If you’re still not sure that mobile marketing is right for your small business, take a look at these results from several recent studies on small business mobile marketing to see why if you don’t already have a mobile marketing strategy in play, you’re significantly behind the times. Consider these findings and comments from top marketing surveys and sources:
• Out of 700,000 small-medium sized business websites 60% do not have even the basic information consumers using mobile web devices need to find their business.
• Over 93% of small-medium sized business websites do not properly render (appear) on mobile devices – including iPhones, Android phones or tablets.
• Of the small businesses surveyed that implemented mobile marketing, 84% reported an increase due to the initiative.
• 64% of small businesses plan on increasing their mobile marketing budget – this means your competition may be more effectively using mobile marketing than you are.
• While 60% of small businesses report they have a standard website, only 26% of these offer a mobile-friendly version and only 14% had a free-standing mobile website.
• Only 39% of small businesses have a mobile search strategy focused on getting them easily found on the mobile web.
David Brown, CEO of one of the firms that accumulated this data, Web.com, recently said, “With more and more consumers specifically searching for local businesses on their mobile devices, it is imperative that small businesses invest in a mobile presence.” He added, “Having a mobile presence can be a huge competitive advantage for small businesses trying to attract local customers by instantly introducing a potential customer to their business’ products and services in a mobile-enhanced way.”
Here are some more statistics showing why now, more than ever, your small business needs a mobile web presence and strategy:
• For small businesses who engage or plan to engage in mobile marketing, 34% say they do it to gain competitive advantage.
• For those small businesses already engaged in mobile marketing, only 1/3 of them plan to devote the same amount of funds and effort to it – the rest plan an increase. None plan to cut their programs.
• The longer your website takes to load, the more people you lose. If it takes more than 2 seconds for your site to load, you’ll lose 40% of mobile users.
• Almost 50% of consumers expect mobile websites to load within 2 seconds and 79% say a bad mobile web experience will keep them away from your site in the future.
• Over half of mobile web users have encountered sites that froze, crashed or returned an error on their mobile device.
• Nearly 75% of mobile web users have tried websites that were too slow to load on their mobile web devices.
• 23% of consumers say they are less likely to transact business with a company that gave them a bad mobile web experience.
• Another 40% of consumers say that a bad mobile web experience would send them to a competitor who offered the same or similar products or services.
These study results should convince you that if you don’t already have a mobile web presence and mobile marketing strategy, you urgently need one. For many consumers, your mobile web presence is the basis of their perception about your company. If you don’t have a mobile web presence, it tells customers you don’t care about their preferences. In contrast, a small business with a mobile web presence that engages the customer and enhances their experience will encourage both new and repeat business.