The theme of this year's WFA Convention was "Fired Up." (Photo by WFA)
REPORTING FROM ANAHEIM, CALIF. — You can’t deny the stats. And the stats all point to mobile. In the last year, websites have seen a 50-percent increase in mobile sessions, with 80 percent of entertainment ticket buyers consulting their phones during the ticket purchase process. Because of this, mobile is definitely not a fad and mobile optimization is a must. Google now even ranks your website based on how mobile friendly it is. If you don’t have a mobile optimized website, you won’t have a good chance of showing up high in the search results. They do that because more people are searching using their phones than they are on desktops.
“It’s something we can’t ignore anymore as we think about how our fans and customers are interacting with our content,” said Amanda Severs, director of Client Services with Rockhouse Partners. She, along with senior account manager Zack Wright, talked all things mobile at the Western Fairs Association Convention in here Jan 3-6.
Google came out with the idea of Micro-Moments that occur during a customer’s online journey. These four moments are: I want to know, I want to go, I want to do and I want to buy. When it comes to mobile optimization, it’s essentially looking at how to be as effective as possible in touching each customer at these key moments. For fairs and other events, the main Micro-Moments are I want to know and I want to buy.
“The translation is how are people finding out about my fair, how are they learning about events that are going on?” said Severs. “Generally that starts with search. More and more people are finding ways to attend and buy tickets through a search engine like Google. And then, after that, it’s I want to buy, so how can I purchase a ticket? I found the event, now how do I actually convert? How do I follow through and purchase the ticket?”
Half of search traffic happens on mobile devices, something that’s obvious from the number of people you see with their heads bowed over their screens while out in public.
“Whether people are researching what might be going on at the fair and what entertainment is coming — the I want to know moments — or trying to buy tickets to it — the I want to go moments — we want to make sure all of that is optimized for a small, mobile screen,” said Wright.
Mobile doesn’t just mean changes to how we market, but it has also brought changes to the way people browse the internet. People spend almost 20 percent less time per visit.
“With less time being spent on your site, you want to make sure people find what they’re looking for or else they’re just going to give up and go elsewhere,” said Wright. “Especially with tickets being sold, you want to make sure they find that front and center so they can start the process of whether they’re going to purchase them or not.”
The shorter website visits ring true for emails as well, with people spending an average of three seconds scanning emails on their phones. With such a short window, you want to make sure you present your content in a way that they can still consume but in a shorter amount of time. And if you’re selling tickets, this means a clear call to action, like a giant “buy tickets” button.
With attention spans getting shorter by the minute, an email’s subject line becomes an increasingly competitive space. One thing Severs said they’ve found a lot of success with is using emojis in the subject line. It’s eye catching on a small, mobile screen and brings a higher open rate. She suggested A/B testing it through your email provider before putting it to use.
Another piece of mobile strategy is onsite activation. Over 30 percent of fans aged 18-34 spend half their time at concerts or live events on their phones. Wifi then becomes a valuable incentive to customers who want to go online while at your fair or event. It also provides a way to meet the unknown ticket holder. An average online order is three tickets purchased by one person, which means you have information for only one person out of the three that are attending your event. Onsite contesting or implementing a Wifi program that requires an email address are some ways to get that information.
“What do people want to do onsite?” asked Severs. “They want to be able to go online, share photos and talk to their friends. The likelihood of them submitting their information to access the internet is pretty high.”
Severs and Wright offered these five steps to getting started with mobile optimization for your event:
1. Perform a search for your fair or event on a mobile device. Don’t just search for your event specifically, but search for keywords associated with your event to see how you rank in the search results.
2. Visit your website and try to purchase a ticket. Does it look good on a mobile device? Is it easy to navigate? How many steps does it take to purchase a ticket?
3. Test everything on your phone. Don’t forget about email. See what your emails look like in an email application.
4. Look at your Google Analytics every week. You can even schedule reports to be emailed to you regularly.
5. Explore third party options. When it comes to onsite data capturing, research third party providers that are able to help with that.
Interviewed for this story: Amanda Severs and Zack Wright, (615) 873-0924