Mobile Websites: What is the Value to the Manufacturing Sector?
Time to Read: 4m 30s
Mobile Websites and Applications: Value to Manufacturing Sector
“I’m a manufacturer, what do I need ‘Responsive’ web design or ‘Native App’ digital architecture for? It isn’t critical to my clientele’s needs. Our sales cycle is much slower and custom product driven, mobile platforms are for retail and service industries that require fast turn and incentive based impulse buying.” If the above quote sounds familiar, it's because it seems to be the prevailing attitude of the manufacturing sectors’ sales force and leadership structures … Until recently. Let’s take a look at some interesting facts released in several reports looking into the effectiveness of mobile web and applications in the manufacturing segments marketing mix. Would you believe …- 15% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices*
- 52% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company (thinkwithgoogle.com)**
- 36% said they felt like they've wasted their time by visiting those sites**
- According to Deloitte’s “The Dawn of Mobile Influence” report, $159 billion in retail sales were influenced by mobile in 2012, a much higher number than what is recognized in advertising.
- 80% of manufacturing companies developed mobile apps in 2013***
- Google Report – "90% of online users utilize multiple screens sequentially to accomplish a task over time.” This means that an individual could start reading your content on their Android, continue on their tablet and finish on a laptop.
- Google Report – 67% of users are more likely to purchase a product or service from a mobile-friendly site. That means there is a large percentage of people who will leave your site if it’s not optimized for their consumption. In fact, companies with mobile-optimized sites actually triple their chances of increasing mobile conversion rate to 5% or above.
Some Action Items to Consider for Your Mobile Web or App Architecture:
- Progressive forms (usually a function of dynamic form fields) allow you to create different iterations of (short) forms to collect different information at different times over multiple visits. **
- Calls-to-Action should be digital billboards. Short 3 to 5 word and ‘clear’ in their direction. Have an action ‘above the fold’.
- Make sure your phone number is ‘clickable’. Click-to-call phone numbers will allow your viewer to take immediate action.
- Frontload content, viewers may not have the patience or time to read your entire article or blog on a smartphone simply because they are using the internet on their smartphone to kill time while waiting or ‘killing time’.
- Google states that it will rank sites optimized for mobile higher in mobile search results.
In-House Apps
The use of applications has been a reality in the manufacturing sector, especially in the Customer Service and Sales areas. ‘Going mobile’ with these enterprise solutions is also gaining steam as it enhances employees productivity levels and ability to ‘share’ systems and documents in real time, on-site or off-site when integrated properly. Currently, the most common application uses in the manufacturing sector are:- CRM – Customer Relationship Management, or the management of you companies customer relationships relative to prospecting, sales, customer service and information are at the top of the list of applications in use by manufacturing companies.
- ERP – Operations partners, warehouses, production facilities and field operations connect with enterprise resource planning to facilitate cross platform integration resulting in a more agile supply chain able to react to changing customer demands and dynamic market conditions. Frequently, your ERP vendor (or their partners) already have mobile applications available to you, requiring little or no customization to be of use to you and your staff to leverage day-to-day operational mobility.