Finding Customers in the Palm of your Hand

I got a sneak peak into the stats for Realtor.com’s new iPhone app this week.

Something jumped out at me from a laundry list of impressive statistics (e.g., over 100,000 downloads in the last 18 days, consumers use the app on average about twice a day; the average session time is 16.4 minutes).

iPhone users generate warmer and more actionable leads.

Let me repeat that so it sinks in:

iPhone users generate warmer and more actionable leads.

Realtor.com explained to me that this meant consumers made more phone calls per listing views when using the app. And sure, you might say, someone using a device called an iPhone is certainly more likely to make a call. But I think what’s important here is not the end result (the phone call) necessarily but the steps that consumer took to get to point.

A mobile buyer is motivated. And while this isn’t a new phenomenon, increasingly the means by which they act on that motivation is.

The mobile web is the flyer box for the 21st century

A smartphone serves up two of the most important determining attributes of marketing: location and intent. And so provides a rich opportunity for a brand to insert themselves actionably into the decision making process. Whether it’s to acquire customers for the top of the funnel or better service them at the point of sale, increasingly the smartphone is how you will reach many consumers when they are most inclined to act.

This isn’t a post about the merits of an app vs. a wap or a debate about which phone is better, a fruit or a robot. It’s simply another reminder that the mobile web is a now a very real, fast-emerging channel for advertisers and marketers to consider alongside their traditional, online and social media outlets.

Realtor.com’s stats bear this out.

I might be a broken record on this subject. But let me say it again.

iPhone users generate warmer and more actionable leads.

Need I say more?