Are You Shifting Towards Mobile?
How much are you using your smartphone for online searches compared to just a few years ago? How do you think this compares to your average customer? Has your online marketing budget and emphasis changed to match this shift in how we access the web?
According to a recent study more than 50 percent of all local searches were conducted from a mobile device. Very few businesses are targeting even half of their efforts and resources to this segment, even though it currently represents half or more of the searches for their business. A report from Flurry Analytics reveals mobile is grabbing 23 percent of consumers’ time. However, mobile only receives approximately one percent of budget money, demonstrating the deep divide between brands’ marketing campaigns and user habits.
Capture Mobile Consumers Now
Some demographics and markets are obviously going to be affected more than others by this shift in how people search for businesses, but I think that we can all agree that this trend will continue to rise. Mobile consumers are currently becoming customers minutes after finding a businesses on their mobile devices. A Localeze Local Search Usage Study conducted by comScore confirms that local search results are the most relevant search results, and are therefore the most trusted by consumers. In fact, 61 percent of smartphone users search for local info on-the-go with their devices. Other highlights from this study (visualized in the Infographic below) show how mobile, social and trust are shaping local search usage:
Click for larger view.
If we sit back and simply think about how much time most of us spend searching for local businesses on our own mobile devices, this all seems obvious to us. But how many businesses are actually carrying this knowledge over to their marketing plans?
