After working with Co-operative Energy last year to launch a new website, we are really excited to continue to help and support the energy provider further via a new channel. Co-operative Energy were looking for a way to increase sign-ups from their customer service agents out in the field. They needed a mobile experience that would provide a fast response over the mobile data network.

We worked with them to develop a fast iPad optimised version of the ‘compare and sign-up’ part of their website that could be used to sign people up there and then in the store.
It uses the jQuery mobile framework to enhance the mobile experience for the customer service agents, using a dedicated iPad site which is a trend that we believe will become increasingly popular over the coming year, where a fast and focused solution is required. The result is better in store conversion and faster signups of a highly targeted audience – exactly what Co-operative Energy is looking for. The new initiative was launched nationwide in January.

Rob Smith, Digital Director at Blueleaf shares his knowledge on mobile optimised websites.

The mobile landscape is rapidly changing and maturing into a space where there’s a lot of potential revenue available for a mobile focused site that concentrates on simplicity and getting things done for the customer.

Simplicity

Keeping things simple is one of the keys to a good mobile experience. Not forcing people to zoom or to scroll horizontally makes mobile experiences much more slick, versus normal sites where you do a lot of zooming in and out on devices.

John Lewis do this well, with a very simple front screen to allow easy access to their products. In our opinion they could do a better job of reprioritising their store locator (see below) but the site is very simple and effective. They may be able to do more by using a simpler first level category structure as well.

You can see that search is front and centre so that people can just be directed straight to their need.

Reprioritisation of content

When looking at a site on a mobile, there’s a much higher chance that someone is in the context of being on the move as opposed to just sitting at home (although this is not always true of course). As a result, your content and customer journeys should be adjusted so that the right content is further up.

A good example of this is Argos’s mobile site, where they have put the store locator very high in terms of prominence as well as a stock checker. When on the move it’s much more likely that you’ll be using one of these functions, so wisely they do not make you dig for the information, putting it front and centre.

Super streamlined for speed

Mobile sites are often accessed at best on 3G connections and sometimes even less when you get out of cities or to smaller towns. As a result only the most important imagery and style need to be brought forwards on a mobile site to keep overall site speed and download size as fast and small as possible.

We can see a good example of this on the ASOS site where there is very little in the way of images on the screen other than some small images for navigation, a sale banner and the logo. This keeps speed very quick on mobile devices, even if the connection isn’t very good.

Lots of vertical scrolling is OK

As you can see on the left, an ASOS product listing page defaults to 12 to a screen and so has a lot of vertical scrolling involved to get to the products. This is OK on a mobile site – people expect to use their touch screens (generally) to scroll quickly through content and see things that catch their eye.

Again it should be noted that the page is very very simple with a focus on the product imagery above all else, and not the product information. In this case even the ‘refine by’ functionality is later on in the page to not clutter access to the products.

So, in summary, keep it simple, make sure the salient information is prioritised and don’t be afraid to streamline the design. If you need any help with optimisimg your website for mobile devices, then contact Rob Smith at Blueleaf, rob@blue-leaf.co.uk or Adrian Lomas at Blueleaf, adrian@blue-leaf.co.uk on 01829 260 600.

This weeks tip is short but sweet.

As technology is moving on a pace and internet access via various devices is now the norm, it is more important then ever to get back to basics when considering a digital marketing campaign. Look at who you are targeting and the way they might be looking at your campaign. For example teenagers are more likely to access the web via smartphones so using QR codes can help drive traffic to your website. The over 60s however, probably won’t use smartphones so using a QR or AR code to target our silver surfers may not achieve the results you are looking for.

Think about what you are aiming to achieve as it is all too easy to get swept up in some shiny new technology that might not be a great return on investment.

I hope this helps.

If you need help with your digital marketing, then contact Adrian Lomas, adrian@blue-leaf.co.uk or Rob Smith, rob@blue-leaf.co.uk on 01829 260600.

We keep hearing about just how powerful mobiles are becoming in ecommerce, but can we get an idea of just how important they are?

Figures published in Retail Week reported that searches for retailers conducted on mobile phones rose a huge 181% in the first quarter of this year, whilst searches on Google grew by 29%.

British Retail Consortium Director General, Stephen Robertson commented, “Online is the fastest growing part of retailing. Despite any short-term effects from weakening consumer confidence, what stands out here is the fundamental strength of the growth of online retailing. The star performer is mobile. Customers are taking to smartphone and tablet shopping very rapidly. The rise of mobile use to one in ten searches sends a valuable message to any forward-thinking retailer that doesn’t yet have an m-commerce platform.”

We couldn’t have put it better ourselves. The figures speak for themselves, so our tip is that you must ensure your site is compatible with mobiles as an increasing proportion of your customers want to buy from you in this way. If you can’t serve them, they’ll go elsewhere.

It’s universally accepted these days that every business needs a website. Will it become universally accepted that every business needs a mobile website?

