The number of internet connections via smartphones and tablets is growing at a tremendous rate. More than Five hundred million new devices were connected to the Internet last year. 7.4 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by the end of this year - more than the planet's population. Cisco Visual Study Networking Index (VNI) even predicts that by 2020 it will be at about 5.2 billion people connected to the Internet via mobile phones. Mobile marketing is a reality. We asked the industry leaders how the market is ready for mobile marketing.
Questions
1) According to the latest surveys, by the end of 2015, almost 1 billion users will be connected to the Internet worldwide via mobile devices. Is the Slovak market ready for mobile marketing?
2) How do you perceive the growing trend of using smartphones in your business?
3) Do you think the behavior of users on the website is different on a mobile device?
4) Are you preparing or offering mobile applications to your clients?
5) Mobile payments are more popular among the younger generation (Millennials). Are you considering applications that will allow your clients to use mobile payments?
Mr. Robert Trubac, Head of Marketing at CSOB
1) Yes, I consider the market is ready. Professional conferences can help the market in this area in this area as well. (e.g., the recent 5th annual conference on mobile marketing in Slovakia Morulezz 2015). Thanks to these events, people learn about experiences, gain valuable information from experts from abroad, and transform them into #mobile #development marketing in Slovakia.
2) Very positive. We have been offering the ČSOB smart banking mobile application to our clients since 2011. Every year we record an increase in active users of the application by approximately 100%. Every fifth user of #electronic #banking uses internet banking on a mobile device through this application. Now, the number of logins to the mobile application is higher per month than internet banking itself.
3) Users of the ČSOB smart banking mobile application log in to it more often than internet banking users. The current ratio is 18: 6 logins per month. The reason is the availability of the application whenever and wherever the client is. At the same time, the intuitiveness and ease of use are positive.
4) Yes. Already three years ago, we launched the ČSOB smart banking application, which we are constantly improving. Gradually, various functions are added to it, which enable our clients to carry out daily payment operations. Today, it is possible to execute payment orders, scan bar / QR codes, scan IBAN, make free extraordinary mortgage payments, take out travel insurance, etc. Our goal is to move the application further and make life easier for our clients (and non-clients) and their financial contact with the bank. We currently offer clients the ČSOB smart banking application compatible with three operating systems: iOS, Android, and Windows phone, with #phone and #tablet platforms. Proof of the quality of our application is also several professional awards that we won during the application's existence on the Slovak market. For all of them, I can mention the most recent ones, when ČSOB smart banking became in the Appsrulezz 2015 evaluation: The second best application in Slovakia in the category of #branded #applications and the second-best application in Slovakia in the smartphone app category. In addition, ČSOB became the 2nd best app developer of the year in Slovakia, according to this evaluation
5) Yes, our bank considers the use of this technology soon.
Mr. Miroslav Mikus, EMEA Sales and Marketing Director, ESET
1) I think Slovakia is ready for mobile marketing. There are specific differences between mature markets such as the United Kingdom or Germany and our Slovak market. I see the main difference in the "Cost per acquisition. " In terms of acceptance of mobile marketing by users, the level is comparable.
2) This trend affects us significantly. Many users use #tablets and #mobile devices to access the Internet. Almost 80% of emails are open firstly on mobile devices (mobile phones, tablets). Many users still shop more over the computer than over mobile devices. In our view, in both cases, the issue of #security is neglected. Companies approach security more responsibly; they are more concerned with protection. The average user takes this issue slightly less seriously.
3) With a PC, the user is more aware and cautious, careful to "phishing" or other forms of attacks. For mobile devices, on the other hand, the user is less cautious and aware. With a PC, users realize the threat. The percentage of awareness is lower for mobile devices, but we expect this will change in the future. We think the number of attacks on mobile devices running on Android will keep growing, so the user needs to think about their safety now.
4) We have Android applications that have received worldwide awards. They protect clients, help, e.g., find a lost phone, erase content when you lose your cell phone, or other features that increase your phone's security. We are working on an #application for parents called #parental #control. The application can tell the parent where the child is, etc. We have released a new application for a remotely manageable company so that the administrator can manage the security of company phones conveniently remotely.
