Communications Corner: What you need to know to take your customer communications mobile

Smartphones and tablets have become the adult equivalent of a child’s favorite toy. We take our handheld devices everywhere. If you want to get in touch with people or get them to do something, your best bet is to enlist the help of their electronic best friend/teddy bear/mailbox/appointment setter/library. This reality of depending on our smartphones and tablets 24/7 has implications for communications. You need to think about how mobile you should make your efforts and how to choose the right tools.
 
There is no shortage of ways to incorporate mobile interaction into your customers. You can:

• Text or email messages
• Create mobile-friendly webpages
• Provide apps

 
Before you jump on the fast-moving mobile movement, though, do some thinking, planning, and due diligence.

• Find out from customers what, if anything, they want available from you on their handheld devices. Conduct a survey and reassure customers that you won’t be overly intrusive when it comes to their “personal” time and devices. For example, ask people if they were to provide their cell phone numbers for texting purposes, how many texts would be OK in say a month’s time.
• If you have a website, check to see if it’s mobile-friendly. A responsive design will do just what its name implies: It will respond to the type of device that is accessing the website and adjust the display accordingly. Many website content management systems make responsive design part of their offerings. If yours doesn’t, consider exploring options that do allow for responsive design.
• If you’re going to use any apps, be sure to thoroughly review them for soundness and privacy. Anyone can create an app, which means there are many from which to choose; however, that also means developers may not have the background to provide the best recommendations and/or may use the personal information that individuals provide to sell to third parties.