There are currently around 2 billion mobile devices in usage. The estimate is that this will grow to 10 billion by 2020, far outstripping desktop machines.

Google’s retail, technology and business markets director, Peter Fitzgerald recently told London’s Retail Week Conference that between 10% and 15% of all searches are now done on mobiles. He feels that a mobile-optimised website should be a business’s top priority, adding, “If you don’t do anything else, get a mobile site”. He also pointed out that the majority of purchases made through mobiles are distress purchases, meaning that retailers could possibly charge higher margins on items bought through this channel.

A mobile site shouldn’t replace your normal site. It should be on brand and contain only the essentials from your main site and be very fast to download and navigate. Remember, like all marketing on the web, if potential customers can’t find you or access your main site satisfactorily on their mobile, they’ll go to one of your competitors and who wants that?

This article explores how much the number of devices, screen sizes, resolutions and capabilities is going to explode this year, and how it’s actually started this year already. It also explores what it means for your website and how people are communicating with you.

Last year we saw the emergence of the first real tablet device to be adopted by consumers at a good rate. This year, we’ll see an explosion of tablet devices of all shapes and sizes. Smartphones will also continue to be adopted including iPhones, Android powered devices and also Nokia’s Ovi platform, not to mention BlackBerry phones. You can access the internet and content via your TV and from kiosks in shops. All of these systems are pointing to a long awaited and highly anticipated event: convergence. A move away from disparate systems doing different things in different ways, to lots of devices accessing the same content, code and application experience.

We’re seeing it in IT systems as well – a move away from disparate systems to a more service orientated architecture where all systems interconnect and things can be combined, reused and repurposed as needed.

With a convergence of devices and systems, we are approaching an age of even faster change and agility to enable companies to push different functionality and content to people depending on their context (e.g. mobile, laptop in the front room, machine at work). This utopian view of technology and convergence is, of course, not on the immediate horizon, we’re a few years off. What is important for the here and now is to start considering how your products or services can be used and enjoyed in a multitude of different contexts and devices.

For example, if your business is a restaurant – what do your customers want if they’re on their mobile phone, or at home or at work? How can we make it easier to book, to cancel, to see the menu, to get voucher codes, see the floor plan, pick their table, and so on. Lots to think about. If you’re a training company can you distribute the workbooks via tablet devices or provide reminders on their progress via their mobile? Even more to think about.

So, what’s the bottom line? Start planning for lots of devices and contexts right now.

The world went app crazy last year. You couldn’t move for an iPhone app being released from top brands to small developers. Angry Birds dominated success stories. Towards the end of the year though, and certainly the start of this year, there’s a distinct sea change occurring, as the hype dies down and the hysteria subsides.

The sea change is away from apps and towards mobile optimised websites. Classically, the argument for native applications was that they had slicker user interfaces, sometimes didn’t require a user interface, and could be better controlled. The problem is that you need to make one app per platform (to do it properly). Now roll back a year and you only really had two to worry about – Apple and BlackBerry, with Android coming up close behind.

Now though, we have to consider Apple (iPhone and iPad), Android, BlackBerry and Nokia’s Ovi at the very least. Apps therefore are getting more expensive to make in order to work across the board.

Furthermore, there’s evidence now that users, for certain tasks (especially shopping) prefer using their mobile browser and not having to get an app (check out the evidence here)

What’s even more encouraging is that some of the major players in UK ecommerce are using mobile sites and not being seduced by apps, like John Lewis and ASOS and doing a great job of it as well.

The bottom line here is simple – make sure that whatever mobile strategy you’re planning for your brand, think about why you are doing it, why the user is going to interact with you in a mobile context and therefore what route is right for you. Chances are a mobile optimised site is the way to go. Especially as with all the devices, tablets and screen sizes to come – you’re no longer in control in a way that’s never happened before.

Blueleaf Digital Director, Rob Smith was recently asked to comment by thewisemarketer.com on mobile marketing and the opportunities that exist within this channel.

In the article, Rob discusses this rapidly maturing media channel and considers how businesses can make the most of it from a marketing perspective.

You can read the article by clicking here.

This is one of the biggest points that I had a realisation on at the Future of Digital Marketing conference last week. Now I’m only 26, so I’m still very much in the loop technology-wise and being a bit of a techy helps too.

However, there’s an important thing that marketeers don’t just have to know, they need to understand, and it’s this – the current intake going into universities (i.e. tomorrow’s professionals) do not remember a time before the mobile phone and do not remember a time before the Internet. It is second nature to them. 5 year olds who cannot write sentences properly can use iPhones to browse pictures and listen to music. It’s ingrained, heavily, into culture.

There are many countries who have skipped the traditional Internet all together. Most of the Far East such as China, India and Japan do not use the Internet based model we know of desktop computers or laptops, they consume most of their Internet media via phones. A trend that thanks to the iPhone, G1 and Blackberry, is an increasingly common trait here too.

Which brings me to the point. What are you doing about mobile consumption for your market?