David Rice
s lawyers, we see entirely too many clients coming to us after launching a mobile advertising campaign, application or service with questions about why they have received a "cease and desist" letter or similar threats of legal entanglement. Seeing your lawyer before you launch may seem like a costly luxury at the time, but it is much cheaper than later dealing with the consequences of violating the law or another's legal rights. This article will help you understand some of the more common issues we see arising in the mobile space, but this article is no substitute for legal advice regarding the particular problems you may confront. Using others trademarks or copyrights A copyright can be claimed in almost any expression of an idea, whether a picture, text, software code or the organization of elements. Contrary to popular belief, a work does not need to have the ubiquitous "©" symbol to be protected by copyright, so you should not assume that the lack of such a symbol on artwork or text you plan to use will protect you. On the other hand, removing that symbol from a work gives rise to liability separate and Brian Esler, partner, Miller Nash apart from infringement. Copyright arises upon creation of the work, and lasts for either the life of the author plus 70 years, or – in the case of works created for a particular employer – 95 years for "works made for hire." In order for the owner of a copyright to claim infringement, all that copyright holder needs to show is that (1) it owns a valid work and (2) that work was copied in some material respect. In order to prove copying, all the owner needs to show is that (1) you had access to the work and that (2) your accused work is similar. For commercial enterprises, "fair use" is rarely a defense, as the profit motive weighs heavily against any such finding. Some online and mobile service providers are surprised to learn that user generated content – such as home videos, pictures or original music – are also protected by copyright. Even if those users initially supply that material for free, services dependent on that content should ensure that their user agreements clearly allow for further use of that content commercially. Clearing the rights – and paying royalties if necessary – to use works subject to copyright should be a standard operating procedure for any company engaged in mobile commerce. Trademarks are the short phrases or symbols used by enterprises to signify that goods or services originate from that enterprise. Essentially, trademarks protect the enterprises' goodwill. Often a trademark will be followed by the symbols “TM” or “®” – the former indicating common law trademark use, the latter signifying that the trademark is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Under the law, registered trademarks receive a greater degree of protection, including enhanced damages for infringement. Generally speaking, a trademark holder will have to show that customers are likely to be confused by another's use of a similar term in order to prove infringement. However, so-called "famous" trademarks receive an extra dose of protection, such that the holders of famous trademarks do not need to show a likelihood of confusion, but only that the other's use of a similar mark will dilute or tarnish the reputation of the famous mark. Most of the time, it is legal to use another's trademark to describe the actual goods or services on offer, or to factually and accurately compare goods or services. Thus, it is not trademark infringement to use the "Coke" trademark if you are actually an authorized vendor of Coca-Cola (or are using it for demonstrative purposes in an article like this). MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
However, substantial legal uncertainty surrounds the ever-more common use of trademarks as keywords for Internet searches or in meta tags on Web sites. Courts have split on the legality of such trademark use, with some courts upholding such practices, while others have found infringement. These cases have turned on fine factual distinctions regarding the nature of the use, and whether consumers were likely to at least be initially confused. Suffice to say that if your business plan involves using others' trademarks to drive traffic or promote your goods or services, consult your lawyer first.
