Excerpts from my latest article at NBC Chicago’s Inc. Well: “Why Mobile Search is the New Frontier”
Cutting edge new smartphones are launching left and right, from Apple’s iPhone 5 to Nokia’s Windows Mobile-based Lumix series to Samsung’s 5.5-inch tablet. While the consumer tech industry abuzz with smartphone news, marketers are salivating over the inevitable increase in mobile search.
Already some 62 million Americans search daily on their smartphones. A surprising 66 percent of Americans with smartphones access the Internet on their devices every day and most won’t leave home without them. In fact, a third would rather give up their televisions than their smartphones.
The most exciting area of overlap between mobile devices and search marketing, however, is local search. Nearly everyone, 94 percent, seeks local information on their smartphones. Even better, 90% have actually acted on that information by shopping, be it making a reservation at a restaurant or calling the store.
Speaking of shopping, smartphone users also pull out their phones when the impulse to shop strikes them. It seems that our phones may even encourage that impulsivity, with 81 percent of purchases on a smartphone reported as spontaneous. Even when in the store, consumers use their phones to research purchases. They consider their phones as a shopping tool, with 35 percent comparing prices in-store and 32 percent starting their research on their phones and completing their purchase offline in a store.
So how do we make sure our businesses are the ones in front of those impulsive, searching, mobile consumers? Read on to find out more.
Read the full article at NBC 5 Chicago’s Inc. Well >>
Originally posted on Web PieRat.