Don’t Forget Voice!

Tagged as: O.P.E.N., mobile, on-demand, personal
Posted by: Dan Shust 

 

Last week, I spent a great deal of time talking to clients, partners and colleagues about mobile. Seems like everyone in the U.S. is interested in mobile experiences again. Why is that? The iPhone, The Olympics, Ralph Lauren’s new mobile site? I’m not sure, but I can tell you the space is hot. Problem is, mobile tends to cool down quickly when you worry about the customer experience. We want to reach the widest applicable audience and we tend to agonize over the stats. What percentage of mobile phone users text? What percentage have unlimited data plans? How many use the mobile web regularly? If we get past those numbers (and some of us don’t) we worry about how to engage them. Will the user text a number to a short code? Depends. Will they type in your mobile site’s address? Probably not.

Here is something to remember…every single one of the roughly 254 million cell phone users in the United States have one thing in common. Their devices can send and receive voice calls. Start there. Look at great services like ChaCha and Jott. Think about expert assistance and point of sale shopabilty. Try using voice as a way to start an experience that leads to a text message, offer or the link to your mobile site.

Hang on a sec. I gotta get this call.

Tagged as: O.P.E.N., mobile, on-demand, personal

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