Consumer disclosure, protection and privacy Issues such as SMS and “push” methods of advertising grow in the mobile space, vendors need to be aware that such advertising is already subject to federal regulation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the aptly-named CAN-SPAM Act. The TCPA was originally enacted to regulate unsolicited telephone calls and faxes, but courts and the Federal Communications Commission have interpreted the statute to reach unsolicited text messages as well under certain circumstances. Each violation of the TCPA can result in $500 or more in statutory damages and class actions under this law have been numerous. The CAN-SPAM Act regulates advertising via email solicitation, but also has been held to extend to SMS messages sent using specific technologies. Among other requirements, the act requires that the solicitation be identified as such, that it has a valid return path address, that the subject line not be misleading and that the recipient be given a clear opportunity to opt out of further commercial solicitations. Both the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission have stepped up their enforcement of consumer protection and privacy laws with respect to the mobile space, and responding to an enforcement action by either of these agencies is likely to be costly. Surprisingly, many online and mobile merchandisers appear to be unaware that the FTC’s Mail and Telephone Order Merchandise Rule also applies to them. The rule sets forth requirements for making promises about shipments, notifying customers David Rice, partner, Miller Nash about delays and disclosure of refund policies. Similarly, the FTC has been aggressive in its enforcement of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which regulates the online collection of data on children under 13 years old. If your mobile service is arguably directed to the pre-teen market – which is one of the fastest growing segments of mobile users – you need to know COPPA well and ensure you remain compliant with its dictates. You may be subject to COPPA if you have actual knowledge that children use your service, even if your service does not target children. While the United States does not have an all-encompassing statutory scheme for protecting consumer data such as exists in Europe, a patchwork of federal and state regulations may affect your use of consumers' private information. The FCC has also been active recently – along with plaintiff class-action attorneys – in going after unauthorized cellular charges, many of which have been related to premium mobile services. In short, while the mobile space may become the next frontier for commerce, it is not by any means a lawless frontier. Consulting with a lawyer who understands the rules regulating your proposed enterprise, who can help you ensure compliance with those laws before you launch, will in the long run save you not only money, but may save your company from costly litigation. Brian Esler is a partner at Miller Nash LLP, Seattle. Reach him at [email protected] David Rice is a partner at Miller Nash LLP, Seattle. Reach him at [email protected]
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Mobile sellers
f a c e t ec h n o l og i c a l an d l eg a l c h al l en g es By Gonzalo E. Mon
urrently, most mobile commerce in the United States involves sales of content via premium charges. This may soon start to change as companies experiment with new technologies to facilitate sales of goods and services through phones. The challenges aren’t all technological, though. Companies also need to pay attention to various legal issues. Premium charges Over the past few years, a number of lawsuits have been filed against companies that sell content through premium charges. Recently, the Florida attorney general also challenged AT&T over offers made by a third party. The attorney general alleged that ads touted “free” services but buried disclosures about costs in fine print. As part of the settlement, AT&T agreed to pay $2.5 million and to provide an estimated $10 million worth of rebates to consumers. More importantly for sellers, AT&T is required to include various provisions in contracts with sellers. Among other things, AT&T must require sellers to disclose costs at the outset of an offer and provide specific disclosures on various parts of the order flow. AT&T must also prohibit sellers from requiring consumers to receive text messages unrelated to the purchased content and from using pre-checked boxes for acceptance of terms. The Florida attorney general is pushing other wireless carriers to agree to similar terms. The attorney general’s office is also developing a “zone system” that would dictate where and how terms must appear on a mobile flow. For example, price disclosures will have to appear within a certain number of pixels from a submit field, in a minimum font, and in a color that contrasts with the background. MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
