Few industries have evolved quite as rapidly as mobile marketing. Consumer habits and mobile technologies change fast – businesses need to stay one step ahead of the competition to stay relevant with mobile users. In this article, we’ll share our predictions for the most impactful mobile marketing trends in 2021.
I. Conversational Chatbots
The use of conversational chatbots is on the rise. Chatbots respond to customer questions that mimic human interaction through a combination of pre-programmed scripts and artificial intelligence (AI).
Chatbots can make (and cancel) reservations, conduct surveys, place orders, answer questions – and the list keeps growing. Chatbots also enable you to learn more about your customers as the chatbots interact with them, creating future marketing opportunities and increasing engagement.
The ability to provide service 24/7 improves customer satisfaction while reducing the need for support staff, saving your business money and time. As chatbots “mature,” they can produce answers to frequently asked questions by gathering data from previous exchanges. This ever-expanding information database gives customers the information they need and reduces programming expenses.
II. User-Generated Content
User-generated, or UGC, continues to be a highly impactful form of marketing. UGC is content related to your brand – text, images, audio, and video – that users voluntarily create and post online. Unlike influencer marketing, in which users are sought out and paid by marketers, user-generated content engenders a higher degree of trust based on real-life, unpaid experience and opinions.
User-generated content can be a double-edged sword. If UGC is positive, it can generate priceless word of mouth that drives sales and trust in your brand and products. However, negative content can do just the opposite, ruining your customers’ perception of your brand and damaging trust.
Examples of user-generated content include:
- Blogs
- Customer reviews on Yelp, Reddit, and other forums
- Social media posts on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Pinterest
III. Social Commerce and Shoppable Ads
In the past, shoppers would discover products and brands while browsing social platforms, then navigate to the brand’s website to make a purchase. But toggling between platforms can disrupt the user experience brands strive to create, resulting in customer frustration and lower conversion rates.
The eye buys! Social commerce and shoppable ads integrate commerce into social media platforms, enabling a seamless shopping and brand experience.
Social commerce uses social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to promote and sell products and services. Shoppable ads enable your brand to tag products within an image posted on social media or Google, giving the customer the ability to hover over the ad for more information.
IV. Mobile Commerce Growth
Not surprisingly, the scale of mobile commerce, or m-commerce, has grown exponentially. The pervasive use of mobile phones and tablets has paved the way for m-commerce to take a larger piece of the internet marketing pie. Mobile sales are expected to increase by 22.3% to a staggering $3.56 trillion in 2021.
With consumers getting increasingly comfortable shopping online, optimizing your website for mobile is crucial. The impact of COVID-19 has further pushed consumers away from shopping malls and toward online shopping sources. To capitalize on this mobile trend, make sure to remove all barriers to shopping online for your customers.
