Why should marketing resources in higher education be invested in mobile communications? This pre-conference tutorial explores the major issues from mobile apps vs. mobile websites to the simplicity of web design to top tasks for mobile and more. Research findings and examples from higher education websites are used throughout.

1. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 1 Mobile Communication Challenges in Higher Education: Issues, Perils, Potential©Robert E. Johnson, Ph.D. 2011 J.Boye Philadelphia 2011 - #jboye11 May 3-5, 2011 Philadelphia, PA

2. 2 Who is Bob Johnson, Ph.D.?www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com 2 Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC Website research… partner w/Gerry McGovern at Customer Carewords, Ltd “Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter”… 4,100 subscribers @highedmarketing… 3,600 Twitter followers “Higher Education Marketing” blog Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education… chair, 1994 to 2003 Ph.D. UMass Amherst… political science

3. Part I: An Overview Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 3

4. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 4 6 perils with anything online… People are impatient People are impatient People are impatient People are impatient People are impatient People are impatient Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

6. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 9 Mobile App vs. Mobile Website Mobile App Different apps for different devices How will people find your app? Not easy to update Higher performance possible/Easier use Mobile Website Access from any mobile device Can find using “search” Easy to update Will perform as well as you build it/Not great right now

8. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 13 Make things easy on mobile is a special challenge… “The Internet should work like it does on PC screens.”

9. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 14 Can we meet this challenge? “As you go to site XYZ it will automatically create a single-column, mobile-friendly view that has navigation scaled to produce videos or slideshows so users won’t have to pinch or scan or scroll or download an app for everything.” Robert Z. Samuels, director of mobile product development, New York Times

10. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 15 The NY Times on mobile…

11. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 16 Part II:Tales from the Research (1) Pew Internet & American Life Project, (2) E-Expectations,(3) Jakob Nielsen, (4) CCI web visitor surveys

12. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 17 1. Pew Internet & American Life Project “Mobil Access 2010” May 2010 Research Report http://bit.ly/cqxi6D

13. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 18 New 2010 questions, 18+ years… Do you use your phone to… Send a photo or video? 54% Access a social networking site?23% Watch a video? 20% Purchase a product? 11% Give to a charity? 11%

14. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 19 “Young adults” 18 to 29… Heavy use of “mobile” in many areas… Send/receive text messages… 95% Take a photo.. 93% Access Internet… 65% Send/receive email… 52% Use social networking site… 48% Still low in some areas Purchased a product… 20%

15. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 20 2. E-Expectations Survey 2010 College bound high school seniors Noel-Levitz & friends http://bit.ly/dvQldm

16. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 21 Mobile-related findings… 24% would drop a college after a poor web experience Most desired content: Information on academics… 54% List of academic programs… 28% Cost related information… 30% Surprise? 23% have searched college websites from smartphones◄

17. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 22 Most desired interactive tasks… The top 4 favored online tasks: Online application… 91% Campus visit request form… 77% Cost calculator… 68%◄ Online course catalog… 67%◄

18. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 23 Text vs. email messages… 70% will give an email address to a college 43% as an inquiry 36% as an applicant 78% use text messaging 67% said no contact from colleges 15% said text OK from an admissions rep they were working with◄

19. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 24 3. Jakob Nielsen “Mobile User Experience Is Miserable” July 2009 Alertbox http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-usability.html

20. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 25 Main mobile challenges… 4 major problems Small screens Awkward input Slow downloads Poor design for mobile Impact on task completion 80% success on regular websites from a PC 59% success from a mobile phone

21. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 26 Reason for optimism… Task success was higher at sites designed for mobile access… 64% task completion at “sites for mobile” 53 % task completion at regular websites Larger screen = more success Regular cell phones… 38% success Regular smartphones… 55% success Touch screen phones… 75% success◄

22. 4. Customer Centric Index (CCI) web visitor surveys in 2011 “If we had mobile application, what kinds of information would you like to access or tasks would you like to complete…”? Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 27

23. Private university… 259 responses Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 28

24. Community college… 717 responses Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 29

25. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 30 Part III: Mobile Marketing in Higher Education

26. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 31 1. Direct marketing focus… Inquiries from mobile at Kettering University

27. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 32 The first image… while it loads

28. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 33 At the site… who fits at Kettering

29. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 34 Very simple enrollment inquiry…

30. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 35 Immediate email response…

31. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 36 Email links to admissions entry page…http://www.kettering.edu/futurestudents/

32. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 37 2. Task oriented home page design… Focus on internal & external users is a special challenge…

33. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 38 A task-oriented home page…

34. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 39 No “finger flicking” here…

35. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 40 Easy to scan academic majors…

36. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 41 Clean, simple program page…

37. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 42 3. Text messaging to increase enrollment conversion… Text messaging each month as the recruitment cycle unfolds

39. Increase conversion of a group with high conversion potentialBob Johnson Consulting, LLC 43

40. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 44 Key: Opt-in database…http://www.stmarytx.edu/admission/?go=mobileupdates

41. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 45 High interest students said “OK”… % of inquiries opting for text updates… 4% (1,416 of 35,606) % of applicants opting for text updates… 42% (1,140 of 3,720) % of deposits opting for text updates… 47% (269 of 578)

42. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 46 Yield: Inquiry to Applicant Percent who applied Inquiries who opted-in for text updates Overall inquiries 46 Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

43. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 47 Yield: Inquiry to Deposit Percent who deposited Overall inquiries Inquiries who opted-in for text updates 47 Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

44. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 48 Not yet applied for admission… “Be early, catch the worm. Submit ur admission application by Jan 15 for priority consideration. Get info at www.stmarytx.edu/admission.”

45. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 49 Join our online community… “Cre8 a profile on the St Marys online community at www.BeARattler.com by Feb 1 to be entered to get ur $200 enrollment deposit waived!”

46. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 50 FAFSA priority deadline… “This is last weekend 2 finish priority FAFSA. Go 2 www.fafsa.ed.gov to submit b4 Mon Feb 15 to make sure we get results in time. StMary code is 003623”

47. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 51 Merit scholarship award… “Bob, UR hard work has paid off! Congrats on getting a merit scholarship! Learn more about financial aid at www.stmarytx.edu/finaid.”

48. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 52 Register for Orientation… “Bob, R u ready 4 Orientation? Sign-up is now open. Go to https://gateway.stmarytx.edu. We R lookin 4ward to seeing u on campus!”

49. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 53 Part IV: Future Mobile Marketing Perils Legal & Technical

50. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 54 Continuing provider challenges… Multiple providers build “walled gardens”… Apple Google Blackberry Microsoft Multiple standards for ads, apps, displays More cost to implement mobile program

51. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 55 Legal challenges… Must have consent for SMS messages Even if someone has already signed for email Visible “small print” cost disclosures Verizon agreed to 12 pt. font settlement Likely: easy to find, understand “stop sending” option

52. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 56 Technical challenges… Usability… Visitor experience will determine success NY Times is right… “easy as access from a PC” is the goal We are not there yet But we are moving in that direction Nielsen smartphone research is encouraging

53. Management challenges… Content… Content is added to websites, seldom removed Most web content is irrelevant to most people Silly to make all “traditional” website content “mobile friendly”… no resources for that But what content to leave behind? Will that decision hinder mobile-friendly websites? Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 57

54. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 58 Video challenges… Might be an important element, but… Data plane expense might limit use past “early adopters” Video done for regular websites may not play well on smartphones Video users will demand rapid play

55. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 59 Part IV:Sources of Information to Follow

56. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 60 Mobile Marketing Association…http://mmaglobal.com/policies

57. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 61 Mobile Marketer… http://www.mobilemarketer.com/

58. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 62 Mongoose Research…http://www.mongooseresearch.com/

59. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 63 Jakob Nielsen Usability Report…http://www.nngroup.com/reports/mobile/

60. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 64 Bob Johnson’s marketing blog…http://www.bobjohnsonblog.com/mobile-marketing/

61. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 65 Mobile in Higher Ed blog…http://www.dmolsen.com/mobile-in-higher-ed/

62. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 66 MIT Open Source code for mobile…http://sourceforge.net/projects/mitmobileweb/

63. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 67 Thank You!Bob Johnson, Ph.D.PresidentBob Johnson Consulting, LLCMarshall, MI 49068 248.766.6425 bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.comCustomer Carewords Website Research www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com