Any marketer who is striving to expand a brand’s visibility and reach online should evaluate their mobile optimization efforts. Mobile optimization refers to the strategic approach of updating your website to deliver an ideal and engaging experience to users who are visiting the site from their mobile device. Truly optimized content offers amazing experiences across channels – including both desktop and mobile devices.

Year after year, the functionality and sophistication of mobile technology continues to increase. Along the way, new functionalities are introduced and they continue to change our lives. With more customers using mobile devices and channels than ever before, marketing experts across industries are looking to implement mobile strategies such as push notifications, mobile email, and app development.

Why Is Mobile Optimization So Important?

Today’s marketers are faced with the challenge of optimizing content across multiple channels, and mobile is one of the most important because of the huge part it plays in consumers’ daily lives.

Optimizing for mobile encompasses the entire customer experience, and when done properly, it compliments every interaction a customer has with your brand.

According to , 52.2% of all worldwide web traffic was generated through mobile phones. That is up from 50.3% in 2017, and 43.6% in 2016. Focusing on the mobile aspect of the user experience is central these days merely because of the role that mobile devices play in all of our lives.

The mobile shift is happening, but it certainly isn’t just starting. Organizations are allocating resources and budgets to take advantage of the mobile shift, and for good reason; mobile allows unprecedented access to current and potential customers. However, not all organizations are adequately prepared for today’s mobile realities.

6 Tactics to Improve Your Mobile Optimization

In today’s consumer landscape, if an organization is not strategically optimizing its marketing efforts for mobile, it is likely falling short in reaching customers, and missing out on sales.

If you feel your company may be lagging behind the mobile curve, here are six mobile optimization tactics that you can utilize for improving your mobile marketing efforts:

1. Optimize Email for Mobile Usage

While it may seem like an obvious channel for marketers, brands all too often neglect email marketing as it pertains to mobile. Marketers need to be sure they’re sending mobile-friendly emails; whatever of the email content, from a welcome email to a purchase confirmation, customers expect to be able to easily read and navigate the email regardless of the device they’re using at the time.

Imagine an email is originally, and successfully, viewed on a desktop computer, but then the customer wants to show their friend a featured product on their mobile device. If that email isn’t optimized for mobile, that negative experience could mean losing both potential customers, and possibly more if they share on social media. Every email must be viewable and engaging, regardless of device.

2. Create Engaging, Mobile-Centric Experiences

Mobile optimization and marketing strategies must be carefully implemented or brands risk alienating their customer base. After all, marketers are reaching customers on one of their most personal possessions: their mobile phones.

Brands must provide highly personalized, engaging, and mobile-centric content across all of these channels in a way that is consistent as the user jumps from one interaction to another. Beyond ensuring their website is mobile responsive, brands can increase the personalization of product recommendations and in-app messaging, and automatically trigger personalized responses as the app is used, boosting conversion rates and increasing the number of active customers.

In addition, brands must also ensure their customer service and assistance support is mobile-centric. FAQs and contact information must not only be available, but also built to accommodate a wide range of screens for maximum effectiveness. After all, customers tend to have short attention spans when using mobile devices. As such, if they must search or zoom in for assistance, they are likely to simply navigate away, or close the app altogether. All customer experiences, from shopping to buying to customer support, must be mobile optimized and streamlined. 

3. Utilize Mobile Messaging Tactics

Remember all those people you would see on their mobile devices if you walked down a street or sat down in a coffee shop? Many of them would likely be using text or SMS messaging at the moment you saw them. More than 4.2 billion people worldwide use text as a communication method, and billions of texts are sent every day. This level of usage represents a major opportunity for marketers to reach their customers in one of the most impactful ways yet: intelligent SMS marketing. Adding mobile messaging to a marketing strategy allows brands to reach their target customers even when they are offline. These mobile messages, whether in or out of app, can work within existing omnichannel strategies to create maximum value for customers.

4. Track Mobile Behavior

In order to best optimize mobile experiences, marketers must know the mobile behaviors and preferences of each target audience segment. Capturing data directly from the mobile device is, obviously, the best way to do so. Tracking app events, from installation to key interactions, can provide detailed information critical for segmentation and setting up triggered events across all mobile channels.

5. Test & Retest Mobile Tactics

To be successful in the increasingly mobile world, marketers must to continue to test and retest their mobile strategies, and optimize them according to the results. Mobile tactics change fast and often; one that worked six months ago will no longer be as effective or impactful today. Real-time data and insights provided by tracking data will allow marketers insights into how their customers interact with their mobile devices and into the performance of their mobile marketing programs.

6. Make Every Word Valuable

Mobile phones aren’t the ideal conduit for longform reading, so keep that in mind. Leverage images, videos, and other forms of visual content to supplement your writing. Keeping viewers engaged on your site will help them along on the customer’s journey.

More than ever, customers are initiating relationships with brands through mobile by engaging via social media channels, downloading apps, or visiting mobile sites. When a visitor lands on your site, you need to take advantage of every second that you have their attention. Be direct, engaging, and let them know what separates your brand from the competitors.

Final Thoughts

The role mobile plays in today’s digital marketing world will likely keep growing as mobile usage continues to skyrocket. By implementing key mobile optimization tactics and strategies, marketers can deliver exceptional experiences through every channel and every device.

Learn more about Emarsys’ mobile marketing solutions.