Integrating Mobile Technology into Customer Service

Today, 52% of the population have smartphones, of whom over 94% are expected to use smartphones in searching for local business, according to a recent newsletter I received from the California Lodging Industry Association.  Many OTAs (online travel agents such as Expedia.com and Priceline.com) and entrepreneurs are getting into the “app business,” and they are doing very well (as suggested in the Bloomberg video).  Hotels and restaurants for sure would also like to have a piece of the pie. 

Indeed, many hotels follow the SoLoMo (Social, Local, and Mobile) movement and have introduced many mobile apps.  The big hotel groups, for example, all have mobile apps, allowing customers to search and make reservations using mobile devices; but at the same time, there are also other apps for different hotel brands within the same hotel group and even apps for individual properties.  Moreover, there are concierge (service) apps for luxury and upper upscale brands.  Really?  Does a hotel group need that many apps?  Will customers get confused in front of “the sea of mobile apps?”  If people are not using those apps, how much can mobile technology help hotels improve customer satisfaction and business?

To provide customers exceptional “total guest experience,” hotels must ensure high service quality when customers search information prior to purchase (i.e., “search quality”), when they actually make a purchase and stay in the hotel (i.e., “experience quality”), and even after they leave the hotel (i.e., “credence quality”).  Most mobile apps that are available in the app store right now, however, only have one focus on either search quality or experience quality.  Personally, I have not seen a mobile app that truly integrates technology into all three stages of service quality.  As a traveler, I would prefer one powerful app that provides me the total guest experience.  With this powerful app, I can search and make reservations on my phone, check into a hotel with the same app, use the same app to request anything I need during my stay, such as wake-up calls, extra towels, and room service, and lastly use the same app to retrieve and track the information of my previous stays and/or complaints.  Am I asking for too much?

I am not sure if hotels have the mindset of competing with OTAs when they invest in mobile apps.  I hope they don’t.  Because without the big picture of providing exceptional total guest experience, they will never be able to develop a powerful mobile app that truly integrates mobile technology into customer service, and they will not be able to compete with those OTAs that are specialized in “search experience.”

Do you use any hotel (or restaurant) mobile apps?  How do you like or dislike those apps?  What can hotels (or restaurants) do to improve customers’ mobile app experience? 

 

Some relevant discussions within this blog: 

SoLoMo for Social Media Strategists 

 “SoLoMo”and Legislation

Is It a Good Business Strategy to Offer Phone-Free Discount?

Renaissance Hotels Replaced Concierge with “Navigator”

References:

The picture was downloaded from BlogOnline.co.uk.

Smartphones: An Effective Means for Employee Recruitment

SoLoMo – Social, Local, and Mobile – is not a trend; it is happening right now on this moment. If a company does not have a clear SoLoMo strategy or a mobile-optimized website by now, the company has fallen behind in competition.

I am an optimistic person and thus believe many companies have already taken SoLoMo seriously. Otherwise, they have probably been defeated by their competitors who embrace SoLoMo. My real concern is that not every company has an integrated SoLoMo strategy. Often, companies pay close attention to SoLoMo’s effect on sales and marketing. A true integrated strategy, however, must include every facet of business operations into considerations.

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported a story that highlighted the SoLoMo’s impact on employee recruitment. According to this report, mobile devices will outpass desktops/laptops and become Americans’ preferred method for accessing the internet by 2015. Among the Fortune 500 companies, 167 (33%) have already had career portals that are optimized to fit in a smartphone screen. A year ago, only 65 companies did so.

McDonald’s and Macy’s are the two examples cited in the report. McDonald’s launched its mobile career site back in 2008.  At that time, three million people visited the mobile site and 24,000 actually submitted an application on the mobile site. By 2012, McDonald’s received two million applications, with a record of 30 million visits of its mobile career site. Today, McDonald’s mobile career site brings over 10% of applications to the company.

Macy’s tested its mobile-optimized career page in 2011 with selected positions like software developers and marketers before the company rolled out a mobile page for hourly employees in 2012. Today, Macy’s receive 20-25% of applications from its mobile career page.

