Why mobile first should be the last approach

SBC affiliate correspondent Marc Pedersen explains why the industry needs to broaden its focus away from the mobile channel.

I was fortunate enough to attend the EGR Power 50 Affiliates Summit this week, although with Chatham House Rules in place I can’t go into too many details about what was discussed there. However I did come away with a sense of feeling that while the mobile platform is obviously a key driver for the industry at the moment, some companies are missing out when they almost solely focus on the mobile channel.

From several conversations that I had, it seems to me that the industry is stuck in ‘mobile first’ thinking, which is the wrong way to view how a customer interacts with brands online. It’s understandable how this mindset has come about, with Ladbrokes increasing its sign-up rate by 50% with a new sportsbook app and William Hill announcing 166% growth in mobile gaming net revenue and a doubling of mobile sportsbook turnover. But it misses the point.

I think it makes little sense to focus only on mobile first. It should be about overall reach and creating a combined experience for the user. Mobile is important, but is it more important than other devices?

According to Google and LiveRamp, 90% of users finish their activities on another device than where they started it. This means that the customer experience needs to be coherent and consistent across all platforms. The industry needs to take a multi-device approach, and not view mobile, tablet and PC as three individual categories, developed by different specialist teams. They are interconnected – thus adverts and campaigns should work on all channels and all devices, not just focus on one.

If a customer is unimpressed at the standard of content through one platform, it’s highly unlikely that they will transfer their custom to another one. It is time customers were viewed as a single entity with several different touch points, rather than be categorised as ‘mobile customers’ or ‘desktop users’. That approach doesn’t acknowledge the multi-device world we now live in and ultimately means that potential revenue could be lost.

That’s not to say that different approaches to different channels are not appropriate; indeed from an SEO perspective it will soon become ever more important. After all mobile web searches are already developing in a different way to those carried out on the web via PCs, with navigation on mobile devices, load speed etc all playing a part to subtly change behaviours. Those on the ball will be the quickest to optimise their mobile channel SEO to funnel these new search behaviours, but they will also ensure that their web-based message is consistent should these new users decide to switch onto a PC or tablet.

 

Marc Pedersen is Head of Sales for Europe’s largest sports betting portal bettingexpert.com