Download Mobile Shelf Space

The Battle
Mobile Shelf Space
Winning the Battle for Mobile Shelf Space
Has your brand won the mobile audience yet?
For many brands, the rush to join the mobile revolution resulted in
disjointed mobile marketing tactics that don’t answer the question
of how to truly build a lasting mobile audience—an audience that
voluntarily and frequently shares their mobile time with you. The
answer to that question is in mobile shelf space.
Mobile marketing has a lot in common with retail stores’ shelves
and racks. Whether or not you’re in the retail business, think back
to the last retail store you visited. Consider how those products
got in the store, which products you noticed at eye level, and how
you maneuvered your way around the aisles.
“The shelf may well be the most precious real
estate in the consumer-retail value chain …
Regardless of how much effort went into
promotion or product design, the shelf is the
point where the consumer meets the retailer,
the brand, and the product.”
As marketers, we aim to steer consumers toward products and
drive interactions—that goes for retailers and non-retailers alike.
Now, connect this idea of a retail store’s highly coveted point-ofpurchase shelves with a mobile device.
In a store, the shelf is the touchpoint where the consumer meets
the brand. In the digital marketing space, the mobile device
becomes that point of interaction.
Marketers must define a clear mobile shelf space strategy to
contend with this new path to purchase. It’s no longer enough just to
have an app, an email marketing program, and a Facebook profile.
In The Battle for Mobile Shelf Space, we’ll provide advice to develop
(and keep) your primary presence on customers’ mobile phones.
To build a long-term mobile audience, reflect on the “shelves”
within modern mobile devices—and start fighting the battle for
mobile shelf space in the present to keep your shelf space in
the future.
– Booz & Company, booz.com/media/file/The_Missing_Metric.pdf
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The Battle for Mobile Shelf Space
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What is the Battle?
Today’s hyperconnected audience has information about your
brand and product offerings at their fingertips. In fact, consumers
are so increasingly connected that some argue we never actually
go shopping—we always are shopping.
Your goals for mobile marketing may be app downloads, QR code
scans, or coupon redemptions. But whatever your short-term aim,
your brand must be easily found and accessible through mobile,
or your opportunity at landing mobile shelf space with a consumer
will be lost.
At its core, the battle for mobile shelf space is a fight for:
• Presence. Your brand must have a visible presence on mobile
devices so people can quickly find you and ultimately opt in
to become a member of your mobile audience. Responsive
websites, SEO, mobile ads, mobile apps, and mobile messages
(like SMS and push) are just a few ways that your brand must
have a mobile presence.
• Access. With so much clutter and communication on a mobile
device, your placement on consumers’ mobile shelves is
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imperative. Does your mobile content go straight to junk mail?
Are people continuing to engage with your SMS program, or do
they unsubscribe? Is your app on your audience’s home screen
or several scrolls away? Your content must be easily accessible
and primary on a mobile device to compete.
• Attention. After you secure a primary spot on a consumer’s
mobile device, it’s time to fight for that consumer. Get
their attention and prove your value before they choose to
unsubscribe, demote you from the home screen, send a STOP
message, delete your app, or simply ignore you. Your shelf space
is taken away when you don’t utilize it well, so begin to provide
something helpful and useful to gain the attention of consumers
scrolling through their phones for something noteworthy.
• Action. Is your call to action (CTA) aligned with the channel
you’re using and the past responsiveness of the consumer?
Your CTA should depend on channel, message type, and
context. Decide how your mobile messages factor in with other
important notifications/alerts. To maximize shelf space, brands
must contact people as they want to be contacted.
The Battle for Mobile Shelf Space
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How Your Brand Can Fight to Win
Protect your mobile shelf space in the battle for presence, access,
attention, and action. Data is your biggest asset in this battle
because data illuminates the unknowns about how your unique
customers are most likely to share their mobile shelf space with you.
Assembling all of your data can feel overwhelming, but it’s the best
place to start the conversation about how your brand can better
occupy consumers’ mobile shelves. To align your efforts with data,
begin by taking a look at what you know about your customer
base. Begin by optimizing your conversion points—in other words,
the different places that customers buy from you.
already spending time (their mobile phones) to prep them for your
experience.
Have you tried to cultivate a superior brand experience for in-store
visitors on Yelp and Foursquare? Location-based marketing is a must
for lasting mobile shelf space, so don’t neglect these places where
mobile conversations are already happening about your brand.
of ALL
opens currently occur
Pull a list of your customer database. For many brands, this
on mobile DEVICES
is an email list, but you can use whatever database of record your
company employs. Look at where people buy from you, and then
optimize those conversion points for better mobile interactions.
Web customers. For those who routinely buy products or
services from your website, how many have also opted in to
receive emails? If, for example, 30% haven’t, remember that an
excellent way to get people back to your website is through an
email address. Perhaps your website merits a better email opt-in
form (such as a simple lightbox) or you should initiate a websitebased promotion to get more email opt-ins.
All emails should be designed with mobile devices in mind so
subscribers don’t leave your emails unopened or unclicked when
accessing them on smartphones.
In-store customers. If your brand has brick-and-mortar locations,
your in-store staff and signage should co-promote your mobile
efforts. Your in-store customers need to know about your sales
before they even walk in the door so your store is a priority over
your nearby competitor’s, so connect with them where they’re
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The Battle for Mobile Shelf Space
EMAIL
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App customers. You may have more data about your app
customers than any other segment, as they may be your most
device-tethered audience group. What percentage of your app
customers have also opted in to push? Similarly, how many app
customers have opted in to receive your brand emails but not
mobile messages?
Brand fans who follow you on multiple channels are your bestengaged customers. The more engaged, the higher their purchase
propensity—so begin touting your push notification and SMS
programs among your app customers to connect with them on
the device where they already enjoy interacting with your brand.
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litmus.com/blog/mobile-opens-hit-44-and-outlook-com-takes-a-dive
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Start the Mobile Lifecycle
As every channel becomes increasingly mobile, every mobile
interaction becomes an opportunity to increase your brand’s
status as a staple on customers’ mobile shelves.
Within each of these four stages, your brand can land a spot
among your audience’s favorite apps, streaming content, and
contacts—if you provide long-term value instead of a short-term
sales pitch.
From the initial steps of welcoming new mobile subscribers into
a new conversation with your brand, through the end goal of
improving customer service and loyalty through mobile channels,
these four stages will lead the way to a powerful mobile presence—
and increased mobile shelf space as your reward from customers.
For more on communications that fit within the four stages of a
smart mobile strategy, download The Mobile Idea File.
As more consumers migrate their online activities to mobile
devices, the challenge for brands is not just to “go mobile,” but
to own more mobile shelf space than their competitors. While the
knee-jerk reaction is simply to create a mobile app and begin
sending marketing text messages, a solid mobile strategy
goes much further.
Successful mobile marketers are moving past SMS and in-app
messaging basics to explore the interactions they’re having
with their customers across multiple channels and through a
variety of message types, founding all conversations on data.
This approach is the ultimate way to win the battle of mobile
shelf space.
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Acquire new mobile subscribers.
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Onboard your new subscribers.
4 Retain your customers with your
mobile strategy.
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Engage them to increase conversions.
The Battle for Mobile Shelf Space
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There’s marketing. And then there’s Inspired Marketing.
With billions of hyper-connected customers on the planet, there’s never been a
better time to be a digital marketer. You have an incredible opportunity to use
data and technology to drive relevant messages, connect, and inspire.
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