Recently, Convenience Store Decisions and Humetrics conducted a national human resource (HR) survey with nearly 100 convenience store chains, representing 12,000 stores in the U.S. The results also support SoLoMo’s impact on HR operations, including:

• The two most effective recruiting tools for hourly employees are in-store ads or outdoor signage and employee referral program. For salaried positions, internet job boards and company websites become the two most effective methods.
• Social media are being used in recruitment by 28% of respondents, significantly higher than what was reported in 2012 (2%).
• The usage of CraigsList for recruiting hourly employees increased from 21% in 2011 to 25% in 2012 (Craigslist also has a mobile app).
• Only 5% stores are using social media sites for screening now, but another 5% plan to add checking social media sites as a screening method in 2013.
• About 22% suggested they will adopt new training technologies, such as e-Learning, Webinars, learning management systems, smartphones, iPad, PC, among many others.

Another market-research report by Nielsen found that 63% of Americans use mobile devices to access social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn (Weber, 2013). Mobile devices indeed provide a great means for companies to reach potential candidates. To embrace SoLoMo, some employers also use QR codes and text-messaging in mobile recruiting.

One challenge of doing mobile recruiting, however, is that mobile-optimized career sites might not be as easy to navigate as the sites on laptops/desktops (Weber, 2013). Regardless, SoLoMo in HR is happening now.

Do you think SoLoMo will play an even more important role in HR? How about its impact on other areas of business operations? How can businesses respond to the SoLoMo movement? Referring to your personal experience, for what purposes do you use mobile devices? Do you believe your smartphone can help you find a job in the future? Why or why not?

Relevant Discussion: 
SoLoMo for Social Media Strategists

HR Challenges Created by Social Media 

Hiring Created Minds as the Chief Innovative Officer  

References:

Kleiman, Mel. (April, 2013). The 2013 convenience store human resources study. Convenience Store Decisions, 24(4), p. 26-30.

Weber, Lauren. (April 24, 2013). How your smartphone could get you a job: McDonald’s, Macy’s customize their career sites, but most companies aren’t moving fast enough. The Wall Street Journal, retrieve online on April 24, 2013 via http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323551004578441130657837720.html

The picture was downloaded from teczealots.com

SoLoMo for Social Media Strategists

A successful social media strategy must integrate three key components: “social,” “local,” and “mobile.” According to a recent special report in the Nation’s Restaurant News, $159 billion of U.S. retail sales in 2012 were influenced by SoLoMo. Over 116 million people own smartphones. In July 2012 alone, 90 million American had accessed retail information on their mobile devices. Additionally, 38% of mobile users opted in to receive location-based promotional text messages and that 18% used a location-based social media app such as Foursqure to check in at a venue. How can any business come up with an excuse of not participating in SoLoMo?

The following include some best practices and direct quotes from the report. For example, Texas Roadhouse initiated a “TextUs Loyalty Club” campaign. The redemption rate reached 17% during a six month trial period, much higher than those using other media sources.

Nearly two fifth of Pita Pit’s new likes came from smartphone users on Facebook’s app.

“We listened to our most passionate fans and found exciting ways to get the Cool Ranch (Doritos Locos Taco) in their hands before it was available nationwide… We doubled our YouTube views in one month and saw our engagement go through the roof… (We) start with listening to what is trending and what our consumers are saying.” --- Tressie Lieberman (@tresslieberman), Director of Digital and Social Marketing, Taco Bell, a Division of Yun! Brands Inc.

“We’re just starting to look at Vine and Instagram, and we’re asking our customers how they’d interact on that platform (Vine).” --- Caroline Masullo (@CMM2B), Director of Digital and Social Marketing, Pizza Hut, a Division of Yum! Brands Inc.

“Traffic and sales are the most critical (return on investment) measures. We also measure brand perception and likelihood to suggest the brand or menu item (to friends). We also pay close attention to how our community is growing.” --- Jill McFarland, Senior Manager of Digital and Social Media, Applebee’s, a Division of DineEquity Inc.

