Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

While most marketers understand what a mobile app is, and also likely have heard or gone through the exercise of creating a responsive website, far fewer have sat down to map out what a mobile-first customer journey looks like.

Of course, it has become table stakes to ensure that one’s company either has a mobile application (I don’t recommend this approach for most brands) or has updated its website to be responsive. This latter technique requires elements like simple navigation, easily clickable links — by either a finger or a mouse — optimized text readability, and images that either scale or are dynamically replaced by larger or smaller images and icons.

But more important in mapping out this journey is to take a step back and think through how, where and with what one’s customers interact with their favorite brands. This journey will differ by user, but behavior will tend to cluster around factors like.....

Google is boosting the rank of mobile-friendly sites, more local searches take place on mobile devices than desktops, mobile has become a critical tool on the path to purchase, and mobile usage has been linked to consumers that are ready to buy. Article after article and study upon study identify the power of the mobile device for businesses big and small.

But what is happening to the businesses who are providing “disappointing” mobile website experiences? According to a new consumer study from HubShout (N=450 U.S. adults 21-55 years old), 39% of consumers will look for a competitor and 6% will completely refuse to do business with them. That’s almost half of consumers (45%) who will disregard businesses solely because of a poor mobile experience....