The year 2023 is here and one of the hottest topics in the marketing industry is the mobile commerce trends that will be ubiquitous in 2023. In 2022, brands had both opportunities to utilize and obstacles to overcome. As consumer behavior shifted, many brands and business professionals have started diverting their marketing efforts to leverage mobile apps to market their products. Due to the pandemic, working, online shopping, working out, online “dating,” and the most routine tasks have become commonplace over the Internet via our mobile devices.
Despite some mobile marketing strategies remaining consistently effective over the years, technological innovations have caused others to gain more traction. More people have mobile phones than have personal computers. As a result, business owners and marketing teams are beginning to adopt different strategies in their marketing plans to keep up.
Based on statistical analysis and thinking logically about the marketing funnel, we’ve put together a list of 6 of the top mobile marketing trends that we think will be leading stats in 2023. We predict they will be huge in the near future. If you want to stay competitive in the market, check out these trends and incorporate them into your strategies right now.
Mobile Optimization
One of the biggest challenges businesses face today is how to reach prospective clients who prefer mobile devices. It is one of the broader trends due to the fact that everyone is unique. However with more than have of ecommerce can be contributed to mobile traffic as of 2021, according to statistics provided by Outerbox, businesses will have to learn or be left in the dust.
With such high engagement rates, it makes sense for marketers to want to include mobile-first marketing as part of their overall strategy. Luckily for those who want to incorporate a more mobile-first marketing strategy, there are several tools available to help marketers accomplish this goal. Posting on Facebook and relying on algorithms is not the only way to get more human interaction to your site. Social media marketing is great, however as the social network in question, it is old, and was initially created before smartphone users became prevalent. Therefore, some creative production practices that would be more effective on computers or on certain social networks are changing in order to adapt to the increased amount of mobile users worldwide.
It was not long ago (2021) when email marketing had been part of this topic. While studies showed that consumers were more likely to answer emails due to them always having their phones within arm’s length, emailing is not enough to increase that conversion rate. There are many factors to consider. For example, optimizing email subject lines so they will display properly on smartphones would be a good start. Instead of “Product X” or “Order confirmation number blah blah blah”, try something like “Your order is ready.” Little changes like these are crucial for sales, and businesses will have to think outside of the box when wanting to improve their digital marketing strategy.
Omnichannel marketing is another factor if you want to cover several customer touchpoints to maximize smartphone user reach. Omnichannel marketing is a cross-channel strategy which enables you to increase your engagement. Mobile messaging is quickly replacing direct emails as mobile users are more likely to respond to texts. A text message can be an interactive message that allows consumers to engage with brands. For instance, if you send potential customers texts with a coupon code and all they need to do is enter the code as part of any offer. But beyond simple promotional messages, text messaging offers advertisers lots of ways to enhance their brand experiences.
Creating websites that work well on all types of mobile devices is another way to attract more mobile users to your digital platform. Your company could create separate sites for different regions if it offers services outside your country. Signing up through one site will then automatically sign up on the others.
Consumer behavior should be the main focus of a concise mobile marketing strategy. Small tweaks in UI and UX can have amazing results from your target audience.
Voice search
In 2021, 33.8% of Americans said that they would rather give up sex than their cellphones. Interestingly enough, a voice search survey for 2021 showed that the same amount of US internet users operate a voice assistant at least once a month. To put some perspective on this, that’s one-third of the US population.
According to Worstream, 40% of adults use voice search capabilities daily. Voice search has revolutionized the way many people use the search engines. While it is still in its infancy, it is becoming more and more essential to smartphone users. The rapid increase in popularity is quite simple to explain. Nearly every human owns a smartphone nowadays. The other reason is that voice search is much more convenient and very often takes less time to find specific data than a text-based search. Voice search capable engines are already able to learn and give personalized content to their users. Soon search engines like Siri, Jarvis, Robin, Cortana, and Alexa will be able to individualize themselves based on each unique mobile user, mobile advertising will only gain popularity.
When speaking, consumers use very different search terms like slang, which is why optimizing successful voice search results can be challenging. When examining words to use for correct search results, marketers should target long-tail keywords instead of using abbreviated keywords to capture speaking styles over typing styles. You should include voice search in your marketing plan for 2023 and beyond so that your SEO strategy accounts for these differences.
