The Payments Situation:

It is no surprise that each day new players are entering the payment arena. From enabling small merchants to take payments (e.g. Square, GoPayment, PayPal Here) to making payments (e.g. LevelUp, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts) and mobile wallets (e.g. Paydiant, ERN Global, MC MasterPass, V.me), there is a tremendous amount of activity in and around mobile payments. Particularly interesting at the moment are mobile wallet companies that are muddying the payment waters by offering payment, personal financial management (PFM), customer experience, and commerce functionality.

 

Traditional payment processors are seeing a new threat from mobile wallets. In a bold move, MasterCard has announced that they will be charging a fee to mobile wallet providers who do not properly transfer the same level of transaction details to MasterCard as they would get from a normal point of sale device. While MasterCard claims this fee will ensure that data from the new mobile wallet sources is properly recorded on customer’s credit and debit card statements many view it as a direct attack on mobile wallet development. Other processors, such as Visa, have chimed in with support for MasterCard. In a recent statement, Visa has defended the need for the fee as “totally appropriate” for the networks to charge.

Why MasterCard Views Mobile Wallets as a threat:

On the face of it, some consumers might be surprised at MasterCard’s actions, given that mobile wallet is just a container for individual’s credit and debit cards. Why should payment companies feel threatened if consumers are still ultimately using their credit cards?

• Issue 1: When people link their credit or debit cards to a mobile wallet, the payment processor (e.g. Visa and MasterCard) is now an additional step removed from the transaction. While before Visa might be able to collect data on the transaction, such as “Consumer X bought Y amount from Grocery Store location Z”, now the mobile wallet provider will be capturing this data, and could choose not to share it with Visa. In addition, the mobile wallet provider can combine multiple small transactions into one larger transaction, giving the payment processor even less data. The payment company is being cut off of valuable transaction level data.
• Issue 2: In addition to losing data, payment companies are also losing revenue. Many mobile wallets aggregate multiple small transactions into one larger transaction, leverage alternative ways to process transactions (e.g. directly from a customer’s checking account bypassing the payment card all together), or hold deposits from the customer from which to make payment (e.g. pre-paying money into your Starbucks account in order to make payments using the mobile payment application) – all of which cuts into the payment processor’s margins.
• Issue 3: Payment processors worry that leaving these threats unchecked, they are inviting further encroaches onto their business.

What MasterCard is Overlooking:

While MasterCard is focused around the threat that mobile wallets are posing to payments, this is the wrong focus.

It is true that mobile wallets are handling payments, but the heart of mobile wallets is not payments; rather mobile wallets exist to create a commerce experience (not just a payments experience). Mobile wallets are being created to make everything about shopping easier; payments just happens to be one cog in the wheel.
Looking more closely at mobile wallets, it is easy to see a greater purpose beyond simply payments:

•  Disney’s MyMagic keeps track of park tickets, fast pass assignments, room keys.
• Catalina’s Mobile ScanIT app is used to help grocery stores facilitate easier coupon redemption and faster self-checkout.
•  ERN’s Global Looop Wallet is centered on helping store multiple payment and loyalty card information and transactions so a consumer has an easier time accessing this information.

The truth is that many of the mobile wallet applications aren’t focused on competing around payment. They’re focused on innovating around new areas that enrich a customer’s experience. Even industry disrupters like LevelUp, are focusing on the use of mobile as an offer and loyalty platform and not on the payment functionality.

Why MasterCard Should Change its Position:

Viewing mobile wallets as a commerce experience, rather than another payment vendor, immediately changes what MasterCard’s position should be. Rather than competitors, mobile wallets might actually help MasterCard. MasterCard can take advantage of new innovation that mobile wallets create, without heavy testing costs. We are still in the early days of this developing space with hundreds of new mobile commerce start-ups. Seeing what works and what doesn’t can allow MasterCard to avoid failures of its own.

Additionally, consumers are just now becoming accustomed to using apps for commerce. Encouraging more commerce, rather than closing avenues to consumers, can create new profit opportunities for MasterCard and other payment vendors.

