If the average user checks their mobile phone 150 times a day, then why are conversion rates 270% higher on a desktop?

During my classes at CXL, I was fascinated by this question. Mobile usage was already at an all-time high before the pandemic. However, during the lockdown, a surge in mobile usage took on a whole new meaning. Researches showed that sessions increased by 105% in just business apps, followed by a 70% increase in installs compared to last year, as more people worked remotely.

? Mobile Has Changed How People Get Things Done

Mobile technology has allowed people to accomplish different things with ease: work, leisure, news, shopping, and even friendship. Everything in our life has something to do with our mobile phones. On the other hand,it is worth recognizing that consumer behavior towards mobile is different. As Deloitte’s infographic showed, we check off at least 100 times a day. 

“That’s why looking at the online world, we notice a huge gap in content optimization for mobile users.” (Talia Wolf, CRO Strategist)

The problem starts when your consumer’s journey is not optimized for mobile visitors. Since marketers are thinking desktop first, there’s a 270% gap between conversions on desktop and on mobile. For instance, when marketers design landing pages, they visualize the desktop page first. However, the standard desktop landing page should not be your focus anymore, because most of the traffic is on mobile. 

✔️ Few steps that lead to more mobile conversions 

Based on Talia Wolf’s course at CXL, let’s take a look at a few steps to boost your conversion rate on mobile using emotional targeting.

1️⃣ Acknowledge the emotions that rule the world of mobile users.

Although we prefer to claim the opposite, most of our decision making is emotion-based. Every life decision has an emotional reason behind it, whether it’s to feel better about ourselves, to be a part of a community, feel loved, or just feel safe.

Understanding this simple principle provides great insights into consumer behavior & psychology, making your mobile efforts more efficient. The most important emotion for mobile users is to feel secure while browsing. This is something that can only be accomplished by tapping into their emotions.

2️⃣ Use specific emotional triggers to increase mobile conversion

If you are a marketer, you’re likely aware of these regular concerns for digital marketing content: Have one call to action, reduce the loading time on pages, etc. However, in the mobile world, users’ attention span tends to be very small and their desire for online security is huge. You only have two to three seconds to convert.

That’s why you have to adapt your emotional triggers when thinking mobile.

Your landing pages and content have to ensure users feel secure while browsing, something which can only be accomplished by tapping into their emotions. You have to start using emotional triggers. But how can you choose the best emotional triggers for mobile users? The next two topics present key tools for that.

3️⃣ Run an emotional competitor analysis.

As opposed to a regular competitor analysis where you focus on features and product characteristics, the emotional competitor analysis helps you find the perfect emotional triggers to use based on competitors. By using this tool, you’ll obtain insights into these two aspects:

• Where the emotional stage your market is at? 
• Where your product/service fits within the market scenario?

To get started, choose your 10 top competitors. Start thinking about who they are; also count indirect competitors. Consider competitors that market the same audience as you. Then, grade each of the competitors according to four different parameters:

✔️ Messaging: What is their main message and strategy? What are they saying on their landing page?

✔️ Color: What colors are your competitors using?

✔️ Images Analyse the type of images they’re using and why.

✔️ Emotional triggers: How are our competitors trying to make their customers feel?

For example, let’s analyze Slack’s mobile page:

Slack’s headline is about bringing teams together, regardless of their location, reinforcing easy connection and productive remote work. Their main color is purple, the color of creativity, ambition, and innovation. 

Alongside the text, we find real people’s pictures, smiling and using common phrases for remote workers, such as Working from home! 

➡️ Their intrinsic message is “trust Slack to ensure your team’s communication and creativity keep flowing”.

After all, this is how Slack’s emotional analysis for mobile conversion looks like:

Keep doing the same analysis for 10 to 15 different competitors. After analyzing them, you’ll end up with the big picture of the industry’s most used emotional triggers. In my case, they are innovation, creativity, and trust.

After finding the emotional triggers competitors use, should we blindly copy their strategy (maybe they have no idea what they’re doing) or do we need a completely different approach? To answer that, let’s use another important tool for emotional targeting: the emotional SWOT.

4️⃣ Take advantage of the Emotional SWOT

The Emotional SWOT shows how customers feel about us and about the industry. For example, if you’re Slack, the SWOT will tell us how customers feel about Slack but also about other communication platforms within your industry.

These are the four main points covered by the emotional SWOT:

All of them approached by an emotional angle.

➡️ Let’s inspect Microsoft Teams, one of Slack’s main competitor these days. Microsoft is a very well-known technology provider website, so I’d say that their strength is trust. On the other hand, their biggest weakness is that they’re just like everyone else in terms of content. Their page is simple, pictures unappealing.

There’s nothing emotional there. It’s all about to sign up for free, a few brand statements. Therefore, you might wonder: why should I use their tool for chatting? What is the emotional value of joining Microsoft Teams?

If we look at the existent opportunities within the industry, we can assume there is a huge variety and great opportunities. The segment has been observing a dramatic increase, uplifted in 2020 by the pandemic. As to threats, they could be listed as the client’s lack of confidence in data security and pricing, especially because Microsoft Teams was being offered for free recently.

Thus, the emotional SWOT for this industry would look like this:

Note that the Emotional SWOT (or any SWOT) can always start with inferences, but you can also use polls and surveys on your website to obtain insights and complement your analysis. In my opinion, it’s fundamental to do so to avoid the influence of biased thoughts.

5️⃣ Build an assertive content strategy for mobile conversion

After implementing the previous steps, you’ll get the ins and outs of major emotional triggers, the audience’s insecurities, and industry opportunities. These aspects play a very important role in increasing mobile conversion.

Based on that, you could start building your emotional content strategy. In my example based on Slack and MS Teams, I could use data-security as a selling point as well as work on my pricing strategy. Price is the most delicate aspect of the marketing mix, mostly because it is perceived subjectively. It might be a smart move to leverage it.

〰️  By understanding mobile emotional triggers we can create stronger and compelling content. Take this chance to build a personalized strategy talking to the specific needs your clients have to overcome. 

See you in the next post ??