Mobile Apps Fall Short on Delivering WII-fm Strategies

When I first launched into my foray into internet marketing and had to make a quick study on the "marketing" part of it, I picked up a bit of advice that I hold dearly and apply in every marketing effort I make.  It's simply the old WII-fm theory.  In other words, What's In It For Me?

As business owners, we tend to focus on "what we want from our customers" when designing our marketing campaigns.  "Come see...", "Come Buy...", "We're Offering...".  But an effective campaign takes a little practice in stepping into the customers' shoes and asking what they really want or need from US!  

Think postcard copy and website home pages are the only culprits of this neglect? Guess again!  As I The longer I work with mobile marketing, the more clear it's becoming that most mobile apps are forgetting to take a WII-fm approach, too.

Steve Smith writes about the brilliance of his wife who sees very little use for mobile apps.  She has yet to feel compelled to reach into her purse while grocery shopping to get her smart phone just so that she can see a digital form of the same circular that is in the front of the store.


When her app-addicted husband asks her what would compel her to use a mobile grocery store app, she very clearly lays out a phenomenal app idea - which no one seems to be picking up on yet!

Specifically, she wants to see an app that will tell her not only what is on sale that week, but what recipes she can make with that sale item, where in the store that item is, what the nutritional value of it is, and where in the store she can find the other ingredients.  SWEET, huh?

Perhaps it's because she's not wowed by mobile technology, but she has nailed right on the head the missing element of supermarket mobile apps: the good ol' WII-fm angle. So, it would appear that, while technologically, we're moving ahead at full-steam, we're forgetting to take into account what the user actually needs in an app. 

And how are YOUR marketing campaigns going?  Are you writing your copy and designing your loyalty programs around the WII-fm theory? Maybe now would be a good time to take a look at all of your collateral (digital, print, audio, video, etc.) and analyze how well it addresses your customers' needs. I'll bet you'll find a few places where there are too many mentions of "we", "us" and "our" and not enough "you" and "your" references!