Mobile marketing and m-commerce
Introduction
Mobile commerce (m-commerce) is a type of e-commerce conducted through mobile devices. This includes mobile phones, smartphones, smartwatches, tablets and netbooks.
Mobile marketing can be used to extend your online reach so that customers can interact with your brand whilst on the move. M-commerce brings new opportunities for selling online.
This guide introduces the main m-commerce and mobile marketing technologies likely to be used by small businesses and the business opportunities they offer. It also advises on creating mobile content and choosing a digital agency, as well as covering m-commerce payment systems and security, and the mobile regulatory environment.
What are mobile marketing and m-commerce?
Mobile marketing is a practice that allows your business to engage with your customers or target market using a mobile device or network. Often mobile marketing refers simply to marketing on or with a mobile device – eg a smartphone or tablet.
Types of mobile marketing
The four main mobile marketing tools used are:
mobile-friendly web sites
mobile applications or ‘apps’
mobile advertising
SMS or MMS messages
With mobile friendly marketing, you can use many of the features of normal internet marketing to connect with potential customers such as:
text
images
audio
recorded video
streaming video
You can also use Bluetooth – wireless technology with a short range – to communicate with potential customers as they pass billboards or kiosks. Bluetooth is free to use as there is no airtime charge. It must be used correctly otherwise it can be considered spam, which is illegal. Using Bluetooth for marketing is also known as beacon or proximity marketing. WiFi can also be used for proximity marketing in a similar way.
What is m-commerce?
Mobile commerce (m-commerce) allows your customers to use mobile devices to complete online transactions. You can use m-commerce as part of your marketing strategy and to interact with potential customers.
To successfully use m-commerce, your business will need offer a quick and easy online shopping experience for consumers. This could take the form of personalised shopping with products and discounts based on individual customer preference and previous online activity.
Advantages and disadvantages of SMS marketing
Text messages or short messaging service (SMS) messages are the messages that people send from their mobile phones.
Text messaging enables information to be sent to groups of people quickly and conveniently in much the same way as email, making it an increasing popular e-marketing channel.
Advantages of SMS marketing
The benefits of SMS marketing include:
The personal nature of mobile phones make SMS marketing a very powerful tool.
Most people take their mobile phones everywhere – meaning they can be effective for time sensitive messages.
People tend to read virtually every text they get – unlike junk mail, spam or adverts which can be ignored.
Can be used with information from your customer relationship management system to target customers past on their past purchase behaviour.
Potential disadvantages of SMS marketing
Some of the downsides include:
Your message has to be short – you do not have much space to get your message across.
People respond negatively to unwanted texts. Make sure you have their permission to send them texts and that your SMS marketing complies with privacy and data protection rules. See privacy and data protection in direct marketing.
People are wary of responding to SMS messages due to an increase in fraudulent messages. Under the E-commerce Regulations, you are required to make it clear who the message is from and commercial communications must be clearly recognisable as such. For more information, see selling online and the law.
Costs
You will need to employ a mobile phone agency to send out the texts for you. Companies tend to price their services by packages so check their delivery rates and make sure the support services are satisfactory. You can also brand your messages so you send messages from your company name, not just your number. The development of 4G (fourth generation) and smartphones, which have larger screens and can play music and video clips, has also made multimedia messaging service (known as MMS) possible.