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Focus on the most important stakeholder, the customer: Plastic Mobile exec

SAN DIEGO ? A Plastic Mobile executive at the Mobile Shopping Spring Summit said that when it comes to mobile, consumers are setting the bar high and it is important that marketers make sure their mobile efforts are done right, rather than fast.

During the ?Practical Implementation Case Study Presented by Plastic Mobile? the executive discussed how its client Pizza Pizza built its mobile site. The exec also talked about how important it is that marketers always keep their customers top of mind.

?Doing it right is better than doing it fast,? said Melody Adhami, cofounder/president and chief operating officer of Plastic Mobile.

?Users are expecting something and the bar is set high so it?s going to be more important to do it right instead of using a platform-only approach,? she said.

User experience
According to Ms. Adhami, it is all about the experience.

Consumers are constantly looking for a seamless experience and marketers need to make sure that when they are building their mobile application it is not only engaging, but easy to use.

For example, when Pizza Pizza featured a bottom menu that consisted of a carousel, 70 percent of panelists who were testing the app had no idea how to navigate that functionality.

Mobile does not provide as much real estate that marketers are used to, therefore the content must be creative, but still user-friendly.

Plastic Mobile decided to get creative with the app by rotating the carousel three times when the users landed on the mobile app?s homepage.

When marketers are dealing with mobile, they do not have a vast amount of space to write a message that tells consumers they must rotate the carousel. Therefore, companies must get creative and find visual cues to show the user how to best interact with the app, per Ms. Adhami.

Through the Pizza Pizza iPhone app, consumers can customize and order their favorite pizza.

The app also includes a Scratch-and-Win feature that lets consumers receive a prize such as garlic bread in their next purchase.

After the release of its iPhone app, Pizza Pizza saw that mobile orders are now 20 percent of total digital orders.

The company also saw that there were 15 percent more repeat customers on its mobile properties versus the Web.

?It took them about three years to really build their Web business, so the speed to which mobile did it was a surprise,? Ms. Adhami said.

Customers first
It is important that marketers focus on their customers.

Additionally, it is important that companies take their time in finding out who their target consumers are and better understand them.

When Pizza Pizza was creating its iPhone app it continued to look at ways to make the user experience better.

Last year, Pizza Pizza received 111,111 orders through its mobile ordering app since its launch six months ago (see story).

Currently, the company is looking to roll out on other platforms, including Android.

?Technology needs to help and not hinder,? Ms. Adhami said.  

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York