What is one thing you have within five feet of you at all times? For most Americans it’s their cell phone. We’re addicted to our phones, which makes it a great place to run advertising and interact with our customers. Mobile advertising has come a long way, but many still struggle to know just how to harness this amazing opportunity. If you’re considering mobile advertising, you’ll want to pay attention to some best practices we’ve seen evolve:
Best Practices for Mobile Advertising:
Remember The Fat Thumbs
Remember that the user is viewing an ad on a small screen and it’s easy to click on the wrong text. Focus on clear calls to action with a button instead of clickable text. Always spell out to viewers that you want them to click on the button to take the next step. Don’t assume that people will do what you hope they will.
Build Your Creative Appropriately
If you are using mobile video creatives, make sure you’re using HTML5 VPAID, which allows you to run pre-roll/mid-roll/post-roll video regardless of device the user is viewing on. Also, remember that the screens are small and often loading off of cellular data plans. Intricate designs are beautiful but often simple designs are better because they can easily be understood on a small screen and they load faster than a more complex creative.
Focus on Geography
Our mobile devices allow us to target people based on their location with geofencing and serve up ads based on the consumer’s location at the time. Relevance second to none when you can serve up ads to a consumer on a device they use every few minutes and in a specific location. Brick and mortar stores and location-based businesses have huge opportunities when it comes to geofencing and mobile advertising.
Use Mobile Landing Pages
While your ads need to be mobile-friendly make sure that the entire consumer journey is mobile-friendly. Most consumers who interact with a mobile ad will go through the entire purchasing sequence on the mobile device. Make sure all of your landing pages and web pages for checkouts or opt-ins are designed to be mobile responsive and friendly to a mobile experience. Remember those smaller screens, quick load times, clear instructions, and pleasing design.
Remember Retargeting
Your mobile ads are a vital part of a bigger advertising picture. Consumers may not convert on that first ad that is delivered but that’s okay. Remember that if you have retargeting set up for your campaigns, you’ll be sending other ads to the consumer at later times to remind them about you and your offer. Sometimes mobile ads are the start of that sequence and sometimes they are part of the retargeting sequence. Either way, make sure that you’re including it in the broader scope of your campaign strategy and that you have a plan to remarket to consumers systemically.
Designing for mobile experience is an entirely different animal than the desktop experience. People are moving fast on mobile devices and are looking for easy, streamlined experiences. If you can design your mobile ads to fit these best practices and ad standards, you’ll find that the ad campaigns perform better and offer greater responses.