From the Paramore Blog: Get Mobile or Get Left Behind this Holiday Season

If these holiday predictions are correct then marketers with a mobile strategy will be enjoying their holiday season. What about those without a mobile plan? Well – if these stats aren’t a wake-up call then I don’t know what is.

Here are some quotes from the flurry of blog posts about mobile, eCommerce and the holiday season and my recommendations if you’re throwing together a mobile strategy in a hurry.

The Research

• “For the first time, the percentage of shoppers buying from their mobile phones is expected to rise above the double-digit threshold to 15% in November, compared to 4.5% in last year’s holiday season, and less than 1% in 2009.” – Online.WSJ.com
• “Holiday retail sales* for 2011 are expected to increase 2.8 percent to $465.6 billion.”National Retail Federation
• “An unprecedented 15 percent of people in the U.S. logging onto a retailer’s Web site are expected to do so through a mobile device.” – Search Engine Land & IBM
• “Smartphones represent 37 percent of all US mobile handsets according to comScore. However Nielsen says they’ve now reached 43 percent (and more than 50 percent for those under age 45). The Pew Internet Project says 42 percent of mobile subscribers have smartphones.” – Search Engine Land
• “Apple’s iPhone accounted for 4% of mobile traffic, and Android 3.5%, in October 2011.” -Media Post

My Recommendations:

1. Don’t ignore the iPad as a mobile device. “Within the mobile arena, retailers may want to pay even more attention to iPad users. About 6.8% of October site visits through the iPad concluded with a purchase, compared to a 3.6% rate on other mobile devices.” -Online.WSJ.com
2. Make strategic updates on your Facebook profile that make it easy for mobile Facebookers to purchase from you. “Social networks, led by Facebook, also have been an emerging factor in retail. According to the IBM data, 9.2% of consumers in October that came to a retailer’s web site from a social media site made a purchase, compared to 5.5% who visited the store site directly.” – Online.WSJ.com
3. Making sure you monitor third party reviews of your products and services is always a must during the holiday season. But with the mobile explosion it’s going to be important to monitor what those third party reviews look like in a mobile environment, because this mobile environment is most likely the one your potential customers will see. “Over one-third of your customers may require a Web experience (first- and third-party site-driven) to make a purchase decision about your product.” – Email Insiders Blog
4. If you’re a brick & mortar storefront make sure you claim and update your Google places location – it’s free and already mobile optimized by Google. “Google (says) that “44 percent of total searches for last minute gifts and store locator terms will be from mobile devices.” Search Engine Land & Google
5. Make sure you have a social media crisis policy in place. A bad review of a product can easily get out of control during a time when consumers are highly engaged with social media. “The traditional PR approach is to issue a statement, apologize and cross your fingers that it goes away. With social media, you need to reach out to who is talking and swaying opinions.” – Shift Communications President Todd Defren.
6. Anticipate the additional traffic in your Pay-Per-Click campaigns. Imagine coming to work on Tuesday morning after Thanksgiving and finding our your Thanksgiving weekend budget was maxed out by Saturday and your media wasn’t even live for Cyber Monday. More shoppers means more clicks and more budget. Plan for it. Smartphone users search. Your conversion rate and ROI will increase so spending more during this crucial time period will be worth it. “Spend on Cyber Monday increased 50% over baseline in the past three years but the ROI more than doubled too.” – Search Engine Land

What’s your mobile strategy to connect with consumers? How often do use a mobile device to make a purchase?