MasterCard and the other “incumbents” are better served using “carrots” to encourage the innovation versus “sticks” to control and direct the innovation. If I were MasterCard, I would look into creating partnerships with mobile wallets, as they have in the past. This would encourage mobile wallet innovation, helping create the ecosystem and encourage mass adoption. This creates a win-win solution for both MasterCard and mobile wallets.

In my experience, impediments to innovation tend to be met with vigorous efforts to circumvent the impediment. As we the mobile commerce and mobile payments space is in its infancy, it is not prudent to try and construct barriers and “walls” that isolate yourself from wide participation. This is especially true given we all have no idea how this space will shake out. Consumers have not yet spoken on how mobile payments will play into their lives.

By: Greg Garson

Every entrepreneur dreams of a successful, breakthrough product. A breakthrough product is one that stands out and establishes them as a leader in their field. But what happens after a success? Inevitably, one triumph is never enough. What makes entrepreneurs tick is that they are never content to just rest on their laurels. One innovation calls for another.

So how do you follow up on a success? Companies facing these issues, come to High Start Group every day for insights and guidance. These companies need a way to expand their offerings, but don’t know where they should begin.

When you’re looking at introducing a new product to your suite of offerings, it’s helpful to go through a simple checklist to see how product expansion can work for you. Below are our top five suggestions for how companies can grow on their successes.

1. Define your business objectives. There are many good ideas out there. But simply because something might be a good idea, does not make it the right idea. When you’re evaluating a new product idea you need to determine if it fits with the rest of your businesses and achieves the goals that you have in mind. Does it make sense to expand to this new area or will this stretch your business thin? Do you want to attract new customers or increase revenues from your current base?

 

2. Determine what you want in a new product. What do you want this product to accomplish? Sometimes companies want a distinctive new product that’s separate from their current offerings. But other times creating a complementary product to work alongside what you might currently offer is a great way to expand your products while staying within your expertise. Talk to your current customers to see how they are using your product and what they need to get more out of your suite of offerings

 

3. Determine what you don’t want in a new product. What do you think should be excluded from the product? It’s important to prioritize what should go into a product but even more important to decide what won’t. Your product does not need to do everything; what it does need is to fill a crucial gap in the market and fill it well Eliminate the rest.

 

4. Brainstorm Internally. Sometimes the best ideas are found in-house. After all, your employees are the ones who think about your product every day. Talk to your employees and see if they have expansion ideas. Hold brainstorming sessions to see how your team might build upon each other’s insights.  Bringing everyone together can help iron out missing details from any one suggestion.

 

5. Perform competitive research. Where is everyone else expanding? Where are areas of opportunities? It can be alluring to jump on the bandwagon and grow in the same direction as your competitors. But when you pivot in a new direction, you can help differentiate your company and create brand loyalists. You should be tracking your competitors closely, but tracking isn’t the same as following. Don’t be afraid to evolve in a new direction.

 

It can be daunting to try and match an earlier success. But innovating, and continuing to grow your offerings is what can take your small business and turn it into a Fortune 500.

How do you innovate on success? Feel free to share your ideas below:
Article by: Amy Rosenthal

by Alo Mukerji

Qualitative interviews are an important tool in the career of any researcher. Interviews allow you to find out in-depth information about an individual. As an interviewer you can uncover what decisions someone makes, and the why behind those decisions. While quantitative methods can ask the same questions, interviews allow you to gain much richer, more authentic information at an individual level with the added bonus of being able to tailor your questions along the way.

