Mobile #Thumbable - Original Thinking vs. Old Thinking

Time to unlearn some old thinking about mobile - mobile interactions!!  We are creating briefs so that you get in know - while on the go.

Feel free to share!!

Hotels #Mobile Marketing = Customer Engagement

A mobile mindset is essential to 'reach and resonate' with today's consumers. In this recent blog post, +MDG Advertising details data behind engagement of the on-the-go customer.

Engagement, digital or otherwise, is key to guests' hospitality experience.

Read full article here.

As hotel guests increasingly use mobile for bookings and concierge services, hoteliers will need to grow talent equipped with mobile skills.

More importantly, providing mobile in-destination services means thinking beyond the stay.  As OTAs' strategies include owning the total travel experience, guest engagement via mobile is essential.

Mobile mindset + mobile skills + hotel services delivery app = 

direct hotel revenue.

Is your hotel team ready for mobile empowered guests?

We can help.

Why a mobile site is essential for a hotel?

Latest news! Internet sites that are not mobile-friendly will get a lower ranking in Google search. With mobile exploding, you have to pay attention to mobile traffic and your site performance on mobile phones. Mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common web access device worldwide by the end of 2014. About 40% of the people who have a mobile phone use it for going online, and half of them will go online at least once every day. This presents a huge opportunity for a hotel.

According to Oneglobe Network research, around 30 % of visitors access the site from a mobile (iPhone) or a Tablet (iPad). The research was based on data from Google Analytics for main clients' accounts, mostly 4* and 5* independents hotels. 

For example in case of Le General hotel in Paris, out of around 3500 visits a month, 730 visits come from mobile devices. If a hotel's site is not mobilized and / or online booking engine is not mobile-friendly, a hotel is losing potential online reservations.

It was recently estimated that mobile traffic will be as high as 36% of all Internet global traffic by 2016. And compared to this time last year, mobile traffic is up 131% in a single year. So how can we make the most out of mobile site? Here area the basic guidelines for mobile-optimized websites.  Based on usability testing of hundreds of sites, the main guidelines for mobile-optimized websites are clear. The basic ideas for mobile site are:

Cut features to eliminate things that are not core, Minimize text entry; Defer secondary information to secondary pages;

Design for touchscreen users: enlarge interface elements to accommodate the "fat finger" problem.

Single column layouts work best

Take advantage of inbuilt functionality and call to action, calls directly, maps, QR codes.





 According to MillWardBrown survey results, speed and display constitute the top criteria for what makes a good mobile website. The results are based on responses from more than 6,000 interviews across 18 different countries.

Nearly two-thirds (64 %) of survey respondents indicated site load time was the most important aspect of a mobile site. Clear display on the mobile device (53 %) and the site’s accessibility via mobile search (47%) were also cited as important factors.

Results show mobile’s advantages over regular desktop sites. In fact, 32 % of respondents desire mobile sites that are easier to use than desktop sites. Other factors that make a mobile site superior to desktop include offering different features (25%), visual appeal (24%), and location-based features (23%).

Just as mobile web users are different, most mobile-specific search engines (such as Google Mobile) are also built in different ways. Mobile SEO exists on a different plain to desktop SEO. Sure, keywords are critical - search engines will always operate on the stuff that's fed into them - but other, newer dimensions such as location, device types and content formats are more critical to and indicative of the mobile web experience, and search engines are beginning to figuring out how best to harness them. The table on the next slide illustrates some of these differences most mobile searches are GEO focused, that is why it is crucial to orient the SEO strategy around Location keywords.

Sources:
goo.gl/7G2oB
http://goo.gl/CA8wS

http://goo.gl/N51Uh
http://goo.gl/O5uhh

Buzzness Mobile Conference in Paris - Your doggy bag of info

The Buzzness Conference, which was held in Paris on June 18, 2013 concentrated on the world of mobile. Issues on the best mobile practises in marketing, technology, and sales were discussed. New problems and questions were also raised such as the confidentiality of company information and data when employees walk away with their smartphones.