App Gamification
App gamification is an interesting digital marketing trend used to, among other things, increase customer acquisition. Customer acquisition or user acquisition is the process of bringing in new customers/users or convincing them to purchase your products. From brand recognition to purchase decision, acquisition teams want to use this process to move consumers down the marketing funnel. It’s ideal to keep this customer acquisition cost (or CAC for short) low. Gamification is one method marketers can retain customers without much cost. Businesses are beginning to hire or create acquisition teams to “gamify” or to create games or challenges within their apps that reward users with points or prizes when they complete certain tasks. Acquisition campaigns such as gamification ensure that businesses create a sense of competition among users and most importantly increase user engagement.
App trends such as gamification give app marketers a ton of possibilities at their disposal. It can be an interactive experience which encourages users to work harder and achieve goals. For example, Nike uses a casual game to motivate athletes to train harder and improve their performance. Other home exercise apps use weekly challenges to keep the user engaged. If the app constantly reminds the active user through these challenges, the user is less likely to quit.
Another type of gamification focuses on what we call “leaderboards.” This marketing strategy can be seen in apps like Duolingo. While very similar to our fitness apps, language apps such as Duolingo and apps like it allow active users to compete against each other and compare scores. Other forms of gamification include badges, achievements, and challenges. In addition, apps like S’moresUp use gamification as a tool to help children learn better habits and behaviors.
The main benefit of gamification is that it helps businesses reach their goals faster and easier. It can increase consumer spending and motivates users to keep coming back to the app and makes them feel rewarded for completing tasks.
Household brands will be drawn to gaming universes lastly because of privacy protection. There are two ways to achieve this. Firstly, platform regulations will drive adoption of contextual segmentation. Marketing concepts such as contextual advertising adapt to the location, channel, and needs of the consumer creating a custom experience. Then, a contextual offer can be delivered at the right time to engaged customers. Second, brand involvement in gaming will bring new ad formats and live advertising aimed at driving in-game engagement.
Chatbots
Chatbots are a great way to integrate customer interactions with automation. They’re especially useful for small businesses because they don’t require a large staff to handle all customer inquiries. Instead, chatbots can answer questions, solve problems, and provide information without any human intervention.
It’s important to note that chatbots are not new. They’ve been around for decades and have become increasingly popular since Facebook introduced Messenger in 2015. The technology hasn’t been widely adopted until very recently. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is also driving the growth of ecommerce. AI enables retailers to create personalized experiences for each customer. As a result, shoppers spend more time browsing and buying. Artificial intelligence and preprogrammed scripts allow chatbots to simulate human interactions to handle customer questions.
Among the many things chatbots can do, they can make reservations (and cancellations), do surveys, place orders, and answer questions. The list keeps growing. Furthermore, chatbots provide you with the opportunity to learn more about your customers as they interact with the bots, increasing engagement and future marketing opportunities.
24/7 customer service increases customer satisfaction while reducing the need for a support team, thereby increasing efficiency. Anything to meet consumer expectations. As chatbots become more sophisticated, they can answer frequently asked questions based on the data from previous conversations. This evolving comprehensive database of information provides customers with the information they need while reducing programming costs.
In addition to being able to interact with chatbots via text messenger apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, etc, you can integrate your chatbot into your website and social media pages. The more places your customers see your message, the higher chance you’ll increase app traffic. As the Gen Z population is the first generation who are inherently mobile first shoppers, they will be the main drive behind why 70% of businesses will incorporate some sort of AI into their strategies by 2030. Improvements in AI and chatbots are more a question of when and not how.
Augmented reality
Improving the way your company approaches mobile commerce can assist you in achieving goals in your sales funnel. According to Forbes, mobile commerce is expected to grow 68% by 2023 as more people conduct their shopping via mobile phones. And it’s natural to see companies use more innovative digital products to increase sales. A great example of this can be seen in how we have incorporated augmented reality with our mobile devices to improve the customer experience and generate sales.
Augmented reality (AR) is one of the biggest trends on our list and it’s another technology that has gained popularity over the past few years. AR is a digital platform that overlays digital content onto real-world objects. So far, we’ve seen AR implemented into mobile games like Pokemon Go, but that has only scratched the surface as it’s quickly becoming a major trend across industries. According to statista, by 2024 there will be an estimated 1.7 billion mobile augmented reality (AR) users worldwide. That is a huge potential target market for those who want to get ahead of the competition!
