• by Eric McCabe , June 14, 2006

Search is moving from the desktop to mobile devices. Thanks to the search training we've all received from online veterans like Google, Yahoo, Amazon and eBay, search on mobile devices promises to be an extremely efficient sales and marketing channel. The opportunity for search pioneers, savvy advertisers and mobile operators to offer valuable services and products to the world's two billion mobile device users cannot be underestimated.

For today's consumers, mobile devices are more than cellphones or PDAs. Like clothes, hairstyles, and cars, they define the user's identity. Listen to the range of ringtones people choose to alert them to the identity of a caller, and you will see the essential role these devices play in daily life. It's natural that search, an application that helps me find "just what I was looking for," will be the next big thing to happen in the world of mobile devices.

Of course mobile search is different from Internet search. Where Internet users seek information from infinite categories and will accept hundreds of results to any query, mobile subscribers look for a limited number of high-quality results that are specific to goods and services they want right now. Mobile subscribers are increasingly turning to cell phones for information of all kinds: weather, directions, movie times and tickets, restaurant listings, music downloads, mobile games and ringtones.

Some doubt that mobile search will catch on and generate meaningful revenues for advertisers. However, recent carrier deployments of mobile search are proving the value of the application as a way to spur sales by connecting their subscribers with information they want, ultimately improving the subscribers' experience with the carrier interface.

Take one North American carrier's recent experiences with mobile search:

• Four months after deploying a WAP-based mobile search solution on its top 20 handsets, the carrier was running more than half a million searches a month through its mobile content catalog, including content from its own portal and 10 content providers.

• The carrier has seen a 46 percent increase in unique users and a 181 percent increase in revenue by moving the search box to the main page.

• The carrier realized an average increase of > $1.10 per month in revenue per user.

• The average purchase is $2.55 and is increasing,

• Sixty percent of queries are unique--the classic long-tail behavior that has fueled Google's growth.

• If content is available, users will buy. More than 11 percent of searches end in a sale, a number that grows each week

• Query lengths averaged eight characters, as opposed to over 14 characters for the typical Google Internet search.

• Subscribers aren't deterred by the keypad--the longest query entered was over 45 characters!

  Bringing search to mobile devices extends the power of the Internet to the moment of a subscriber's need. With mobile search, users can search for a ringtone and receive information on ringtones and related goods--album cover wallpaper, pictures of the artist, true-tone ringtones, even full songs. A search for pizza by zip code will present the subscriber with the names of pizza restaurants--and the opportunity to click directly through to a Web site or a direct-connect telephone number to place an order.

  Most advertising is viewed as intrusive. Search advertising, however, presents relevant offers, unlike traditional push advertising. Advertisers benefit from the ability to promote their goods and services to mobile users in several ways:

  Reach a wide audience of qualifiedprospects--local businesses can leverage the reach of mobile search to tap into an increasingly active consumer base.

  Target the most desired consumers--advertisers can target consumers by geography and handset type.

  Contact/speak directly with the customer at the time of decision--pay-per-click and pay-per-call delivers highly qualified leads, when user intent or need is highest.

  Convert potential customers into buyers--pay-per-call advertisers can drive consumers directly to sales and service professionals, who can answer questions, overcome objections, and provide additional insight to consumers.

  Measurable ROI--Advertisers can view real-time performance data that will help them identify caller and browser patterns and time of day volume, and allow them to optimize their ads to maximize ROI.

  As appealing, relevant mobile content becomes more available, users will vote with their keypads. Smart advertisers will keep this in mind as they plan buys. Raised with computers and the Internet, mobile device users are accustomed to receiving content encapsulated in marketing messages. Search engines have paved the way for this acceptance by displaying keyword ads alongside search results. Mobile search represents the "last mile" for advertisers seeking to reach consumers at the point of decision.