But while interviewing seems straightforward, there are some easy pitfalls that an interviewer needs to learn to avoid. Below I’ve highlighted the most common mistakes that I’ve encountered:

• Only having 1 interviewer:
  • Many people think they can conduct an interview by themselves, but it’s harder than you think to pay attention to responses and record the answers at the same time. When you concentrate on writing or on the follow up questions, you have a tendency to miss important details of the response. Having an additional person at the interview can also help you fatigue. If you’re highly focused on a section of the interview, it can be nice to have someone else jump in to give you a break from concentrating and provide a different perspective.
• Ignoring your objectives:
  • It can be easy to get side-tracked during an interview on a certain topic. Be sure to write down your objectives to make sure that you’re actually hitting them. And if you happen to skip over an objective, don’t be afraid to be assertive and go back to make sure you fully cover it! You’re there to find out specific information, it’s perfectly fine to make sure you got what you need even if it’s slightly off topic from what you are currently discussing.
• Focusing on what people say, and not paying attention to what they do:
  • Perceived behaviors are different from actual behaviors. People might not even realize that what they are saying is different from how they actually act. I’ve encountered this when I ask consumers about issues such as monthly fees. People unequivocally express distaste for monthly fees. But when you review their bill, they often don’t know or don’t care about the monthly fees that are on there. Their distaste of fees is actually less of a deterrent than people often say they are. Avoid running into this issue by collecting supplemental information that’s relevant to the interview. If you’re asking about purchasing behavior, have the interviewee bring a sample bill or receipts so you can see exactly how they are behaving.
• Working only in a controlled environment:
  • In interviewing, it’s actually great to interview on-site or in the environment that you’re researching. There can be environmental clues that help you create a richer image of the person as a whole. In one interview, I noticed there was a child’s picture on the interviewee’s desk.  Framing questions based on a family versus a couple, I was able to better understand how this individual processed buying and budgeting decisions and what made him think the way he did about his shopping behaviors.

Interviews can be a powerful tool, when used correctly. Remember: you’re the one asking questions. Don’t be afraid to take charge and get the information you need!

by Janet Muto

“Try it before you buy it” has turned from a sales pitch into both a consumer and business expectation. It’s now the baseline standard that customers will get some level of access to test out a product before they commit to buying it. This can be helpful for the business: it provides a great way for businesses to gain users.  Both for warm lead generation and for providing immediate feedback on how smooth their customer experience is. But “free” also raises many questions: exactly how should the product be free?

One of the questions that I am most often asked is should I offer my users a free trial or Freemium solution, and my answer is always “it depends”.  This blog will look at what factors to consider for and what to expect with Freemium, free trial or pilot as your engagement offer.

Freemium:

What it is: Freemium typically offers a “stripped down” version of a product. Users download this version, and can use this indefinitely. It’s up to the business to decide what goes into the free version vs. the paid version but most often, companies try to generate a model that generates paying opportunities as users become more and more dependent on the product.

Pros:

• Freemium has the lowest barrier to entry for your users: they can download the product online and get going instantly. Many companies vary even in terms of how much information they ask of users for the free download. Questions can range from a general form requesting consumer’s demographics to nothing at all.
• Because it is so easy to engage customers Freemium also typically has the highest yield for consumer sign-ups. This doesn’t mean this nets you the most paying customers, but it does put your product in front of lots of people, quickly.

Cons:

• Your product is scaled down. In order to get customers to sign up for the paid version, companies have to hold features back under Freemium. This can create an inferior user experience and consumers can get confused with what your product actually offers. If you use Freemium, it’s important to make sure that you articulate just how drastically different the user experience is between the free version and paying version: consumers need to know what they’re missing.
• It’s hard to draw the line. You need to put some appetizing features into the Freemium offering to whet the consumer’s appetite. But where do you stop? It is critical to find a reason  that some number of people (in your business plan) will pay.   Some companies have difficulty balancing a good user experience in the free product version vs. a superior experience in the paid version.

Level of Commitment: Minimal. Typically, Freemium requires the fewest initiation barriers and therefore the least commitment of users.  It can also be perceived as “low value’ to both customers and prospective customers.