One reason why AR is so effective is that the interface seems seamless. Even data-hungry marketing teams can agree that AR provides a better mobile experience than VR. In VR, you’re completely immersed within a digital world. You can move around freely, but you can’t touch anything. With AR, however, app users can interact with the digital content. This is a different level of customer engagement. For instance, when looking at a product online, you could hold it in front of you and zoom in on it.
Another advantage of AR is that it can help increase conversions by letting potential buyers experience how an item would look in real life using their device. In fact, 71% of consumers say that they would shop more often if they could use AR. For instance, if someone wants to buy a car, they may visit a showroom to test drive different models. As they walk around the dealership, they might see a display board displaying a car model in augmented mode. Once they’re satisfied with the vehicle’s appearance, they can step into a store room to test the vehicle’s performance by pressing buttons on its steering wheel. Unlike traditional photos, AR can convey precise details about a product that could not be conveyed by traditional photos. Augmented reality could help customers make more informed buying decisions, which leads to greater satisfaction and customer loyalty.
Unlike VR users, AR users are already familiar with how to use the technology on their smartphones. So when marketers advertise products using AR, they reach a wider audience. To fully leverage this emerging technology, we’ll likely see AR become a standard feature within many mobile devices. That way, everyone will benefit from being able to view digital information directly in the physical world.
The future holds many probable possibilities for AR. Most likely, if or when mobile devices become handsfree, we will be able to wear lenses equipped with sensors that overlay instructions, directions, product images, or advertisements on top of what we see before our very eyes while walking down the street. We could use AR to instantly book flights at the airport, place orders for groceries, check out affiliate marketing promotions online, or even pay bills. Truly, AR can become a sub-reality of our own.
Metaverse
Metaverse is a completely new technology that aims to make virtual reality possible. In the metaverse, augmented reality, virtual reality, and blockchain are used together with concepts from social media to create interactive spaces that mimic the real world. Metaverse will enable publishers to create cross-platform experiences across mobile platforms, augmented reality, and other devices. In the blockchain environment, games will create new universes and experiences without boundaries that will shape a new world, and even change our world! Much like the film Ready Player One, we will be able to live in an online universe.
Like stated before, with Metaverse, people will actually be able to walk around inside a digital environment. In other words, spend time virtually with family, friends, colleagues, clients, customers, suppliers, contractors, bankers, investors – wherever you happen to be located. The idea of Metaverse leaves us with millions of possibilities. Imagine being able to put on a headset and then be able to visit museums, see the wonders of the world, walk the streets of ancient Carthage, shop online from a virtual store, sit through a meeting or conference virtually. Such developments would revolutionize business communication, social commerce, education, entertainment, travel, tourism, etc. While this is definitely the most exciting upcoming trend, because of the infinite possibilities incorporated with this idea, we can only speculate and wait until technology improves and more information becomes available. For all we know, Mark Zuckerberg has already developed the tech and is just waiting to launch a more affordable VR headset so that his Metaverse will take over the market in a tidal wave of sales rather than in ten years. We can already see that many companies are jumping the bandwagon early. Making sure your business stays up to date with all technological innovations is the only way your companies will be ready when the wave comes.
Conclusion
The future holds many potential applications for mobile commerce. Certain things, however, are difficult to predict, such as how these technologies will shape our future and how they might be used in different sectors. It is still unknown whether businesses will try to harness these emerging technologies by taking advantage of them, or whether they will respond late, and have to play catch up. Regardless of the current state, it’s important to keep an eye on these trends to ensure your company maintains its competitive edge in the market. It will be interesting to see how these mobile trends of 2023 will continue to transform ecommerce.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Metaverse?
Metaverse is a simulated digital world that uses augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and blockchain, along with concepts from social media, to create a rich user experience.
What is gamification in marketing?
Gamification marketing is a technique used to increase engagement levels and encourage users to take specific actions by incorporating gaming elements into a non-gaming context.
Why is mobile marketing important?
Because mobile phones are the best devices for advertising. Customers treat their mobile devices better than their pets and family members.
What is customer acquisition?
Customer acquisition refers to the process of acquiring new customers to buy you products or services.
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