Reports are showing web surfing via mobile devices has risen dramatically over the past year. Most of this activity is attributed to the launch of Apple’s original iPhone in the summer of 2007. The increase in mobile traffic is due to the iPhone users to surf regular sized web sites and then zoom into areas of interest. Though this is great news to marketers, who have been promised mobile audiences of significant numbers by wireless providers for some time, there are some user interface issues to consider.
Steven Baldwin makes some great points in his blog posting, “The Hidden Minefields of Mobile Searching” on mobile user interface pitfalls as they apply to marketing campaigns. He spent a couple of weeks searching the web via an Apple iPod Touch, and provides some feedback on how online text and banner ads work (or not) on smaller, multi-touch screens. The main points:
1. The nature of the touch sensitive screen, combined with entire web page being fully displayed often leads to errant clicks by the user – the screen is small and fingers are big. Translation: marketers paying by the click will be charged for mistaken clicks – especially in text ads, which appear very small in pre-zoom views.
2. Thanks to the new ability to zoom in on parts of the screen, elements on the right side of the web page often get pushed off the screen after a zoom. Translation: marketers with ads in the right margin of the web page – often banners - could be paying for the delivery of ads that are never seen by the user.
3. In the case of Apple devices, the default Google mobile search page assigned to the Safari browser has fewer ad spaces available. Translation: marketers competing for fewer mobile ad slots will increase the cost of the ad placements over time.
These issues affect all online marketing campaigns, no matter if they are targeted at specific mobile users or not. The action points then to consider are these:
- Even though Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch can handle web pages designed to be viewed on full-sized computers, marketers need to be aware their campaigns can be affected by multi-touch user interface issues. They may want to consider breaking out statistics for mobile users to see if issues like errant clicks are affecting their campaign ROI. Marketers may still want to consider putting some of their marketing dollars on web sites designed for mobile devices – even if their costs are higher.
- If your campaign appeals to or is specifically targeted for mobile users, text ads should be a smaller part of the mobile market mix to avoid paying for errant clicks and to have a better impact on smaller screens.
- Whenever possible, placement of ads should be specified on the left side of the screen (and as high on the screen as possible). This will prevent ads from being missed following a zoom by the user. This is of more importance if you have a mobile targeted campaign. The ability to do this may vary from publisher to publisher.
As Apple prepares to launch their new and improved iPhone, at a lower price, and with an increased connection speed, we can assume mobile browsing will only rise. In the short term, this means the Apple, multi-touch interface is the one to focus on for US-centered mobile campaigns (let’s not forget the new Blackberry models also). For mobile campaigns that are multi-national, it is important to consider user interfaces and mobile web browsers for devices from other manufacturers. As we better understand the significance of these multi-touch UI issues, it is hoped that publishers will make changes available in their ad placement programs to enhance effectiveness of ads for mobile users.
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