Mobile websites have many benefits for universities wishing to reach out to young people, who are often harder to target. The 18-34 age range represents the primary driver of mobile commerce, with 29% of British consumers in this age group making transactions in the last month and 47% of UK teenagers owning a smartphone. However app usage is mixed. 20% of users return to use the app the first day after they downloaded it, at 30 days it approaches 0%.
According to IT Business Edge some of the up-coming areas for mobile devices include;
- Location based services
- Social Media
- Search
- Commerce and payment
- Context aware
- Object recognition
- Video
All for these trends can be implemented on a mobile website.
Businesses have three Mobile website delivery options to offer their goods and services to consumers:
- Native apps
- Mobile style sheets
- Mobile sub-sites
I believe that mobile apps are not the most effective way to engage consumers and prospective students when considering value for money and ease of content management, and that universities should invest in the mobile web to engage prospective students.
1. Cost
Developing a single app is expensive, particularly as each has to be built for different smartphone operating systems - Apple, Blackberry, Microsoft and Android plus others potentially. Additionally the Smartphone operating system market is constantly innovating and changing at different speeds so continuous investment to keep up will be needed
Mobile browsers are more stable with defined and adopted standards so mobile sites always perform as designed. Only one mobile website needs to be built, tested and content managed to work on all smartphones.
2. Usability
Whilst the user experience and look and feel need to be designed for apps and mobile sites, complex apps need considerable technical skills and specialised hosting.
Because mobile sites can be controlled with the Web Content Management system (WCM) it is easier to manage the user experience. The site can also be hosted on the same server infrastructure as your website. Invariably a mobile site will just utilise different templates from within your WCM.
3. Metrics
A mobile website can use the same analytics package, like Google Analytics, to measure performance. This will integrate with PC website stats and be easy to interpret and for refining user journeys. Measuring and comparing stats for apps for different devices is more problematic.
4. Accessibility
If you have apps for each type of device, you also need to ensure each is accessible. It is easy to manage mobile accessibility for digital inclusion with a web content management system. Accessibility experts, the Shaw Trust has an accreditation system that does not extend to apps but does cover mobile sites.
5. Re-designs
Re-designing apps demands launching another version and you cannot just over-write existing versions that are already installed on people's phones. The user must accept the updates and re-install it to get the new features.
With mobile sites the user always gets the latest version. This also allows designers to tweak your offering and undertake multi-variate testing to hone your conversions and funnels.
6. Search and marketing
When someone is looking for information on a course, they are more likely to search in Google for information, find a relevant site and then be persuaded to apply, rather than search directly for an app to do the same job. Mobile Search Engine Optimisation (MSEO) is a key activity and having a mobile website will boost search results significantly.
7. Social Media
Social Media works much more smoothly in mobile website. Like and share buttons are easy to add and change to allow users to push your content out, or you can allow people to post to your site. Mobile sites can also be shared via email/test message and social networks which help them spread virally. Apps cannot be shared in this way.
Posted by Pete Stevens 8th December 2011
