One third of customers use their smartphone to keep loyalty cards, discount coupons, and other offers with them while shopping, both in brick and mortar locations and online. With that in mind, and with a serious look at the calendar which tells us there are less than 100 holiday shopping days left, it’s time to ensure you have a secure spot in your customer’s mobile wallet.

[Tweet “1/3 of customers use their smartphone to keep discount coupons with them while shopping.”]

Understand Mobile Shopping Patterns

Last year, we really saw consumer behavior patterns change. Instead of marathon slogs to do all of one’s holiday shopping all at once, customers have overwhelming opted for doing their shopping ‘in the moment’. As a gift idea occurs to shoppers, they will search and often buy directly from their mobile device. Pinterest and Google are feeding into this trend with Shop the Look advertising options: if you’re not currently using these tools, investigate them immediately!

Big Discounts Aren’t As Amazing As Personalized Discounts Are

The tough economy has forced retailers in many sectors, including apparel, housewares, and toys, to regularly offer significant discounts as a way to generate customer interest. While this has worked on one level, it’s also taught the public that they should never pay full price – a sale, after all, is surely coming! Personalized discounts, on the other hand, have proven to be more appealing, especially to the mobile shopper: coupons that are customized based on items recently browsed are redeemed at a much higher rate than generic percentage off offers.

Don’t Forget About Gamification

Mobile customers spend more time and money with brands they find to be entertaining and engaging. Successful campaigns include ‘solve this puzzle to unlock your discount code’ type games; depending on your market, these games can range from super-simple to devilishly-difficult – adjust the savings payoffs accordingly!