Mobile sellers would be well-advised to review the terms of the AT&T settlement and ensure their campaigns are in compliance. Other payment methods Some retailers have launched mobile Web sites where consumers can make purchases using their credit cards. These sites are likely to become more popular as phone technology improves. Fortunately, to the extent these sites are simply mobile versions of Internet sites, the legal issues are similar to those on Internet sites. The next frontier in mobile payments involves using Near Field Communications technology to enable consumers to make payments by swiping phones over special readers. Although there is no widespread use of NFC in the U.S., there have been several smallscale trials with positive responses. According to the Pulse’s 2008 Debit Issuer Study, 56 percent of card issuers are exploring the possibility of implementing some type of mobile payment system, so we may see more companies use this technology in the near future. Because this technology is so new, there are no clear legal guidelines yet. Expect regulators to pay close attention as the technology develops, though. In fact, in July, the FTC hosted a meeting to explore consumer protection issues related to the use of “contactless” payment systems such as NFC. Mobile marketers must remain vigilant so that they can identify changes to the legal landscape and quickly adapt their marketing campaigns accordingly. Gonzalo E. Mon is an attorney in the advertising and marketing law practice of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, Washington. Reach him at [email protected] PAGE 28
12 Tip s
for building a mobile site
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By Marci Troutman
ave you ever really looked at mobile sites on the Web? I mean, really looked at them, worked with them, or tried to actually do something on them? The usual approach I take when I really need to find something is I will search Google and see what comes up, punch in the URL and hope for the best. But most of the time, I am sorely disappointed with the results. It is amazing to me that with all the commerce and information that flows through the Internet that most major players in the Web world have given so little thought to the user experience through that little 2 ½ inches of LCD real estate that occupies most consumers’ pockets in the form of a mobile phone. If you look at the numbers, compared to laptops and PCs, the mobile appliance eclipses the number of those appliances by an order of magnitude. Most major Internet companies or companies that use the Internet as an extension of their bricksand-mortar world are just plain naive about placement of their product in a mobile environment, what with all the different types of phones, wireless company platforms and politics. It feels just like the world back in 1998 when the idea of Internet commerce was just establishing itself and the concept of click-through, shopping-cart drops and ease of usage were merely wire frames on a PowerPoint presentation at some small corner office in the marketing department, or worse, yet left in the hands of the IT department. Times are changing and the companies that take mobile commerce seriously now will reap the benefits of their foresightedness way ahead of their competition. Now what makes a good user interface for a mobile customer? Listed below are several tips for a mobile site build: 1. Logo should live top left and link back to the homepage 2. The search function should be visible prior to needing to scroll down the page, as this is the most commonly used tool within a mobile site and within a PC/Mac shopping site 3. There shouldn’t be more than three to four scrolls on any page as a longer page could lead to longer load times and frustrate customers with the page load MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
4. All imagery should be optimized for a mobile environment, not the PC/Mac environment. WAP will not do this for you, neither will an extension such as .mobi 5. The URL or Web address should remain the same as your main PC/Mac site to allow the ease and comfort of use from your customers 6. Category navigation should be simple and visible prior to needing to scroll down the page 7. Break down the categories into thorough sub-categories in order to make the site as userfriendly as possible and to eliminate the need for long scroll pages with long download times 8. Security measures already in place for the company’s main PC/Mac site should be used for the mobile site as well. For example, all software should live behind the firewall that has already been proven, tried and tested. This will ensure that your customers feel just as safe shopping your mobile site as they do your PC/Mac entity 9. On your notices, have “layered notices” to let the main points of terms, conditions and privacy laws be a short line with a link to direct the user back to the main PC/Mac site for more extensive details. This offers a comfort level to users that all privacy laws are adhered on your site 10. The “Contact us” link should be visible from all pages 11. Use drop-down menus whenever possible to make the most use of the small space across the mobile canvas 12. Ensure that site pages are built to fit across the broad spectrum of all size phones. i.e., not using images that lock to a specified dimension but spec’ing the phone screens in order to ensure the pages will work well on all platforms Now, all of the above are achievable, though some are harder than others. Most companies treat the mobile site offering and interface as a red-headed stepchild, but that is changing. Future articles will discuss many issues surrounding mobile site strategies, tactics, future visions and current attitudes. Marci Troutman is founder of Siteminis Inc., a mobile site developer in Marietta, GA. Reach her at [email protected] PAGE 29
Camera-phone
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By Rob DeStefano
emember when the sound of retail sales was the “ka-ching” of an old cash register? Over the last three decades, that sound was replaced by the “beep” of a bar code scanner as it decoded the UPC bar code on retail checkout lines. As retail expands to include mobile commerce, the sound of sales has a nice, new “ring” to it. Mobile com-