Who should use it: Use it if your company could benefit from a social network effect or an advertising effect. What is a social network effect? A common example of Freemium is LinkedIn, a social network for employers and employees. LinkedIn requires a large user base; no companies would post jobs there if there were not a substantial number of people looking for jobs. By allowing companies and employees to set up LinkedIn profiles for free, LinkedIn is able to generate a large enough user base. LinkedIn generates their revenue from the services that users can upgrade to from their free accounts (such as highlighting your resume to potential employers).

Freemium can also generate free advertising.  In my early days at Constant Contact we had a freemium offer.  User who sent emails with the Contact Contact did so with a Constant Contact Try it Free  logo at the bottom of each email.  A significant number of new trials were generated by people who received the emails from their trusted sources, and realized that they too could use an email newsletter or promotion.

Free Trial:

What it is: Free trial allows the consumer to experience the full product for a limited time, then sign up for the product after the time period has expired.  The key to a free trial is to understand that the trial is either your greatest sale maker  (or not) for your product.  Every step of the user’s path to conversion needs to be “pressure tested” and “speed bumps” eliminated in order to optimize the experience and, maximize conversion.

Pros:

• The user gets the full product experience and results.  They can test their usage of your product in “real life” situation and easily understand how the product can impact their business.
• Trial users will invest time and effort in your product, and if their experience is good, will stay with you.  Cost of time can be as important as dollars – and if your solution works, that may be the end of their search.

Cons:

• Bigger initial investment: in order to keep track of the free trial, users typically have to provide more information about themselves than with a freemium offer. Anything that stands between consumers and the product will cause some users to disengage from the product. The silver lining is this does mean that consumers who “stick it out” and go through the process to sign up for the trial tend to be more serious about the product that you’re offering.
• The life-cycle of your product might make this infeasible. Some products are used on a daily basis, such as email. Some products might just be used once a year, such as software to prepare your taxes.  If your product falls into the latter category, people might just download the free trial as a sufficient work around to buying the full product. You need to examine what type of time table your product operates on to ensure that you are not just giving it away for free.

Who should use it: Use this if you need your full product solution to hook the users quickly. Allowing complete access gives the user a full understanding of how your product can drastically change their daily routine. For example, a program such as Photoshop offers a “free trial” option since it wants the user to have full access to all the photo editing tools. Since people will most likely require editing on multiple batches of photos, Photoshop is safe in assuring itself of paying customers if the product performs well for the consumer.

Level of Commitment:Free Trial offers the “middle” level of commitment. Users need to jump through more hoops to sign up so the company can keep track of users and ensure that no one is skirting the rules for a free trial, but the installation process is still typically a simple download and does not take that long.

Pilot

What it is: A pilot test is typically a for a complex solution, one that requires significant work to enable the solution (and typically a support team).  A pilot is a way to try the solution out with a subset of the actual users who will ultimately use the product (often one location, or a department who are the “test case) for the overall solution.

 Pros:

• Companies who are solving a complex business problem will need to test processes, integration methods and actual solution usage.  A pilot is the only way to do this.
• Companies will often agree that if the pilot is successful, they will acquire both the pilot equipment/solution and also a larger roll-out.

Cons:

• This requires a heavy investment by the buyer and seller.  If things do not work as planned, both companies will have exerted huge effort and cost.
• Pilots are often long affairs – with significant time for set-up and integration, and then 3-6 months (or more) for the actual pilot period.

Who should use this: Pilots are typically used by companies with a complicated solution that requires integration with the customer’s infrastructure or solutions and requires significant support.  It is most often used when selling these complex solutions to large enterprises who are looking to roll-out a solution that is replacing or integrating with existing infrastructure (think networking) and across multiple sites.

Level of Commitment: High. The time and resource requirement of installing the solution and properly training the employees in the proper usage makes this solution the most onerous. Most often it is accompanied by a process change as well – therefore also requiring training on the process as well. However when the problem being solved requires a solution this large, typically companies understand and are willing to undergo this investment.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

This provides a guide for what different types of “free” exist and when each “free” can be employed. But remember that even within the same company, you might wish to employ different free solutions for different types of companies.

