Speaking Sensis

Sensis’ experience of its successful foray into the mobile space was presented at the recent Digitech conference in Sydney – and it proved to be a significant reality check for someone like me.

As a web analyst for Sensis’ mobile websites and Android/iPhone applications, I am a mobile fanatic, but even I was taken aback by the overwhelming interest in the medium, with a flurry of questions throughout my presentation and many fascinating follow-up conversations.

And if the number of Twitter followers and re-tweets of the event is any indication, mobile has become way more interesting to many more people in recent years. 

Why you ask?

Well, it’s no wonder. Reports from the recent Mobile Marketing Association Forum showed that there are six times more mobile devices in Asia compared to PC’s and by 2012, Disney projects that 50% of its engagement will be via mobile devices

Also:

• 40 million in China pay to get news alerts;

• 1 in 3 Google searches are mobile in nature; and

• The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has more than 200 per cent mobile phone penetration. That’s the world’s highest, which means that on average everyone in the UAE has at least two mobile devices. 

And the list goes on!

Mobile’s unique ability to connect businesses with consumers has been expounded upon frequently over the past few years, but it’s really in 2012 that we’re finally seeing the much heralded tipping point in terms of usage. Sensis’ mobile portfolio continues to see outstanding growth and in May it saw 3 million visits during the course of the month.

So what makes mobile so unique?

Firstly, mobile is one of the most personal devices we have. It reaches us in our sleep and wakes us up. It is permanently connected and if there is one thing that we carry with us at all times, it is more than likely to be our mobile phone.

In fact, did you know that half of all Finnair passengers check in via their mobile device? And that in Kenya, there are more mobile banking accounts in than other account type.

Available at the point of creative impulse, mobile measures its audience accurately (by some estimates ten times more accurately than other media). Sophisticated tools allow Sensis to measure all high value usage activities we are delivering to advertisers and functions such as seamless click-to-call provides directions, allows details to be saved to contacts, advertiser photo galleries views and listings sharing with friends to name a few.

Mobile use will continue to grow.  In fact, Mobile usage now makes up 12 per cent of all digital usage, which is double last year’s share.

Yellow Pages® Mobile continues to deliver an outstanding experience for users. For businesses that continue to invest in the mobile space, this is good news for them. And for those business who are sitting on the fence, perhaps it’s time you searched for this, or followed this list.