merce revolves around the virtual retail experience, a storefront always located near you, open twenty four hours a day, right on your mobile phone. Among the leading the technologies for implementing mobile commerce and mobile advertising campaigns are camera-phone bar code scanning and related technologies that make up the category often called “visual search.” The idea behind visual search is to encode printed media such as magazine ads, billboard and movie posters, and product packaging with bar codes or digital watermarks and enable consumers to interact with the encoded media by decoding it using their cell phone’s digital camera. Once decoded by the camera-phone, the decoded data unlocks access to Web-based content using the phone’s Web browser, and controlled by the advertiser. The Web-based content could range from “buy now” mobile commerce to mobile coupons, sweepstakes entry, or promotional downloads such as music samples, movie previews or ringtones. By choosing to incorporate visual search technologies into printed media, brands and advertisers minimize the time and effort required for a consumer to connect the printed advertisement to follow-up action. Visual search technologies eliminate the time between when consumers view the printed contact, and the time they act on its message. It also automates the process of connecting the print and Web experiences – no long URL links to remember of input, no clumsy keypad entry, just simple, direct interactivity. In Japan, this technology has already hit the mainstream market – to the point where groups of college students were actually getting tattoos of bar codes. Client software to decode industry standard bar code types (symbologies) are easily accessible on their mobile phones and the camera-phones include standard requirements to ensure acceptable decode performance when consumers attempt to decode. For comparable success in the United States, Europe and other interested regions, similar actions must be taken. Independent standards bodies need to define acceptable and best practices to nurture early adoption; PAGE 30
including the endorsement of ISO standard bar code symbologies (Japan uses primarily ISO standard QR codes today). In addition, all players within the industry must recognize how the can contribute to the growth and proliferation of this technology. For cellular carriers and device manufacturers, this includes ensuring that camera-phones meet several critical functional guide- lines, in particular the inclusion of macro- or autofocus-lenses with software control accessible for application developers. For client application developers, per-decode pricing models will put less risk on your client brands and advertisers, allowing them to pay based on the performance of a particular campaign. For marketers considering a visual search solution, look to partner with companies that have a deep understanding of auto-ID and cellular technology. Expect to perform significant testing of interactive campaigns in small, controlled environments – college campuses or other geographically centralized testing tends to be more easily managed. Defining a campaign’s expected results will be hard to estimate in initial campaigns. Consider working with a visual search vendor with whom you would feel comfortable announcing results from your initial tests and campaigns. Many advertisers and brands seem hesitant to be the first to publicly state the results they achieved from a test campaign, and still others are asking vendors for references from other clients’ tests. Success is not necessarily going to be measured by achieving a huge number of campaign interactions (decodes). The early success criteria will be more defined by the ease of use of a decoder, and ultimately the percentage of interactions that create the desired response from your campaign (i.e. sales). Ultimately, for mobile advertising campaigns to be successful the interactive piece of the campaign has to be exceptionally compelling so that the consumer wants to continue decoding interactive media. Introducing mobile advertising as an exciting new technology with a strong incentive for repeated use will motivate consumers to want to use it for as long as the reward (such as the instant gratification associated with an impulse purchase) continues to prove worthwhile. Rob DeStefano is sales and marketing manager of Mobile Data Systems, Nesconset, NY. Reach him at [email protected] MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
A u ni v e r s a l c o m p l i a n c e st a n d a r d w i l l
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By Eric Holmen
obile commerce seems poised for explosive growth, yet the U.S. market's fuse seems to be longer than Europe's or developed Asia's. The technology is already in everyone's pocket or pocketbook, so why aren't Americans using their mobile phones as turnkey commerce solutions? The ubiquitous mobile device, the ultimate portal to all media channels, marketers' coveted third screen, should be central to every facet of the purchasing process, from promotion to selection to payment – just as it is in other parts of the world. If the industry develops an infrastructure around a clear, effective standard for payment and information security, it can be. Payment Card Industry (PCI) certification, a lengthy and arduous process that results in a decoration of compliance for any company attempting it, is the last word in data security. Because it is recognized by consumers (due to its presence in some staid ecommerce institutions such as PayPal) and because it is recognized as the most difficult certification to obtain, PCI compliance is the level of standard that can overcome consumer perception and encourage widespread adoption of mobile commerce in the United States.
