Mobiles apps are important drivers of brand experience

MarketingProfs recently blogged about an interesting piece of research by Harris Interactive.

It reveals that mobile is a key part of the brand experience for many (76% of mobile app users say brands should have mobile apps to make shopping or interacting with them easier).

Is this a surprise?

No, not really. However, what is a surprise is that 38% of users say they are not satisfied with most of the apps current available from their favourite brands.

Marketers need to get their act together because mobile is becoming increasingly important and influential.

According to a survey by EffectiveUI 69% of their sample agreed that if a brand’s mobile app isn’t easy to use it contributes to negative perception of the brand.

This is not good.

Let’s look at the facts:

• Mobile phone subscriptions will reach five billion this year -- almost one per person on the planet, (source: UN)
• People love their mobile phones. A Daily Mail poll last year found that of 4,000 women, 4 in 10 said they would be 'devastated' if they lost their phones.
• Mobile ad spending is up 80% in 2010 (source: eMarketer)
• Retailers see huge potential to sale stuff via the handsets. A survey by Deloitte at the end of last year found that 1 in 5 shoppers said they intended to use their phones to shop over the holiday season.
• Nielsen predict that smart phones will overtake standard phones sales in U.S. by 2011

So, if you are in the business of building brand experiences that deliver and delight consumers with the aim of driving sales and advocacy, make sure your mobile strategy works.

Getting it wrong could be costly - research shows when things go bad with apps, people spread the word (32% of app users say they have told others about a bad experience with a mobile app).

On the other hand, get it right and you could win. The research shows that 66% of app users have downloaded an app based on a review or recommendation, and 57% have recommended an app because of a positive experience.

One last thought

One-third of US wireless subscribers downloaded a mobile app in the third quarter of 2010, up 2.5 percentage points from 30.6% in the prior three months.

Enough said...

Marketing cycle to advocacy

In the old days marketers used linear funnels to help them plan marketing that aimed to move consumers through the funnel from awareness through various other stages to purchase.

The AIDA model - Attention, Interest, Desire and Action - being one of the most well known.

The power of consumers and the growth of the internet has forced marketers to change their thinking.

Mckinsey's last year started talking about the 'consumer decision journey' and Forrester Research have recently stated talking about the 'customer life cycle'.

Now it's my turn.

Above is my new 'cycle to advocacy'.

It is simply the path to advocacy framework I have been using for the past 2 years, but drawn in a cycle.

The stages are the same and its purpose the same....to provide a framework that enables marketers to work out:

• What brand experiences they want to deliver their consumers at each stage
• How to get the whole brand organisation (marketing, sales service, etc) to focus on collaborating to delight consumers in a way that gets them to buy again and become brand advocates.

If you are keen improve how your organisation builds brand experiences that will drive sales, loyalty and advocacy I recommend you check-out all three approaches.

Wheat Thins reward a fan and create a great story

This is a great story.

A Wheat Thins fan posts a comments on Twitter saying: "AAAHHHH I'm outta Wheat thins...mi life is officially over"

Next thing she knows is that the brand delivers a crate full of Wheat Thins to her home.

This is smart brand behaviour on so many levels:

• This is a brand that knows how to deliver a brand experience that will delight it's consumers.
• This is a brand that has good social listening capabilities.
• This is a brand that knows how to create and spread a story - via social media - that will get talked about.
• This is a brand that understands the power of advocacy; and that when you delight consumers and create a positive story - it will spread (as evidenced by 500,000+ views on YouTube to date).

That's a good way to build a winning brand.

Nice one.

Does Mcdonalds deliver what they promise?

Regular readers know I talk a lot about the Promise ~ Deliver ~ Delight frame work; and how it is vital that a brand delivers the promise they make in their communications.

The picture above (posted by three guys heading west) is a typical example of how brands often don’t deliver what they promise.

McDonalds glossy picture of the Big Mac that bears no relationship with reality of what they serve (deliver).

Is that a problem?

In the case of McDonalds and the food category in general it is probably not. That is because consumers have got used to the fact food pictures on glossary ads, menus, recipe cards, etc don’t actually reflect reality. Most people know a little about cooking and what cooked food really looks like.

However, it is a major problem for most other categories.

If a brand makes a promise they must deliver it, otherwise, quite simply, the consumer will not buy again.

The really smart brands take it one step further. They aim to ‘delight’ their consumers - because they know when they do consumers are likely to buy again and maybe even tell their friends about it.

Think about the brand experiences you are currently delivering after purchase and how your organisation can start to deliver brand experiences that will delight.

That’s how you will build a winning brand.