Sarah Sans-Souci asks: “I was at a mobile conference recently and everyone was talking about diversions.  I’ve been in direct marketing for 30 years but I’m afraid I still don’t know what diversions are in a mobile context.  Please help!”

Hi Sarah –

There are a few diversions when it comes to mobile.

The first has to do with incoming calls.  Users set up their diversions based on pre-specified conditions.  For example, if I’m already on a call when you phone me, you could be diverted to a voice mail message, another number, or a live help service, to name a few.   Mobile folks are starting to talk about this for a couple reasons but mainly because some users are utilizing text messages as their preferred diversion method (i.e., I’m busy, what do you want?)   If a user text messages you, do you text message them back?  What do you say?  How do you handle them in the future?  Those are just some of the questions that companies are starting to discuss.

The second, and more popular, diversion topic concerns your incoming traffic.   People who’ve been involved in mobile for any amount of time know that there are two primary things that impact your success right now – the speed in which your site loads and the first page that your user sees.   Companies who have had the best success in converting mobile users into leads and/or buyers have found that “working their diversions” is critical.  What does that mean?  Put simply, it means showing the user a specific page based on what they’re looking for and/or where they were last.

Here’s an example of how Office Depot works their diversions:

This is their organics page:

This is their PPC page:

Granted, neither of these are perfect (especially the PPC one, which is frankly quite abysmal) but they are examples nonetheless.

How many diversions can you have?  As many as you want.

Where should you use them?  Depends on what you can manage.  A lot of folks start out by doing just a couple (for their most popular sources) and then go from there.  You don’t necessarily need a new page for each and every source.  It really depends on your traffic and how you want to manage it.

Have other questions about diversions?  Post them in the comments below or jot me an email at info@amyafrica.com.

P.S.  Doing PPC?  Click here now for a must-read article from Rimm-Kaufman Group about mobile PPC.