[Infographic] Meeting the demands of the consumer: smartphones and customer behaviour

Only a fool would claim the smartphone hasn’t transformed life throughout the world. Statistics suggest the percentage of people who check their handheld devices within just 15 minutes of waking up in the morning is a staggering 68%. That’s more than two in every three people. Mobile users also check their devices up to 150 times a day. Yes, really!

When you look at the facts, the reality is staggering. Yet, so fundamental has the smartphone become in our everyday lives, it’s now playing a critical role in how we buy things – how we search for items, how we purchase them and what we expect from the customer journey.

The facts don’t lie

In the US alone, within the last six months, 62% of all smartphone users have made a purchase online – in total there are 190.5 million US smartphones owners. Quite frankly, that’s hardly surprising, as more than half (51%) of all users claim to have found either a new product or company while searching on their device, while two thirds of them (66%) admit to turning to their device to learn more about a product after having watched a TV commercial and a whopping 82% of them even consult their smartphone before making a purchase in a store.

As our infographic ‘How does mobile commerce impact consumer behaviour’ points out, there’s no turning back now – the digital revolution has fundamentally, completely infiltrated the customer experience. So if, as a hotelier or any sort of business owner, you’re not on that bandwagon, the necessity to jump on it (or improve your digital/ smartphone engagement) is of paramount importance.

Time to improve your smartphone engagement?

Just consider this, when they negatively rate their brand experience via smartphone, more than six in every 10 users (62%) are less likely to use or purchase something from that brand again. And this is something that no owner of a boutique to medium-sized hotel can let happen – repeat business is absolutely critical to such accommodation the world over.

Impressing and providing the guest with a good experience is the name of the game and, in today’s digitised world, that doesn’t start when they walk through the front door and arrive at reception; it starts when they discover and engage with a hotel’s presence online. The world’s changing and, digitally speaking, ever evolving; like it or not, all hoteliers simply have to get with it.