Mobile devices are increasingly present in consumers' daily lives and are becoming ever more ubiquitous. The smartphone goes everywhere with consumers — they always carry it in their pockets, giving them a permanent window to the world, a constant connection to the internet with which they can track everything they do and search for everything they need. The smartphone has therefore changed buyers' habits and forced brands to compete with new elements that are growing more complex and more influential by the day. Now consumers can not only talk with their friends (and they do) while shopping via messaging apps, but they can also compare prices, visit the competition's website, read product reviews, or directly buy the very product they are looking at in the store's online shop. And on top of that, mobile devices have added new consumer behaviours. On the street, people try to locate their destination via their phone and use maps as a regular guide.
When there is a problem, the phone is the loyal ally used either to search for alternatives or to complain and protest — whatever the moment calls for.
In short, the mobile has completely transformed consumer habits and forced brands to face a new reality — one in which consumers wield new tools and come from entirely different positions. This requires companies to pay close attention to these new habits and carefully analyse what they are doing in these environments. One of these new hotspots, one of those scenarios that brands must manage with great care, is the mobile search environment.
As analysts at Forrester note, "mobile search is essential". More and more consumers are using search tools on their mobile devices and doing an ever wider range of things with them. It is not just about looking up a fact in the middle of a debate to prove a point — consumers now use their mobile search engines for virtually everything and as a gateway to practically anything. According to Forrester data, in the United States mobile searches are one of the main entry points for sites of popular retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Kmart.
Stop thinking the same way as on desktop
But despite mobile search being so relevant and decisive, brands are not doing their homework as well as they should. Companies make two fundamental errors when establishing their approach to mobile search. On the one hand, many companies have no mobile search strategy at all. On the other, companies are making a critical mistake that could cost them dearly. They are analysing mobile searches and acting on them as if they were desktop searches. And, as Forrester reminds us, they are not. Consumers not only search for different things in each context, they also behave differently. In other words, we do not search for the same things or in the same way on desktop as on mobile devices.
What sets mobile apart
There are several reasons why mobile searches differ from desktop searches, as the analysis points out. The first, and most obvious, is location. When searching from a desktop you are in a completely different environment from when searching from a mobile, making location essential.
On desktop we are planning. On mobile we want it now, which means proximity searches are more relevant than ever. We are not looking for hotels — we are looking for hotels near us. And that changes things considerably. In the same vein, one of the most important elements of mobile search is immediacy. Users need things now and want those things right away. Consumers are increasingly using their phone as their last-minute tool. The mobile is the device turned to when something is needed immediately.
In fact, another key aspect of mobile search is that immediacy can trump many elements that are fundamental in other contexts. The need for instant results overrides brand loyalty, which is far less relevant in mobile searches if the competition can deliver something more quickly. Added to all this is the content consumers need to find. Consumers want to find increasingly comprehensive information, so brands cannot offer simple, content-poor pages for their mobile services. Even though the more complex, thorough searches are still carried out on desktop, mobile should not mean something merely superficial either. Given that very complex things are already done on mobile devices — such as booking flights or hotel rooms — you cannot oversimplify what you offer in mobile.
The three pillars for building mobile search
This means mobile search must meet an ever-growing range of criteria in increasingly complex scenarios, so brands must be very careful about what they offer and how they offer it. In the Forrester analysis, three core points are identified as the foundation of any mobile strategy.
First, online presence must be optimised with the possible intentions of mobile users in mind. In other words, it is no longer enough to simply broadcast information — you also need to work with keywords and signals that help position the brand for things like proximity searches.
Second, you need to be immediate and make life easy for the consumer who needs something right away. It is not only about being first in the list of results, but also about making the next possible steps as easy and immediate as finding the page itself. And finally, do not take anything for granted and do not let the power of your own brand lull your mobile search strategy to sleep. In that environment, brand loyalty is weaker than in others. If your competition is faster and more efficient, consumers will go to them.
