Customers have you in the palm of their hands
December 11, 2009Featured Commentator: Bob Lento, President, Information Management
Today nearly four billion people worldwide have a mobile phone and most feature some sort of Web browsing capability. But, the trend that every industry insider is really paying attention to is the rapid adoption of smart phones.
“The world is vastly different than it was 10 years ago…or, at least the ways we connect to it are,” according to Carl Howe, director of the Yankee Group’s Anywhere consumer research team in a recent webinar entitled “Anywhere Browsing and the Mobile Web Experience.” A few short years ago, the idea of accessing the Internet from your mobile phone was almost a curiosity to many people, he says, now it’s become an important part of our everyday experience.
According to Yankee Group estimates, one billion people worldwide have mobile broadband access (3G or better) via a smart phone and he predicts that by 2012 this number will double. Yankee Group even goes as far as to call the combination of broadband Internet access and a wireless device a “revolution” and “the largest technology change in our lifetime.”
For companies, the emergence of smart phones presents another channel through which to interact with customers. It’s important for businesses to make themselves available where ever their customers are, and more and more that’s on their phones. But, just because the communication vehicle is different, doesn’t mean customers are willing to cut you some slack on the service experience. After all, 87 percent of consumers ranked service more important than brand or price in Convergys’ most recent research on the service experience.
However, for many businesses, venturing into the still untamed wilderness of the mobile Web can seem like a daunting enterprise. That’s why, with the help of Howe, I have identified four best practices to help you manage your customer relationships on the mobile Web.
- Prioritize information for a customer on the move – Make easily available the information your customers are likely to need most when they are on the go. According to Convergys research, 61 percent of mobile phone users rank quick access to information as a top priority related to their service experience.
- Take advantage of the unique customer information smart phones provide – Mobile phones know more information about the user than a desktop. They contain information like your location (GPS), your carrier, other applications you have downloaded. Although you can’t use this information without the user’s permission, you can ask. And, if you aren’t incorporating this additional information into your mobile Web experience, you are missing out on an opportunity to provide a superior customer service.
- Make it as easy as possible for your mobile customers to find you – Enhance your company Web site with device detection so that it can recognize when being accessed via a mobile device and can make the necessary adjustments to provide the appropriate mobile content. If your site does have a separate mobile address, register additional mobile Web domain names so that your customers don’t have to guess which one you use.
- When in doubt, enlist the help of an expert – There is no reason for you to fumble your way through a task you aren’t confident doing when there are people out there who can help. There are already companies specializing in designing mobile sites and applications, so take advantage of their expertise. Convergys is one of these companies. As the leader in relationship management, we have already begun to apply our service expertise to the mobile Web experience as a number of our other clients are exploring the idea of establishing a presence on the mobile Web with our help.
Howe is right, the emergence of smart phones and mobile broadband have changed the world. They’ve made it much smaller. So small your customers now have you in the palm of their hands.
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