MOBILE MARKETERʼS CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE COMMERCE
If integrated into every aspect of the delivery chain – from carriers to aggregators to marketers and end users – PCI can be the spark that ignites America's mobile retail explosion. But the industry can only get hot by keeping consumers cool, which is precisely where stringent compliance standards come into play. Americans, to whom privacy is a foundational, defining guarantee, take incendiary exception when that right is breached. Nowhere is this attitude more prevalent than in the commercial sphere, where the U.S. public is increasingly shunning unwanted advertising, securing their identities against theft, and enjoying the anonymity of ecommerce to an unprecedented degree. The TDM land-line network that currently supports voice communication in the U.S. (both mobile and land-line) is a good example the efficacy of whole-system integration; because the individual carriers have secured this channel, it is usually PCI compliant (depending on the specific carrier and a few other details). And by and large, the American public has embraced this network as a safe and familiar channel for commercial transactions. PCI certification, if adopted throughout the mobile industry, would represent the bedrock of security that would assuage American fears of an unfamiliar and intrusive technology. Simple enough to be understood by laymen, and yet sophisticated enough to be an effective deterrent, the PCI Data Security Standard incorporates 12 distinct requirements in six categories. Certificate holders must meet standards in building and maintaining a secure network, protecting cardholder data, managing vulnerability, controlling access, monitoring and testing networks, and maintaining an effective security policy. Any compliance program with such an involved set of prerequisites would serve to reassure the end user, but only with universal adoption and standardization throughout the communications infrastructure will set the stage for a mobile retail revolution. The trials and errors of the Internet retail boom – and the hundreds of data breaches and identity thefts publicized each year – have inoculated the public against hodgepodge security measures. For something as tricky as the third screen to manage, and for a device as notoriously easy to misplace as the mobile phone, a better, more secure standard needs to be in place. PCI compliance should be an integral part of corporate policy, informing decision making from the ground up. In other words, PCI compliance should be the purview of not only IT directors setting up mobile retail systems or the marketing managers initiating mobile communication, but of the entire supply chain, from outside distributors to line employees to the steering committee. Vendors should be evaluated on the basis of PCI compliance, carriers and aggregators should be vetted with PCI in mind, and it should essentially become an industry operational standard. To encourage the level of trust American consumers expect to have with their retailers – and the sort of trust necessary for mobile commerce to reach its potential – PCI compliance must become the cornerstone of effective industry self-policing. Eric Holmen is president of SmartReply, Irvine, CA. Reach him at [email protected]
PAGE 31
‘ Ti s the seaso n for mobi le
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By Conrad Lisco
n recent years, the Internet has given holiday shoppers an alternative to the malls. While sitting at a desk, or reclined with a laptop perched on their laps, shoppers can browse their favorite stores to secure the best holiday deals on everything from food to fashion. But now, there’s another way to engage these techsavvy shoppers: Mobile. It’s safe to say that mobile is cutting the digital umbilical cord. More and more, consumers are getting it—they don’t need to be tethered to computers for information, directions, reviews and recommendations. Not only that, but over the course of the past year, mobile phones have become smarter, faster, more powerful and better equipped to provide rich Web browsing.
with them and get on-the-go access to everything they will need. And, of course, make sure that WAP destinations are chock-full of brand messaging and include links to products, locations, even driving directions.
Use retail signage to initiate mobile sign-ups Store signage is a cost-effective way to prompt consumers to opt-in via mobile for future sales and promotions. After all, it is your media. Let consumers know that they can sign up for ongoing promotional brand messages such as alerts for post-holiday sales. Let consumers spread the word for you There are two simple ways to make mobile messaging viral. First, include a “Send to Friend” option on the WAP site so that users
And we are seeing a change in shopping habits. In 2008, more than 9 million mobile phone subscribers in the United States – that’s 3.6 percent of the total subscribers – have used their phone to buy goods and services, according to a Nielsen Mobile survey of 30,000 wireless customers. Additionally, nearly half of all consumers who use their phones to transmit data say they plan to make a mobile purchase in the future. So, in the spirit of holiday giving, here are five ways that you can use mobile to give consumers a fresh way to engage with retail.
can easily link friends to it. Second, after delivering a mobile coupon, send a follow-up text message encouraging the user to forward the message or the coupon along to friends.
Meet consumers at the Web site, then direct them to the WAP site Use the brand’s Web site to promote its WAP site. Let your brand enthusiasts know that they can take the experience
Conrad Lisco is creative director at 5th Finger, San Francisco. Reach him at [email protected]
Use SMS to push promos and deliver coupons Incentive-based mobile activities are extremely effective in driving consumer traffic to stores. However, you have to make sure that those incentives and mobile opportunities are being communicated to consumers using compelling calls-to-action via media like mall displays, television and print or online advertising.
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Next year, let them pay with mobile Next year, the mobile phone may be all consumers will need to carry when shopping. Some brands will give people the opportunity to turn their phones into encrypted storage devices that hold credit card and other financial information. Consumers can then use their mobiles to complete transactions at retail locations, effectively turning them into electronic wallets.
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Learn what works in mobile advertising. For free mobile advertising white papers, case studies and research, or to set up a mobile campaign visit advertising.4info.net or call (650) 350-4800.
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