Graham Charlton says, “The ever-increasing use of smartphones among consumers means that mobile and local search should be a high priority for marketers. But what’s the current state of play and how will mobile search develop in future? To find out more I spoke to Tom Anthony, head of research and development atDistilled. Read on to discover what he had to say, and for more on this topic read our postsinvestigating the importance of local SEO and highlighting compelling mobile search stats. What are the best ways to optimise for mobile/local search? The consensus seems to be that Google will... [...]

Henry Kim says, “With 2 billion smartphone or tablet users expected to engage in some form of mobile commerce transactions by 2017, brands can’t afford to not be mobile. So why are consumers shopping on-the-go still being directed to sites with tiny text, excessive scrolling or worse – requiring Flash? Google, the undisputed leader in search, has decided websites need to meet the growing consumer demand for mobile performance and is rolling out a new “mobile friendly” label for smartphone search results. The new feature, which could soon affect websites’ search rankings, will... [...]

David Moth says, “Mobile and desktop paid search ads vary wildly in terms of the use case and the UX. Fewer ads are displayed on the mobile screen and advertisers have less copy to work with. Mobile searchers are also in a different frame of mind. They’re more likely to know what they want and are ready to take action rather than browsing. Research shows that three out of four mobile searches trigger follow-up actions, whether that be further research, a store visit, a phone call, a purchase or word-of-mouth sharing. As a result of these differences, marketers need to monitor different KPIs... [...]

Emma Yousif says, “With the increase in alternate channels such as social media, many may think that email is no longer a valuable way to create engagement with consumers. On the contrary, email marketing is still one of the most effective tools for marketers — especially when it is paired with mobile. Experian Marketing Services sends more than 10 billion emails each month on behalf of major brands around the world, which gives us the unique ability to monitor trends in email performance and engagement over time. We report email marketing trends as well as the key performance indicators... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “The percentage of highly engaged mobile app users grew significantly in December 2014, according to a recent report from Localytics. The report, which was based on data from 8,000 apps across more than 1.5 billion devices, found the number of app power users—those who use the same app 10 or more times in a month—increased from 25% in 3Q13 to 30% in December. Overall, the share of app “power users” has grown steadily over the past few years, increasing 7 percentage points since 2012. The average number of app launches has also grown, reaching 10 times per... [...]

Jeff Rajeck says, “At our recent Digital Outlook 2015 in Singapore, Meri Rosich offered some new insights about mobile with examples that are useful to every marketer – no matter where your mobile strategy is now. In this post I’ll roundup a few highlights from the inspiring talk. Even in 2015 mobile is a great, new opportunity One of the first facts that Meri pointed out to us is that 91% of smartphone owners have their device in arms’ reach 24/7. And though usage varies, it’s really the first time that we, as marketers, are able to reach our customers on a 24/7 basis”. Five... [...]

Graham Charlton says, “The mobile web continues to grow, with reports over Christmas showing mobile commerce account for 37% of all online retail sales.  Brands are improving the mobile experience for users. Heck, we’ve even launched a responsive website. However, there are still many pitfalls for mobile internet users. Here, I’ve rounded up some of the UX problems I’ve encountered recently… Mobile sites that don’t allow you to view the desktop site Until your mobile-optimised site works perfectly and contains all the features of the desktop version I think there should... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “Both Amazon and Target released holiday related statistics this week. Most striking was Target’s that a majority of the traffic to its Target.com site was from mobile devices during November and December. Both Amazon and Target released holiday shopping related statistics this week. Most striking was Target’s statement that a majority of the traffic to its Target.com site was from mobile devices during November and December. The company said, “Mobile traffic made up 60 percent of Target.com traffic November through December.” In its press release the company... [...]

Aaron Strout says, “As we kick off another new year, it’s helpful for marketers to look backward and forward as they set their blueprint for the next twelve months. On the mobile front, this year had a number of important milestones. eMarketer predicted that smartphone usage worldwide would grow 25% in 2014, with the number of people that own and use smartphones hitting 1.76 billion by the end of the year. Mobile commerce took a big leap forward this year, growing more rapidly than desktop e-commerce. This was especially evident on major online shopping days — according to IBM’s... [...]

Jen Capstraw says, “I love reading those articles that compare 20th century science fiction to our modern world. This week, I stumbled across a list of author Isaac Asimov’s 1964 predictions for 2014. While we’re still not colonizing the moon, Asimov was pretty spot-on in the majority of predictions, including his descriptions of some of today’s mobile technology. Since it’s that time of year when we marketers like to start opining our predictions for the coming year, I thought it would be a fun exercise to take a look back at the mobile predictions of the past — with a focus on their... [...]