We are a mobile society. There can’t be any doubt in anyone’s mind about this statement. Now how about this statement…”According to Google, 1/3 of people with a smartphone would give up sex instead of their phone. Sad.” This comes from Frederic Gonzalo’s key takeaways from the 2015 edition of Online Marketing Strategies in Travel. More on his takes later.

Now what I think is that this group of 1/3 very sad people should book rooms (on their mobile device of course) in a romantic B&B, leave their phones, I-Pads etc. safely locked away with the innkeeper and enjoy! What do you think?

But seriously.  Google’s statement is made to show how attached folks are to mobile and the convenience it provides. The more we as a society conduct business online at home, office or on our smartphones the less we need or want to actually talk or…with anyone. Just in case there are some doubters out there, here are some stats Frederic Gonzalo gleamed from the conference.

1. 69% of travelers begin their search online…via a mobile device!
2. Of the average 6 daily hours US adults spend on digital media, 3 hours is on mobile.
3. You lose 25-60% of visitors with each click in the path to purchase on mobile.
4. 92% of visitors to a website will never return. Thus marketing is key!

There are 11 more of these interesting stats in his blog if you want to learn more. The one about sex is number 15, just to let you know I did not make this one up!

Of course it is not just for travel business that we use our online devices. Our local bank in Kennebunk Maine has let me share some of their interesting stats on how their customers are doing business.

1. Of the over 39 million total transactions made in one year, just a little over 2 million were teller transactions.
2. The remainder were internet (over 17 million), ATM (4 million), Debit Card (10 million), and ACH which is direct deposit, payroll and vendor payments (2 ½ million).
3. 2,157,657 were mobile transactions with $12.6 million mobile deposits.
4. Wow.

I thank Kennebunk Savings for allowing me to publish these stats.

Mobile business will continue to become more prevalent, there is no doubt. Your online marketing strategies must reflect this continuing trend. Does this mean that the personal transactions with your friendly local teller or innkeeper are less important? No. I believe they are even more important. Why? Because when something goes wrong with technology (and it will) the personal touchy feely is what will we all want and need.

Innkeepers are best at providing that personal customer service because they never lose sight of  their guest’s wants and needs. Right? And what is one of those wants and needs?

1. A good up to date and user friendly responsive website.

Thanks for Listening,

Janet Wolf