In the early days at Constant Contact we had both a freemium model (for any user with a subscriber count under a certain number) and also a free trial.  Users who didn’t pass the free number were allowed use of the service indefinitely.  Others, who crossed the threshold could use the service for 60 days (for free) and then were invited to convert. Free isn’t a one-size-fits all solution, and it’s important to keep your business plan, and your target consumer in mind when you try to determine the right solution for you.

Do you have experience with any of these three models? Share your perspective in the comments!

By: Ashley Carneal

Face it, it feels as if new products and messages are being delivered to consumers today at lightning speeds.  But if you stop to think about it – how much of what you are seeing is truly a new product or new innovation?  Have you been part of a Repositioning Revolution?

Without a doubt, repositioning is a form of innovation.  What does it mean to innovate?  Sure, we all think about big sky innovation and want to be a part of that great new thing that comes out in the marketplace that no one has ever thought of before.   An entrepreneur’s dream, right?  While a great aspiration, innovation can come in the big (expensive) packages – and the small (inexpensive) ones.  To innovate not only means introducing something new for the first time, but it also means making changes in anything already established.  By that, to innovate means to deliver improvements.  To make something better.  To make it relevant.

I like to think about repositioning simply as relevancy readjustments.  Relevant to whom?  Well, the existing consumer (buyer and/or user) and the potential consumers of your brand.  The ones who expect the promise to be fulfilled with that first moment of truth.  Because if the product and experience is not relevant nor is it not fulfilling consumers’ needs and expectations, then the product is not relevant and will not have a place in the consumers’ minds, hearts, or wallet.  Period.

Repositioning to increase product or brand relevancy doesn’t have to be an expensive overhaul (remember, it is all about improvements), but it should be strategic and fit within the existing architecture and structure of what the product or brand has established.

But sometimes it can be hard to know where to start. To help you begin to brainstorm here are the first two steps in your Repositioning Revolution:

 1. Knowing your consumers better than they know themselves.  Again, with the proliferation rate of new products today, consumers are bombarded!  And not all of the bombardment comes with relevant, useful products.  Invest the time to find out why they buy your product – and why they DON’T buy your product.  Spend the time to see how they use it, how they interact with it, and what types of workarounds they are creating to substitute for something that your product does not deliver.  Spend the time shopping with them and understand their buying process.  Having and owning this consumer insight will increase your brand’s relevancy in your consumers’ eyes, and will generate relevant improvements that will greatly separate you from the rest of the competitive pack.

 2. Strategically and effectively communicating new product features & benefits.  Running competitive features & benefits and communications analyses on your category and market landscape should provide you and your brand the insight as to what is being talked about in your category – and what is NOT being talked about.  Find a new way, a new time of year, and a new medium to talk about your product, without having to invest in serious overhauls.  This will allow for existing consumers to stay with your product or brand who might otherwise flee your brand or potentially the category for substitute products, as well as allow for new users to come into your product or category.

Thinking about this will put you in the right repositioning mind-frame. It’s not just how relevant your product is today. You need to think about 1, 5, even 10 years from now.

These steps are only the beginning. Repositioning takes time, effort, and a true understanding of your company and your consumers. Stay tuned for my upcoming posts on the next steps you need to take when you decide to reposition and feel free to share your own tips in the comments section below!

When to use: Use focus groups to identify common features among your target demographics. Focus groups work best when you want to interact with a small group of people, albeit in a controlled environment.

• In-depth interviews are typically one-on-one discussions conducted in person (preferably) or by phone. If possible, it is best for the interviewer to have an assistant to take notes, which frees the interviewer to better focus on reactions to questions and to probe deeper on interesting responses. In the absence of an assistant, audio or video recording allows the interviewer to go back and type up notes.

When to use: Use interviews when you’re faced with diverse potential customers and need to individually tailor conversation to each participant. Interviews can be an important tool when dealing with topics that may be too sensitive to share in a group (like personal finances, personal hygiene habits, etc.).

