It is one of our founding philosophies that mobile phones aren’t PCs–”WAP” and “web” are not interchangeable–and thus mobile campaigns must begin with content custom-made for the medium. We’re not alone in thinking this. The smart folks at Avenue A/Razorfish say the same in a new report, summed up here by Mobile Marketer, which looks at the factors that determine success or failure in mobile. Here are their suggestions for brands:
First, understand that WAP/WML is different than the Web, and with good reason. By understanding how and why WAP is what it is, and using that to their full advantage, brands and publishers can avoid the common pitfall of trying to make the mobile experience replicate what’s happening online.
Second, understanding that the mindset and need state of the mobile consumer is fundamentally different than that of a PC-based Web surfer will allow brands and publishers to begin to focus on only that which is relevant to the mobile consumer, he said. In essence, providing fast, easy-to-use tools to accomplish things on the run, or providing bite-sized, disposable content experiences.
Those crafting the WAP experience need to keep similar factors in mind, namely:
One, the mobile content and functionality the consumer is engaged with is not the primary focus of his or her attention at that moment. … “You could have the most compelling content or function possible, but the consumer will still, eventually, get on with the ‘other thing’ they were planning to be engaged in.”
Two, no matter what the consumer is doing with mobile, his or her attention span will have a defined limit. … “Rather, designing content that is bite-sized and intentionally disposable is the road towards higher consumption and higher perceived value for that content.”
The important point here for both brands and service/technology providers is that mobile is a completely different medium. It has different functionality, a different interface, and serves a different role in consumer’s lives (they are accessing information on a small screen with a small keypad while talking, walking, waiting, etc.) So who do they think is getting it right?
- Major League Baseball: Their wap.mlb.com is a stripped down (read: fast) site with a standard navigation and easy-to-read links. “Easily keeping track of other MLB games is exactly the kind of activity a user who is at the ballpark would love to engage in on a Sunday afternoon.”
*Sports content is perfectly suited for mobile, so it’s good to see the league has their game on.
- Facebook: The mobile version at m.facebook.com is scaled back and uncomplicated. You can’t do everything you can online, but you can see the basics–profiles, photos, etc.
*The expectations for mobile social networking are growing like Mark Zuckerberg’s bank account. The key will be finding out exactly what users want from an SNS on-the-go.
- Yelp.com: mobile.yelp.com retains the core functionality of its website, letting mobile users search locally by keyword and view data in different ways. But a trimmed-down interface and simple page design make surfing super fast.
*Local search, mapping, and navigation are integral to the value added by mobile devices. A service that can get this right on the handset–and integrate social and editorial components–will have created a killer app.
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