With more consumers buying smartphones, now is the time to optimize

If brands aren’t already fine-tuning their messages for mobile devices, now is the time to begin doing so. A new report from Juniper Research suggests that more than 250 million smartphones were shipped in the third quarter of 2013, which marks a 50 percent year-over-year growth rate as well as a new quarterly record.

A variety of factors have driven this growth, from the greater availability of low-end smartphone models for people who don’t want to pay for high-end devices to the gradually improving economy that is allowing customers to spend more of their money on luxury commodities. However, all of that is irrelevant to marketers and advertisers – the important takeaway for them is that more people are using smartphones on a daily basis, so brands need ensure their messages are being tailored to these devices.

The importance of mobile optimization

Businesses are beginning to realize the importance of mobile as a channel, but few are actually devoting the proper amount of resources needed to utilize smartphones and tablets effectively. This results in content that can be displayed on mobile devices, but may not look right or take advantage of the many features unique to the channel. As many advertisers will admit, this kind of approach can often hinder the results of campaigns.

For example, say a company used email advertising to engage relevant customers. If customers opened these messages from their phones, the ad unit might not be displayed accurately on the screen – it could be entirely too small or bleed off the edge of the screen, rendering it unreadable. In essence, this brand has just purchased a wasted impression, as the customer in question isn’t likely to purchase a product or service after seeing this advertisement.

This is why optimization is so important. If that company had optimized their email advertising efforts for specific smartphones and tablets, they could have reached a high-value prospect with an incredibly relevant display. They could have even gone one step further by adding functions such as “push to call,” thereby enhancing the interactivity of their efforts by catering to the special features of smartphones.

More people may be buying smartphones, but that doesn’t mean advertisers should just throw this channel into the mix – advertisements need to be optimized to these devices to maximize success.