• Ethnographies are close cousins to interviews; the main difference is that in ethnographies the researcher actually observes the participant wherever he or she is expected to use your product, whether that is at home, at the office, or anywhere else. Typically, ethnographies tend to be conducted one-on-one (plus a note taker) and include prompts to do loosely defined actions, which are then observed.

When to use: Ethnographies are best used when you can learn more from observing behaviors than asking direct questions, such as when participants cannot accurately describe their behaviors or motivations. What people say they do and what they actually do often are very different.

• Last but not least are usability studies. Users are often given specific tasks to accomplish and their actions are observed—especially for tasks they find difficult. Usability studies usually are conducted in-person in a facility that offers video recording, though some tasks can be monitored remotely online. The vast majority of usability issues can be uncovered by talking with as few as 7 to 10 users.

When to use: Usability studies help to understand user experience with products or services, which helps to improve product design or functionality.

These techniques may also include some quantitative elements—for example, a pre-survey might be used in interview scenarios—but it can be very expensive use these qualitative techniques to achieve statistical significance. For that reason, your research should be an iterative process that involves both qualitative discovery and quantitative validation. By using qualitative findings to shape your quantitative research, and using your subjective knowledge to properly interpret your data, you put yourself in the best position to make the best decisions for your business.

Are there other qualitative methods that you’ve found useful? Share your thoughts below!

But when should you add qualitative elements? Below are a few examples when qualitative techniques supplement quantitative research:
 
• Exploring market segments: If you are trying to go after a new market segment that you know little about, it is probable—at least possible—that you do not even know the right questions to ask in a quantitative survey. But the flexibility afforded by qualitative methods allows a skilled researcher to ask probing follow-up questions that get to the fundamental beliefs and concerns of your customers. That allows you to prioritize the goals of your quantitative research by establishing baseline knowledge, knowledge gaps, and topic areas to explore and validate.

• Explaining the “why” behind behavior: You can use quantitative methods to observe consumer behavior, such as tracking the amount of time consumers spend on your website. But qualitative techniques can often quickly help you understand why this behavior is occurring. Consumers might be spending a great deal of time on your website because they want to buy multiple products. Or they could be spending large amount of time because they are having trouble navigating to find the product they are interested in. These are two very different stories. By layering in qualitative methods, you can understand not just what but why respondents say what they say, which will enable better business decisions.

• Expanding product selection: When you’re faced with a broad assignment, such as creating a new product offering, qualitative techniques can help you narrow down the focus. Asking consumers to evaluate your company from the outside can often reveal needs that you were unaware of. Maybe consumers are consistently using your product in conjunction with a separate product. If you can bundle a supplemental solution with your original product you have a valuable opportunity to increase sales and brand loyalty at the same time.

• Employing the right words: Surveys and other quantitative techniques can be costly. You want to get it right the first time. Qualitative methods can help you craft the right language and the right way to phrase questions for consumers. You don’t want to conduct an entire survey only to discover that people were misinterpreting your questions. Especially when you are asking about complicated products or processes, running the language through qualitative tests will help your quantitative research succeed.

In my next post, I will describe a few common types of qualitative research. More importantly than describing what they are, I will discuss when to use them and the benefits of each. So stay tuned for more!
– Joe Johnson

How often do you have an experience on a mobile phone that you describe as “wow”? How often have you felt that you really enjoyed it or got what you needed in 5-30 seconds? Of the 700,000 mobile apps, only a small number meet the high watermark of truly outstanding mobile applications. However, with 2013 being the year when the majority of people will access the content through a mobile device rather than a PC, one would think we should be much further along in creating outstanding apps. Evidently it isn’t easy. At all.

Earlier today I had the opportunity to give a talk (you can see the slides here) and later moderate a panel on just that topic – “Building the Ultimate Mobile User Experience – best practices for creating great mobile experiences”.  The event was organized by MassTLC (Thank you Sara Fraim!) and our panelists, Tom Weisend (Vice President, User Experience, RueLaLa), Matt Cutler (CEO, Kibits), and Christine Perfetti (Director of User Experience, Carbonite), shared their ‘case study’ on mobile solutions and key insights. There was a lot of ground covered, but here are the points that resonated the most with participants.

