MOBILE marketing: are you doing it right?
If I asked you what does your phone mean to you, what would you say?
To many people, their phone is more than just a phone. It’s their life – they eat with it, shower with it, sit on the toilet with it, they always have it with them. Research by RescueTime indicates that people spend an average of 3 hours and 15 minutes a day on their phones, with the top 20% of smartphone users spending more and 4.5 hours a day.
With all that time on the phone, what do people actually do?
Data collected from ReportLinker shows that social media is most used, followed by checking emails, taking photos and reading the news.
A good 75% of smartphone users don’t switch their phone off at the end of the day.
With many users spending so much time on their phone, it is no wonder that brands are investing more time and effort into mobile marketing. They may be reaching out to the masses, but are they doing it right?
Introduced by Professors Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein in their research paper, the 4 “I”s of Mobile Social Media tells us what makes for good mobile social media marketing.
Here, I’d like to share with you an example of a successful mobile application – Starbucks.
With over 29,000 stores in nearly 80 countries, it is clear that Starbucks has a strong customer base. The mobile application first started out in 2009, as a standalone iPhone payment application, accepted in just 16 stores. As the founder Howard Schultz started acquiring more stores, he expanded into the mobile ecosystem.
In the Mobile Order and Pay feature, users are able to make orders via the application and skip long waiting queues in store. To ease any congestion issues, Starbucks then opened designated counters for these order-ahead customers.
In-store payments are encouraged to be made via the application. It uses a Starbucks gift card to process payments, this allows for seamless transactions as the value in the gift card can be automatically reloaded via credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay etc.
The concept of the Starbucks Rewards Program is simple – the more you spend, the more rewards you earn.
Apart from offering two stars for every $1 spent, rewards members get complimentary in-store refills, special events/offers etc.
The rewards program saw the brand through a steady growth in both sales and user numbers.
In 2016, Starbucks and Spotify came together to launch a new music experience for its customers. The application allowed users to identify songs played in stores and save it into a playlist on Spotify.
This boosted the use of the Starbucks app and Spotify sign-ups.
The Starbucks mobile application is an exemplary example of seamless integration. It focuses on user-centric functions – marrying customers’ needs with business performance.
Come share with me if you’re a Starbucks fan! Or if there are other mobile applications that you enjoy using.
The Deserving Truth 
Great Post! Very informative article & thank you for sharing information about Mobile Marketing. It helps me a lot to enhance my knowledge! I agree the mobile marketing field is now trending because it is highly measurable in terms of inquiries and calls to actions. The usage of the internet has been increased in the smartphone, it is become necessary to think about mobile marketing. Do you agree with mobile marketing is taking over most of the tradition marketing such as billboards, newspaper, magazine?
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Hi Bella, I’m happy to know that you liked the post! Well, to answer your question, I don’t necessarily think that mobile marketing has taken over traditional marketing. But rather, both work hand in hand. Of course, with the growth of technology and the Internet, mobile marketing is an excellent option for business to reach out to their audience. But, traditional marketing still holds its value in allowing businesses to have greater control over their targeting and there’s the familiarity of the media tools used (newspaper, television etc). What about you, what do you think?
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Hi Deborah ! Interesting post ! I am a Starbucks fan, and I enjoy using many mobile applications. However, how secure is the payment like? There are instances that such apps overcharged or even charged their credit card without any purchase being made. What are your thoughts on this? What should big companies like Starbucks do to prevent such an issue? 🙂
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Hi Xin Yi, that’s a very good question! Well, on Starbucks’ website, it states that the company has safeguards in place to monitor for fraudulent activity and that it works closely with financial institutions to ensure that their customers are protected. My guess is that they have encryption tools to ensure that customer data is well-protected. In most transactions, users are usually given a prompt to check that the amount entered is correct before actually making payment. So, I think that while businesses should have systems in place to prevent unauthorised transactions, users also need to be proactive and alert on their end.
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Hi Deborah!
An interesting read about mobile marketing! I believe in the next few years, mobile marketing might become the next big thing. Just by thinking all the things you can do with your mobile phones, such as reading and replying emails, reading news articles etc. Come to think of it, mobile phones are becoming a necessity in our lives isn’t it? And, not forgetting about internet usage.
Therefore, we as marketers must change and adapt our marketing campaigns to more mobile friendly. Aren’t you shocked to see a whole row of people sitting on the MRT and all of them are just looking at their phones and not paying attention to their surroundings? Just by this, I can already tell traditional marketing is on the verge of dying.
I love the fact that you explained the 4 I’s of mobile marketing and now I have a better understanding about it.
One question. What are your views on traditional marketing compared to digital marketing?
Looking forward to your reply, and looking forward to more of your posts! Cheers! 😊
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That’s an interesting point of view JQ, about traditional marketing on the verge of dying. I think I can relate to that, being that traditional marketing losing its foothold. With the proliferation of the internet and technology in general, mobile marketing is certainly taking over, but I think traditional marketing still holds its value in allowing businesses to have greater control over their targeting and there’s always the familiarity of the tools used (television, radio etc). So, while it makes up for a smaller percentage now, I don’t think that it will ever die.
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Hi Deborah! Once again, a very informative post and great use of an example in relation to the topic. It was only through this article that I have discovered the collaboration between Starbucks and Spotify. It really is interesting on how they create the “pull” via mobiles and applications. It really goes to show how reliant we are on it and that its hard to ever miss a trendy thing.
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Hey Mindy, it’s nice to hear from you again, I hope you’re well! Yes, the Spotify and Starbucks collaboration was definitely a huge success. I personally use the crap out of Spotify (haha) and having Starbucks’ playlists helps me to recreate and relive the atmosphere and mood. This way, I can also create a deeper and more meaningful bond with the brand.
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