The average human being checks their cell phone over ninety times a day. Yes, that’s not a typo—people do legitimately check their phones that often and yes, the majority of the time, without even realizing. This habitual nature of cell phone usage has transformed how companies need to consider reaching their customers. What may have worked on a computer no longer works the same on a cell phone and companies not yet tapping into this reality are losing out on prospective customers each and every day.
Mobile advertising is not just a smaller version of the online ad campaign you would create for someone using a computer. It is an entirely different entity, based on how and when people use their cell phones.
Why It’s All About Phones
The change to mobile shifted faster than most realize. Just ten years ago, computers were still how the majority of people accessed the internet. Now, the opposite is true—most use their phones as their primary access to the internet and only rely on a computer for specific research or in-office purposes.
People access computers differently than they access their phones. A person may sit on a computer for an hour, concentrating on finding what they need. A person may pick up a phone a hundred times a day while standing in line, riding on the bus, taking a bathroom break, or lying in bed before going to sleep. These fleeting moments create hundreds of micro-opportunities for businesses to contact customers. However, to do so, the ad must fit into this template, or else risk being scrolled.
Attention spans have also drastically changed; where one might accommodate larger ads/information on a computer, on a phone it all happens at warp speed. People scroll quickly; they assess whether they want to tap or not within seconds and if something fails to immediately catch their eye, they’re gone with zero hesitation.
What Changes The Game for Mobile Advertising
It’s crucial to understand the technical implications here. Phone screens are smaller. But it relates to every aspect of how an ad works. If someone has an ad that looks visually appealing on a computer screen but is unreadable when transferred to a cell phone screen, it doesn’t matter how good the idea is. Or the type of button one can effortlessly click on a computer mouse is far more annoying when someone has to reposition their finger on a screen in hopes that it works.
Different ad formats work better on mobile. Traditional banner ads often get ignored on phones because they’re too easy to scroll past. Formats designed specifically for mobile tend to perform better. Options such as a push ads android messaging app or similar notification-style formats catch attention because they appear in ways users are already accustomed to checking—the same space where text messages and app updates show up.
The nature of mobile use lends itself to attributes that would otherwise fail through non-mobile avenues. Someone using their phone is in motion; or using their computer is sitting at a desk. And using their phone is making decisions; using their computer is being in evaluation mode more often than not. They want to know where they’re going to grab food nearby. They want to know if it’s cheaper than what they’re seeing in the store down the street. Orwant immediate problem solving.
Why People Actually Respond to Mobile Advertising
People respond to mobile advertising for different reasons than they respond to physical advertising/computer advertising. People will take the time to evaluate their options on a computer. On a mobile device, the decision will be made much faster. With clear value propositions or immediate solutions to needs addressed through mobile advertising, they get tapped.
Timing is more critical for mobile advertising than physical/computer advertising. At times, a well-timed ad will prompt someone to act in the next five minutes. At other times, an inopportune ad will never get acted upon and create frustration. Good mobile messaging happens at natural intervals where people are more inclined to access information about ads like these due to the swiping nature of how they use their phones (against a desktop need for prolonged evaluation).
The personal factor also plays a role in mobile advertising. A phone is more personal than a public computer; thus, people may not go public with their frustrations or happiness of ads. They’re accessing information while holding a screen that’s more personal than anything.
The Reality of Business Owners
Business owners who do not act upon mobile advertising are merely turning down the opportunity to attract all but a few of their desired clients. Numbers don’t lie when compared across industries, mobile traffic reigns supreme. Even research-oriented products with historical integration through computers now have consumers with multiple touchpoints now recorded from computers and mobiles.
Mobile advertising has become more accessible compared to before; new business owners don’t need millions of dollars nor expertise in technological backgrounds to get started. As most offer platforms with intuitive targeting options while testing and revising campaigns in real time without unnecessary sunk costs to teach owners what works best.
The businesses succeeding with mobile advertising are the ones that treat it as its own channel rather than just another place to show desktop ads. They create content designed for phone screens. They think about mobile user behavior when planning campaigns, and they measure success based on mobile-specific metrics. Mobile advertising matters because that’s where the customers are. And that’s where they’re making decisions. The nandbox App Builder gives companies a strong method to develop branded mobile apps that improve consumer engagement and marketing performance—without knowing any code—in the context of Why Mobile Advertising Matters More Than Ever.
