Last updated on October 27, 2021 But many factors have contributed to this substantial transition.
The most prominent factor is the rise in e-commerce growth since COVID-19’s arrival, which had significantly stopped consumers’ in-store spending. This resulted in soaring e-commerce sales margins by a whopping 32.4% increase from $598.02 billion in 2019 to an explosive $791.70 billion in 2020!
And that’s not all. In just 2020 alone, the total retail spending reached over $4 trillion, a staggeringly massive incline from an expenditure of $3.78 trillion in 2019. So to address the elephant in the room, drastic e-commerce sales growth is certainly the byproduct of a seamlessly executed mobile marketing strategy implemented by the most notable bigshots in the marketing industry.
After all, mobile devices have become an integral part of our existence and have become a critical component in capturing half of the web traffic worldwide!
More than 3.2 billion users worldwide are smartphone users – and this number is expected to ascend to 3.8 billion in 2021.
To elaborate even further, more than 70% of mobile users use their devices for shopping and entertainment purposes, meaning mobile commerce’s share within the entire e-commerce sector is expected to rapidly surpass 70% in the near future.
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What is Mobile Marketing?
Mobile marketing is a form of marketing that allows marketers to directly connect with their customers through their mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Marketers reach out to their customers through their social media usage, emails, apps, or any other communication channel to instantly get them to show interest or purchase from their brand.
Mobile marketing in recent years has become one of the fastest ways to engage with a global audience and this is why brand owners are paying close attention to the upcoming mobile marketing trends in 2022.
11 Reasons You Should Focus on Mobile Marketing
#1 In-App Ads
Every day, while you are on some app, you come across ads. Sometimes these ads are your cup of tea, and sometimes, they are completely irrelevant and a downright nuisance.
But those ads that do pique your interest, you do what anyone else who feels they are being directly spoken to would do – you click that ad. And you aren’t the only one. Around 60% of consumers click on mobile ads once a week at minimum, while 20% purchase items based on these in-app ads.
However, most consumers who spend a good chunk of their time using several apps tend to get annoyed with ads plastered on their screens. This has led them to develop what is known as ‘banner blindness’ – a defense mechanism to block out or ignore ads from reigning over their screens.
But a way to overcome this dilemma is irregular ad placement to make it seem more natural and not spammy. So this could be anywhere on the right or left side of the page or could be a pop-up welcome ad when a visitor opens a page or app. Just make sure not to introduce the same ads repeatedly every time the same visitor is on the app or web page.
In-app ads have amassed great effectiveness in reaching consumers, with an impressive rise of ad engagement of 15% in the past year. For this reason, we believe in-app and in-store mobile marketing is the future of digital marketing.
#2 Mobile Emails
99% of consumers check their emails every day, and from that 99%, almost 50% of emails are opened on their mobile devices. This goes to show just how imperative email marketing has become part of a victorious mobile marketing strategy.
However, there is still a long way to go. To yield fruitful results, emails require increased focus on personalization and optimization for mobile devices since it has been studied that 42.3% of consumers delete emails that are not mobile optimized.
Personalizing emails will not only create a more user-friendly experience, but it also clouts information and data and uses it to tailor the needs and interests of email users.
Using their first name, age, occupation, location, and purchase history, marketers can better attract and retain subscribers since more than 70% of consumers pay zero attention to emails that seem robotic and irrelevant. All in all, personalization is a vital component of a successful email marketing campaign.
#3 Gamification
Drastically improve consumer engagement with the help of introducing fun activities and incentives as part of your mobile marketing strategy. Gamification allows implementing game playing to drive weighty conversion rates by motivating consumers to complete tasks in return for some reward. This prevents them from simply scrolling through your content mindlessly and turns them into potential consumers rather than mere visitors.
#4 The Shift in Mobile Commerce
COVID-19 shook the world in more ways imaginable, but it also opened the doors of money-making opportunities for both small- and large-scale businesses worldwide.
With shopping in stores off-limits due to a pandemic, consumers were faced with no other option than to shop online. Meaning, mobile commerce accomplished a mind-blowing $338 billion by the end of 2020 – a 25.8% increase year-over-year when mobile commerce sales reached $791.70 billion in 2020.
Even now, in 2022, as the pandemic shows very little sign to slow down, marketers and retailers are adopting mobile commerce more fervently than ever in the pursuit of a frictionless e-commerce experience for users. This adaptation will include 1-click and direct purchasing options for a much-improved shopping experience, therefore encouraging a much more robust customer rapport.
