MalamaxMarketing

The buzz around mobile phones never stops. We’re constantly talking about how to optimize for mobile searches, how to optimize our mobile site for consumers, and how to optimize our paid ads for mobile.

That isn’t going to change anytime soon. What’s interesting though is how consumer expectations have changed. Having a good mobile experience is no longer a luxury or a nice surprise — it’s an expectation.

Consumers expect to access the internet, or other programs like app and personal assistants, with the swift swipe of a finger. No waiting, zooming or squinting. They expect the response to be fast, easy and intuitive to meet their demands.

But, it wasn’t always that way. As someone who grew up watching this transition, it makes me laugh when I see my 7 year old angrily shaking his iPad because his newest app isn’t working. He has no idea what it was like for my generation, having to connect to the internet using the telephone line. I still remember my first Blackberry, my first big step into the smartphone world. The functionalities of that thing were terrible — this was back in 2010 of course. But I still loved it, and it blew my mind that I could access Facebook on that tiny screen.


History of Mobile

Android, a mobile operating system developed by Google, unveiled their first smartphone in 2008. It was called the HTC Dream. Android is an open source product, meaning outside groups can develop and distribute their own version of the operating system. This has allowed the Android OS to serve a wide variety of market segments and is likely the reason it’s seen such wide adoption. Researchers have estimated that 325 million Android smartphones were sold in the last quarter of 2015.

iOS is the operating system owned by Apple Inc., and it’s something most of us are familiar with through our iPads, iPhones, and iPods. Surprisingly, it does come second in sales to the Android. The iOS system was unveiled in 2007, and has been extended to service many other applications that Apple Inc. owns, such as the AppleTV. Even in early 2015, Apple’s App Store held more than 1.4 million iOS applications, which have collectively been downloaded more than 100 billion times.

Windows has a family of operating systems, which have not gained the same traction as the other big brands. They were late to the game, with their first smartphone launch in 2010, the Windows Phone 7. They partnered with Nokia in 2011, and since then Nokia’s Lumia series phones have represented the vast majority of smartphone sales. Microsoft acquired Nokia’s mobile business completely in 2014.

Blackberry is considered by many as the original smartphone. They had releases of email capable mobile phones back in 1999, but it wasn’t until 2003 when they released a phone that supported email, web browsing, texting, and of course making phone calls. They capitalized on business use and were well known amongst the business community for their high level of security. In 2013, Blackberry was publicly struggling with their finances, as they hadn’t managed to remain competitive with the other emerging brands. Today, they still remain a choice for many businesses but are no longer the front runner.


Fast-forward to today, where we exist in a mobile-driven world.

We’ve come a long way with mobile devices over the last decade, and consumer expectations have changed as well. As a business, how can you capitalize on the new mobile economy? This section will be broken down into 2 parts — we’ll discuss how to appease search engines, and how to keep your customers happy.

Search Engines

The search engines are now insisting you have a mobile site, or a responsive site, if you want to be seen within mobile search results. This is attributed to Mobilegeddon, which was a massive shift on April 21, 2015 from Google.

Mobile sites and responsive sites are two different things, but we won’t get into that today. As far as a customer is concerned, they’re often one in the same, assuming your responsive site is optimized properly. Google doesn’t feel the same way, but I will stop there.

So what factors are the search engines worried about?

The best way to figure out of your site is considered mobile friendly is to run your site through Google’s mobile friendly tool. That way, you won’t be guessing.

The factors their test is considering:

-Do you have software that’s not compatible with most mobile devices, like Flash?
-Can people read the text without squinting or zooming?
-Can links easily be tapped with the finger?
-Does the content fit the page properly?
-How quickly do pages load?

Consumer Expectations

Not surprisingly, many of the factors that Google considers in their mobile friendliness test really come down to one question — is your site providing a good customer experience? People will not use or return to your site if it’s slow, difficult, or hard to read. But, it doesn’t stop there. As we continue to evolve in our mobile world, customer expectations will continue to grow.

If you really want to take your mobile game to the next level, you must also consider these things:

Global shoppers have expressed the desire to be able to scan items in-store with their mobile phones for pricing and other details.

Consumers want to receive instant credit for coupons via their mobile device, rather than having to print a coupon or have it accessible through their email.

Consumers want to check product availability on their smartphones before going to a store, to ensure their particular item will be there to pick-up.

Consumers want price adjustments for discount and loyalty programs to happen automatically, via technology in their smartphones.

Consumers want to make purchases on their mobile devices without typing in all their information. They want to swipe and make purchases.

They want to quickly email, call, and connect with businesses with no more than a click.


For some solid stats on things consumers have requested, check out this article.

As a consumer, what do you want? What would you include on this list?