• Know thy mobile user. By far the most important takeaway of the day was to get to know who your mobile user is, what they want to do on mobile (very different from desktop) and when they use mobile. Matt shared that he solicits and reviews feedback from every new customer, uses TestFlight to test versions before App Store approval and tracks performance with Localytics. Christine emphasized the importance of ‘testing in the wild’, iterating quickly and seeing how users react to the app in their ‘natural habitat’ rather than in a usability room.

• The winning platform: iOS came up on top as the preferred development platform, followed by Andorid and lastly Mobile Web. Tom shared that 37% of all RueLaLa business is coming from mobile and he hopes to see that number grow beyond 50% in the not too distant future. The vast majority of this traffic comes to them from iOS; less than 5% comes from Android. He sees Mobile Web mainly as a way to get casual users in, but ideally only as stepping stone to the app. Matt noted the challenge of developing on multiple platforms simultaneously, before you ‘crack the case’ and know exactly what the winning experience is. All agreed that HTML5 has been overhyped and is a challenge to develop on for anything other than the very basic of sites. Indeed, on average, iOS delivers 3 times more revenue than Andoid, even though their install basis are comparable. Recently developers have started to take note, and preference for Android has begun to drop.

• Performance matters. And top performance matters even more. Users expect instant gratification on mobile and don’t have the time or patience for slow response times. There are many elements that contribute to slow response time – from size of pictures being loaded, database access, algorithms used, or even creation of the ‘illusion’ of fast response times. Matt compared user expectation to one of his favorite singers (see video of Flow here) and Tom described the experience created by using retina-display quality photography for all RueLaLa products.

• Don’t wait on the sidelines. Christine emphasized how cautious companies can be with mobile. But rather than waiting for your application to be “best in class,” she encouraged companies to release version 1 and to iterate off of that.  Releasing their mobile application helped Carbonite stay ahead of competitors and plugged into their consumers.

• Iteration. Everyone agreed that their mobile apps weren’t built overnight. They were the process of many, many different iterations. Matt explained for Kibits, they started broadly and then narrowed down exactly the right methodology for making changes. Christine mentioned a test that Carbonite is currently conducting on 10% of its user base. There are new developments in mobile all the time. Your product should evolve and take advantage of these new opportunities.

Many mobile apps face the grim reality of having less than 5% of people open the app 30 days after download. Designing a compelling and engaging mobile app can be hard, but there are many learning’s to be shared and many ways to get to the right result faster.

If you have additional mobile experience best practices to share (if you were at the event or not), please join in on the conversation below. To view the presentation, click here.

The second panel at the Mobile Commerce Summit, part of the FutureM conference, “The new role of Media, Marketing, and Big Data in a world of Mobile Commerce” focused on the influx of data available through mobile commerce, and what opportunities have become available.  The panel was moderated by Greg Garson (High Start Group, Financial Services Practice Lead). Speakers included John Caron (Catalina, Vice President Marketing), Molly Plozay (FirstData, Vice President), Ben Saren (Litle & Co. Vice President, Marketing), and Gene Wisniewski (Linkable Networks, Senior Vice President).

To set the stage, Greg put data in context, “There were over 1.8 zettabytes of data created in 2011. That’s the equivalent of every US citizen writing 3 tweets a minute for 26,976 years! Data is a big opportunity for both retailers and marketers, and mobile commerce is the newest data opportunity.” Backing up Greg’s predictions, a recent High Start Group survey demonstrated that over 50% of adults between 25-65 own smartphones, and this number is only going to grow.

Greg continued, “the access to data comes with increasing concerns around individual privacy. But even with their concerns, consumers appear willing to levy their personal data for deals:  in the High Start Group survey 1 in 3 consumers indicated they would be willing to share personal data for discounts. If companies increase the trust that consumers have in them, the companies might gain access to even more personal information.”