5) We focus on #securing #devices, including mobile phones and tablets, so that users can use them safely. It, of course, also applies to mobile payments.
Mr. Radoslav Barka, Head of Marketing, Orange
1) From the point of view of mobile marketing, the Slovak market is attractive in several respects. The essential precondition for #mobile #marketing is the penetration of "smart" mobile devices on the market, and here Slovakia copies Western Europe with only a relatively small time delay. However, Slovaks do not use #smartphones or tablets so naturally, to such an extent as people in the West. It does not help the marketers in our market. However, it is only a matter of time as the services or applications on which mobile marketing is running will find their path to Slovaks. For this reason, mobile marketing and its potential cannot be overlooked right now.
2) Our company directly supports the current market trends in the growth of mobile devices through its range of services and equipment. As in any innovation, there is vast potential. In addition, the current course in the development of smartphones and their utilization supports innovative companies from non-traditional telco businesses such as #cloud, #VoIP, marketing, and others.
3) The customer does not want to change behavior concerning the device, and it is critical to bring the customer such an experience. The future belongs to those companies that understand that mobile devices will play a key role in #customer #behavior (e.g., in the e-shop). The client does not want and will not wish to complain about his/her life by completing the purchase on a PC if he/she has a mobile device in hand. Google admitted since April degrades search sites that are not optimized for mobile devices. It is a big milestone and significant underlining of where the future lies.
4) Yes, we have several applications that our customers significantly facilitate to get the information they are looking for, or #increase the #comfort of using our services.
5) Yes. Our honest intention is to make life easier for our customers in each related domain and mobile payments. However, I am convinced that it is necessary to look for solid and universal solutions to address the critical mass needed to develop the #solution.
Mr. Martin Kaniansky, E-Commerce Director, Sygic
1) The key to developing the #mobile #marketing market is smartphone penetration and mobile internet access technologies. Both of these areas have been underway on the Slovak market for a long time, and their further development will only help the growth of mobile marketing. However, the mobile Internet will affect many more industries than we can imagine. Thanks to globally successful applications, our company is one of the market leaders. Other industries where we expect significant development of mobile technologies are the automotive segments, thanks to #connected #vehicles. We believe that the mobile phone is the main element of the Connected cars solution. Our Sygic Car Navigation application is the first application globally that brings mobile connection thanks to Mirrorlink technology with an onboard system screen. The possibility of navigation and traffic news is moving a step further due to smartphone connection to mobile Internet.
2) With more than 85 million application downloads, Sygic is one of the world's leading mobile application developers. Hence the development of mobile technologies, both the arrival of new devices and the further development of the mobile Internet, helps us grow our business. We are also seeing a significant increase in the use of #mobile #phones by customers. As well as rapid innovations to which users gain additional opportunities to use their mobile phones and tablets.
3) Since a mobile phone or tablet are personal devices, it will become the primary device for accessing websites and applications. We already have almost 60% of visits from mobile devices on our website, which is why we follow the mobile-first strategy in our marketing communication. Logically, we follow our product strategy of mobile application development to focus primarily on mobile device users.
4) We are the creator of the world's most downloaded offline navigation Sygic GPS Navigation. In 2009, we were the first company to introduce navigation for iPhone users, which almost immediately became one of the most successful applications in the world. In a few months, we repeated the success with the release of navigation for #Android users. Today, more than 150,000 customers download our applications every day, and in June 2015, we expect to exceed 100 million installations of our mobile applications. Worldwide, we ranked second in the navigation and travel category, right behind Google.
5) By allowing customers to purchase the Premium version in our applications, we have been following developments in #mobile #payments for a long time. We work with the most successful and most used payment providers and enable our customers to use these popular services.
A series of MENITY Leaders Talk interviews.
Interviews by Mr. Nemcok, a partner at MENITY.
Pictures © Robert Trubac; Miroslav Mikus; Radoslav Barka; Martin Kaniansky.