LeadsCon East 2012: PC vs. Mobile
By Franklin A. Ross, CEO of Knowyourbank.com
This was my first time at Leadscon and it was a great experience. We came to Leadscon East 2012 with a young product and a young company not knowing many people in the industry, and we left New York feeling that we had made a lot of new friends and business contacts. The conference gave us an improved view of the industry landscape and many new ideas about our go to market strategy, especially on the emerging importance of Mobile and how it will change lead gen on the web.
Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson on Mobile vs. PC:
There were some great speakers at Leadscon East 2012, my personal favorite was Jeff Lawson the CEO of Twilio. The focus of Jeff’s speech was the difference between Mobile and PC users. In his talk he laid out very succinctly why Mobile users have a very different experience with Lead Gen sites. He said consumers on Mobile are not interested in writing out forms they can barely see, rather they want to consume information, and if they are going to do something using Mobile they want it to be easy and fast. On the other hand Jeff said that PC users have different interests and capabilities and are willing to fill out forms in the classic way – the only problem is that more and more people are using their phones for all their computing needs. Mr. Lawson put up Jack Dorsey, as an example of the way users are changing their computer habits, saying that Dorsey had said recently that he had not used a PC in one three week period rather using his Mobile devices (that doesn’t mean he doesn’t use a desktop ever). The main point of Jeff’s speech was that Mobile users are consumers of information while PC users are doers. If your site is only using classic lead forms then it may suffer in a world where people are less likely to touch their PC.
My view on the effect of Mobile user growth on lead gen sites is nuanced. I agree with Jeff that there are major changes ahead for lead gen sites that rely solely on form fills that are not adaptive to mobile. Also, I think that those who make the move to superior mobile apps that allow their users to access their site on the go and give them what they want with ease and speed will be ahead of the game. At the same time the PC is not dead yet, and plenty of people will continue to fill out forms and take actions as they have in the past. What is important is to begin thinking about what your mobile strategy will look like.
Jeff’s talk made me think deeply about how we, at Knowyourbank, planned to connect consumers with the banks that they were interested in. For Knowyourbank.com to be the leader in this space we are going to have to try new ways of connecting people, and with the increase in Mobile users it is not going to be just through form fills. I have to say, just hearing Jeff’s talk made going to Leadscon worthwhile and will help us succeed in the future by seeing “where the ball is going and not where it is.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Knowyourbank.com was started in September of 2011, our first phase launched in early March of 2012. Knowyourbank’s first phase was a product that gave consumers a fast and easy way to see how safe their bank or credit union was. Our second phase, which will be launching in early September, is a social engagement platform that connects consumers with banks. Our mission is to help people find the best bank or credit union for them. We help consumers do this by allowing them to find trusted reviews through their social graph and then act upon their intent. If you go to our site today just remember big changes are coming soon.
