Banking Review

The smartphone call

Having a mobile app on your website is not the same as having a mobile strategy.
So why should you tap into the smartphone phenomenon?

BY SIMON VAN WYK

You may have seen that Google/IPSOS recently published some interesting research findings on smartphone usage around the globe. While Australia scored second highest for smartphone penetration, the research found that only 20 per cent of Australian businesses actually have a mobile-optimised website.

Furthermore, the research claimed that many businesses were confusing having a mobile app as having a mobile strategy. Believe me, it’s not the same thing. A mobile strategy includes acknowledging the multifaceted mobile landscape instead of focusing on just a few devices.

So, in the process of conducting some of my own research prior to an event I was attending, I searched for a handful of banks and financial institutions to see what they looked like on my iPhone.

It wasn’t pretty.

Good news

I’m not going to name names, but I searched 30 brands in all and discovered that just 11 of the sites were optimised for mobile – whether with a mobile site, mobile app or both. This represents 37 per cent, which is some way ahead of the Google/IPSOS research findings (admittedly using a very small sample) – but it’s clearly nothing to celebrate. Particularly for an industry that is often praised for its mobile thinking.

Bad news

Worryingly, 19 of these sites were not in the least bit optimised for mobile users. The non-optimised sites simply presented me with the standard version of their website. And while I don’t have butcher’s fingers, navigating a website designed for 1,024×768 pixels on a screen that’s 320_480 pixels is just not good business.

Remember, Australia has the second highest penetration of smartphone usage in the world. And this number is set to climb to 60 per cent in the coming 12 months which can only mean more and more people will be hopping online from just about everywhere.

While you may offer a compelling and engaging web experience from a PC or laptop, if the experience is woeful on a mobile device, you just won’t be relevant to the increasing smartphone audience and missing out on the opportunity to remain constantly connected to your customers as they ‘go mobile’.

You can’t afford to be Apple centric

And it’s not about simply creating an iPhone app and considering the job done. You have to think carefully about your target market and cover all options. While a large number of your customers may have an iPhone, an equally large number may have a Blackberry, Motorola, Nokia or other brand of smartphone.

You need to give your customers a truly seamless brand experience regardless of whether it’s a mobile website or native mobile application.

You need to think about mobile in exactly the same way as you plan your website developments. The mobile experience needs to be as good as the optimal web experience you provide. You need to understand your customers and determine what they need when they’re on the move, and work out how your mobile site will help them do it.

As smartphones become an inseparable part of our lives, if mobile isn’t a focal point of your marketing strategy, then I can only suggest that you address this now before you’re left behind.

Simon van Wyk is founder of digital marketing agency HotHouse.