#5 Mobile Games Are More Like Social Networks
There is no doubt that mobile games have morphed into social networking entities of their own where players congregate as they play. Such games include the world-renowned PUBG, Among Us, and Fortnite – games that have introduced a new meaning to gaming. And with a pandemic still at play, consumers have spent over $120 billion on mobile games in 2021 alone and will only increase till the 2022.
#6 Payments Via Mobile
Like mobile marketing, mobile payment technology is also rapidly evolving to accommodate consumers in online shopping by introducing streamlined processes that will accept and secure their payment.
One such technology is Mobile Wallets. Mobile wallets are the fastest-growing mobile payment technology and one of the fastest-growing mobile marketing trends in 2022. It’s speedy, secure, and convenient and, during a lockdown environment, offers contactless payment from anywhere at any time.
#7 New Online Trends Fueled By COVID 19
As mentioned previously, COVID-19 has been, and in many parts of the world, continues to be an unfortunate reality, compelling marketers to work against all odds in the pursuit of keeping businesses afloat during testing times.
Users, too, have had no say in the matter. In 2022, studies found the average US adult to spend almost 4 hours a day on their mobile using more apps than they ever did pre-pandemic. As a result, many apps have been introduced and updated to accommodate this shift in consumer behavior – from new games and work management software programs being introduced for the sole purpose of facilitating home-bound users.
Just in April 2020, mobile app usage spiked by 40% while consumer spending crossed a groundbreaking record of $27 billion in-app spendings and jaw-dropping $35 billion in-app downloads. Keeping all this in perspective, marketers haven’t shied away from introducing new online trends.
With the increasing usage of mobile devices, brands are using this opportunity to upgrade their email marketing practices and send more texts and push notifications than they had to before the pandemic.
In simpler terms, the new rave in mobile marketing is focusing on building direct relationships with customers and influencing their buying decisions. Not only this, but the emerging trend is to also influence more than 50% of internet users who purchase products through their mobile phones by spending more (almost twice as much) on digital ads.
#8 Push Notifications
Push notifications, aka those pop-up messages that show up on your screen out of nowhere. They are annoying, no doubt, but do perform the job of communicating with your consumers directly well, and that is why many businesses have adopted push notifications as part of their lucrative mobile marketing strategy.
Push notifications, unlike SMS messages, are free, and the user knows who has sent the message, resulting in more security for the user. This explains why more than 40% of users click on these push messages within one hour of receiving them.
However, as easily and quickly as they can click on these notifications, they can as easily choose to switch off these notifications if the message is not in their interest. Marketers, therefore, need to entice their consumers’ interest by customizing their push notifications – location, special offers, updates, and more would all need to be tailored to their needs and wants.
#9 QR Codes
QR codes are another effective mobile marketing strategy. Marketers can use QR codes to view websites and landing pages, visit social media profiles, dial numbers, view a message, send an email/message, and view a Google maps location.
All you need to do is create a QR code using a QR code generator and insert the content link to the code when using the QR code on your product’s packaging, app store, on-screen ads, and much more. The best part is QR codes are cost-effective, versatile, and convenient to use for both users and marketers.
#10 Mobile Marketing & SEO
Mobile marketing and SEO have always been in synergy with each other. Therefore, marketers must boost their mobile SEO skills in order to elevate their mobile marketing’s success. This includes optimizing landing pages, blogs, product descriptions, and all other mobile content with robust SEO content marketing to lure in their target audience, skyrocket conversion rates, escalate their revenue and build a bulletproof brand image for their consumers to recognize.
#11 Videos
With our mobile devices being within arm’s reach, viewing videos on our phones has become easily accessible – and so has sharing videos. Videos aren’t for just fun anymore but are being presented for educational purposes, mainly educating consumers about products and services.
But when done right, videos can do much more than just educate and inform. They can intrigue and convince consumers to purchase the product and service, boost brand image and brand loyalty, and even go as far as influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions and behavior.
In 2022, marketers are pushing out content that satisfies the demands of mobile users. Videos are sweet, precise, and to-the-point and contain colorful infographics to hold the viewers’ attention. In fact, more and more content is being delivered through videos than any other format, and it is said that by 2025, more than 75% of mobile content will be conveyed through videos!
Conclusion
Mobile marketing trends will continue to develop and grow in 2022 and even further in 2023. Your business needs to be well-equipped with all the essentials necessary for a smooth and successful marketing campaign.
At N3X Corp, we can help navigate your brand in the right direction by formulating a cohesive mobile strategy including email marketing, in-app advertising, mobile advertising, and more. Get in touch with us today!