“Consumer self-selections (opting in/out) will continue to increase as mobile usage and marketing escalates, as will government scrutiny on data and marketing (do not follow legislation) – Being a trusted brand is vital to keeping your consumers loyal.” Molly explained.

Ben expanded on the ideas around customer loyalty, “Based on everything I heard during our panel that ultimate goal is customer lifetime value. That’s the destination. For every big idea out there today it seems there are infinite possibilities, but at the end of the day if these big ideas don’t help you gain, maintain, and retain customers then it’s all just hype and noise and all for naught.”

“Remember, there is a difference between what a retailer can do, and what they should do,” explained John. “Retailers should focus their efforts around how their data collection fits in with their overall strategy.”

Gene offered his thoughts on how to go about maintain a positive relationship with customers, “Executing a successful mobile strategy requires a comprehensive approach that is anchored by the ability to have customers receive as much relevant and targeted content, offers, and messaging to drive desired behavior. Relevancy is what will drive the business and consumer partnership forward.”

But acquiring these customer relationships is a careful balance of creating the right mobile strategy against time pressures. Molly explains “Mobile payments and marketing have added a complex new dimension to data gathering, it is vital that retailers begin to develop a strategy to best use this information. The time is now.” Ben added nuance to the hurry to use mobile data, “with every new technology or every new big idea that seems to usher in a new era there are knee-jerk reactions, seemingly obvious ways to apply the new technology to the marketplace today, quick ways to capitalize. And usually that’s advertising. But the intersection of big data and commerce is a really, really big intersection and I believe all roads lead to it. The opportunities at that intersection go way beyond advertising, advertising is just scratching the surface.”

Greg summed up the panel by saying, “Companies are walking on a tightrope. With mobile commerce, companies now have much more consumer data than ever before, and they’re starting to take advantage of it. But companies need to maintain consumer trust, keep their message relevant, and focus on the big picture to use this data and capture these business opportunities.”

by Janet Muto

The first panel at the Mobile Commerce Summit (part of the FutureM conference), “The War for Your Customer – Loyalty, Acquisition, and Customer Delight in the age of Mobile Commerce” was moderated by Janet Muto (Managing Partner, High Start Group).  The panel focused on the top issues facing consumers and retailers and what the panelists’ expected would drive consumer or retailers to mobile commerce. The three panelists were Andy Miller (Director of Mobile Products, Constant Contact), Joshua Robin (Director of Innovation, MBTA), and Mike Grimes (SVP Mobile Commerce, Catalina).

“There is a lot of change and uncertainty in the mobile payment place- so sit back unless you are a large player,” stated Joshua.   “76% of T customers have a smartphone, and that number will grow. A big player has the skills and resources to create the seamless experience that these customers are asking for in their daily life.

“The inherent trust that consumers have in Apple sets up Passbook to take over mobile commerce,” according to Andy.   “A study conducted that revealed 1 in 10 people would bank with Apple if Apple offered banking services. And this is a company who’s never done anything in banking; its Apple’s reputation that consumers are willing to put their faith in.”

Mike believes that relevancy is the key to unlocking mobile commerce: “lots of smart people think that just because we can communicate to mobile users means we know what they want; but knowing you are near a CVS and sending you a coupon for Walgreens is not going to get you to go there instead…it will just annoy you.  It’s about relevancy more than ever—mobile is a personal device so communications via that channel had better be personally relevant.”

Janet Muto summed up the panel by explaining, “there has to be a compelling reason to use a mobile wallet– if not, credit and cash work just fine:  convenience and/or rewards are two critical elements that will make a mobile wallet app compelling. To increase, convenience, the MBTA is offering mobile ticketing which saves a significant amount of time for the consumer (ticket can be purchased on phone and phone can display ticket…no paper needed).  Level Up, with its combination of mobile wallet and rewards, is also an example of using both convenience and loyalty to leverage mobile commerce.”

Stay tuned to see the highlights from the other panels and keynote at the Mobile Commerce Summit!