What part should mobile play in your customer proposition?

I am often contacted by people who want to understand what part mobile should play in their business. Obviously the answer to this question is quite complex and requires detailed analysis but in the spirit of blogging I have tried to simplify it.

Below I have outlined a simple test designed to frame your thinking on this question. It should help you decide whether or not you should be investigating the Mobile opportunity further.

Before I go any further I must preface the below by saying that I am basing this on the understanding that in all investment decisions there are tradeoffs and so when I ask whether or not to invest in Mobile I am doing so under the presumption that by investing in Mobile you will sacrifice not just money but effort in focusing on something else.

So let’s get cracking…

THE TEST

The first thing you need to do is break down your customer proposition into its constituent service features e.g. if you are a social network you may break it down into:

1.            photo sharing

2.            commenting

3.            status updates

4.            etc

Have you done this? Excellent! You are now ready:

Question: if one of your customers is given a Desktop computer with a fixed internet connection and a Mobile phone, all things being equal which device are they more likely to use to complete any given service feature?

Scenario 1: if the answer is always or mostly mobile then mobile should be your primary battleground

I would be amazed if any of you land in this category because it would only be a complete idiot who would answer this and who would not already be servicing their customers on mobile. Also there are very few instances where mobile is fundamentally a better platform than a Desktop.

Scenario 2: some Mobile and some Desktop… then you should invest in mobilising the parts of your proposition which are best on Mobile and ensure a seamless experience across both platforms

There are some good examples of services realising that one part of their proposition can actually be delivered better by mobile than Desktop. The advancement in NFC technologies is spurning growth in this area.

Ticketmaster recently had a successful trial with O2 to do mobile ticketing which removed the need for customers to print out paper tickets. People will still search for and buy the majority of their tickets on the web but part of the Ticketmaster proposition (ticketing) was more suited to mobile and they correctly mobilised it.

Scenario 3: almost always Desktop…then you must ask yourself whether the user would get real benefit from having access to your service whilst they are away from their Desktop

The answer to this sub question is a matter of degree and you will need to make a return on investment decision but there are 2 general scenarios:

Scenario 3a: If you feel users will get real benefit from accessing your service on the go then invest in mobile and again ensure a seamless experience across platforms

Mapping and local information services are a great example of services where people would ideally use a computer, as it is faster and offers a richer experience, however often customers will want to use their service when they are not at home or at the office. See: www.rummble.com and www.streetmap.co.uk

Social Networks are also a great example of this scenario in action. Almost all social networking features are easier to do on a desktop but because people feel a need to be constantly connected there is a clear market for offering social networking functionality on the move. Sites such as Facebook have duly recognised this and are investing heavily in Mobile.

This does lead to an interesting question as to whether there is a market for mobile centric social networks. In my opinion if someone simply offers a Facebook alternative but on Mobile they will fail but if they manage to leverage the unique location based features of Mobile then there may be an opportunity. I do not believe there is a future for sites such as www.peperonity.com which offer an alternative to Facebook but on the Mobile platform.

Scenario 3b: if users will not get a real benefit from having access to your services on the go then you should not be focussing or investing in mobile

The services that fall into this category are generally services which users do not have any time pressure to use eg you may want to use ebay on the go because the auctions have time limits but you are unlikely to hunt for houses on mobile because there is no time pressure and the experience is better on the fixed web.

Conclusion:

Hopefully going through this thought process has helped you structure your thoughts around what place mobile should play in your proposition. Feel free to drop me an email if you want to discuss the topic in more detail.