Mobile Moments: Are You Ready?

First it was the “web.” Then it was “social.” Now it’s “mobile.” The pace of technological change is daunting. If you were late to the party for the first two, you better not be late for mobile.

Mobile has fundamentally transformed every element of consumer behavior. And it’s transformed how businesses engage with shoppers and buyers. From my perspective, the mobile transformation is good for insurance agencies. That’s because mobile is the one platform that can put your business directly and immediately in the hands of your customers and prospects before, during and after events happen. Call them mobile moments. Is your agency prepared for mobile moments?

Mobile: What and why? Generally speaking, when people refer to “mobile” these days, they are referring to smartphones and tablets. A smartphone is a term for distinguishing mobile phones with advanced features from basic feature phones. Today, some 240 million mobile phones are used in the U.S. Up to threequarters of mobile phone users are using smartphones. And these are your customers and prospects. The number one activity of Americans is actually unlocking their mobile devices.

There’s a phrase that’s been coined by Flurry Analytics, a firm that analyzes how people use “apps”—the programs that drive smartphone operations. They say, “It’s an app world. The web just lives in it.” They can say that because data show that, on average, the U.S. consumer spends more than 2.5 hours a day on smartphones and tablets—80% of which is spent inside apps and the rest on the mobile web. According to Flurry, overall app use in 2013 posted a 115% year-over-year growth. This growth was led by a 203% increase in the use of messaging and social apps, followed by a 149% jump for utility and productivity apps.

Let’s cut to the chase: People are using their smartphones to get things done. While very few business verticals deserve real estate on a smartphone, I’d say insurance is one of them. Although clients may not engage with insurance agencies often, when they do, it’s usually because some event—or mobile moment—has occurred and they need you right away. With a mobile app, you can be there for them in a meaningful way with just one tap of the screen.

You may have seen the new commercial from Geico with the cute piglet at the DMV. It focuses on convenience for the consumer, you can store your ID card, make a payment and even start the claims reporting process. One thing the commercial doesn’t talk about is the reduction on service tasks for their staff. Less phone calls to their team drives profitability for the company.

Mobile Strategy for Agents

There are three steps you can take to engage your clients on the mobile platform. A good first step is to optimize your website for viewing on a mobile device. Sometimes this is also called a “web app.” The boundaries “website” and “web app” become somewhat blurry when the developer implements some functionality into the web page.

There are a few reasons to optimize your site for viewing on a mobile device. The number of searches done on a mobile device continue to grow. If a prospect looking to connect with you becomes frustrated by your website on their mobile device, the chances of conversion diminish substantially. The second step you should take is to build a “responsive” site, to achieve a measure of consistency across devices. Doing so creates a similar experience for users across platforms. While responsive web design does bring consistency and improve user experience, there is a downside. It can lead to slower load times and potentially drive too much information for effective mobile use. It’s important to understand that websites—responsive or otherwise— are not apps. It’s for this reason that users access an app versus a website for banking or airlines. You can contact your website developer and inquire about optimizing your website for mobile devices.

This leads to the third step in the strategy: get your agency a really good mobile marketing app. It’s important to do your homework before deciding which one is right for you. It’s important to understand the difference between mobile apps and mobile websites.

Websites – responsive or not – have limited functionality vs. mobile apps. A responsive website responds to the device on which it’s displayed. For example, when your site is viewed on a smartphone, you might see a simplified version that contains fewer columns and a somewhat easier navigation.

True mobile apps, on the other hand, are downloaded onto a mobile device, usually from Apple’s iTunes App Store or Google’s Play store. They actually incorporate features that are native to the device, that serve a specific purpose, and that provide features and benefits available only via your mobile application.

In short, a mobile app is a proactive option to provide your customers and prospects certain benefits and services not available on your website. A good mobile app provides service to your customers 24 hours a day, so your agency can be available when your customer needs it. By your service team encouraging customers to download the app, over time you can see a substantial decrease in service activities. This alone allows your team to get even more proactive on renewals, account rounding and contacting lost business.

As you start your exploration, be wary of marketing or design firms that say they don’t build apps but rather mobile websites. There’s probably a reason for that: they may not have the skill set to build native mobile apps. There are many digital marketing firms that tell insurance agencies that all they need to do to engage clients and prospects on a mobile platform is optimize their website for viewing on a mobile device. That’s just plain wrong. And if it’s the advice you’re receiving, look elsewhere.

In my next column, we’ll dig deeper into mobile apps and look at questions to ask when building a mobile app as well as features you’ll want to incorporate. In the meantime, work on the first two steps—optimizing your website and making it responsive— and start thinking about the third.