“Twitter is a more casual and conversational medium than Facebook and really lends itself to interacting with consumers in a fun way. A&W has such a great mascot that we want to utilize as much as possible, so why not put Rooty in charge of guest listening?” --- Rooty and Great Root Bear, Mascot and Spokesbear, A&W Restaurants Inc.

“When hired, Wion was charged with aligning McDonald’s U.S. social media strategies and tactics with U.S. and global disciplines…We have guidelines on how people talk about their jobs in their own social feeds. Our customer service team has been a part of our social media efforts from the beginning, and our insights teams work more with us, as well, taking what we monitor in social and using it to inform operations, culinary and HR.” Rick Wion, Director of Social Media, McDonald’s Corp.

As a professional in social media field, what lessons do you learn from these best examples and social media strategists? What other best examples may you share with us?

As a customer, which mobile app has the most engaging experience (with you)? What are the cool mobile apps that you are using? Do you mind recommending some of those cool apps to us?

Relevant Discussion: 

“SoLoMo”and Legislation

Is It a Good Business Strategy to Offer Phone-Free Discount?

References:

Nation’s Restaurant News. (April 15, 2013). Special Report: Harnessing the power of social media. p. 12-20.

The infographic was downloaded from Mashable.com. 

Smart Marketing with Smartphones

Photo taken from www.glamour.com/

You’re waiting in the car at the gas station. You’re bored at the doctor’s office. You’re waiting for your professor to arrive to class. You’re at a party that’s lame. What do you do? 

You do exactly what everyone else does. You reach for your phone. You check your Facebook notifications, then you check the weather for tomorrow, next you see who won the big game.The list goes on. Anything you used to do on your PC, you now have the capability of doing on your smartphone. 

There are currently 4 billion phones in use, of these 1.08 billion are smartphones. 

How many applications do you have on your smartphone? How many do you think the average person has? And, what does it take for you to download a free App or spend money to buy an App? 

According to an article written back in 2009 on CNN Money, Apple employs 40 individuals to approve Apps for the App Store. Every week, approximately 8,500 applications are submitted to this team for approval. As of September 2012, 650,000 Apps were available on the App Store. 

Photo taken from www.thebreakfast.com

So, now that you have downloaded the Twitter, Facebook, Yelp and GoogleMaps you only have 56 more to go to reach the number of Apps the average person has downloaded. 

Restaurants, movie theaters, television shows, airline carriers, travel agencies, banks and retail stores are all utilizing SMS advertising and mobile applications to generate leads, traffic and add new customers. 

But, why are companies investing billions of dollars into this new platform of advertising?

Companies understand the ROI on the mobile movement. Nine out of ten smartphone searches results in an action. For instance, going to Starbucks because FourSquare offered you a coupon or going to the movies because you watched a trailer on your Fandango App or trying a new restaurant because you saw great reviews on Yelp. 

What are your favorite Apps you have downloaded or purchased? Which Apps do you use on a daily basis? And, what companies do you think are leading the mobile movement? 

Check out this video for a better understanding of the mobile movement. 

 References:

Costello, S. (2012). How Many Apps Are in the iPhone App Store. Retrieved from http://ipod.about.com/od/iphonesoftwareterms/qt/apps-in-app-store.htm

Elmer-DeWitt, P. (2009). 40 staffers. 2 reviews. 8,500 iPhone apps per week. Retrieved from http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2009/08/21/40-staffers-2-reviews-8500-iphone-apps-per-week

 Olenski, S. (2012). American Express Looks To Shake Up Mobile Advertising. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/06/05/american-express-looks-to-shake-up-mobile-advertising/

 Perez, S. (2011). App-ocalypse. Retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/18/app-ocalypse/ 

Pham, D. (2011). Smartphone user study shows mobile movement under way. Retrieved from http://googlemobileads.blogspot.com/2011/04/smartphone-user-study-shows-mobile.html