As you are already aware, the success of a company relies not only on creating a great product or service, but being able to reach out to and engage with your target audience. You may have the greatest product in the world, but if you are unable to market and deliver it to the people who need it, the company will ultimately collapse.
Although new technology continues to help us reach out and market to a much broader audience than ever before, it also presents some dangerous new hurdles that must be overcome. As more people, devices, operating systems, and stores come online all around the world, the more fragmented the market becomes. This fragmentation creates a chasm between the products you are promoting and the people who want to purchase.
‘Purchasing Gap’
Simply put, if you are promoting music, movies, books, or apps, not only on an international scale, but also across multiple stores such as iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play, you can run into issues with sending your potential customers to stores where they cannot buy. People using an Android phone or tablet cannot make a purchase from iTunes, while iPad users will not be able to download apps from Google Play. These consumers want to view and purchase your content from the store associated with their specific device or operating system – iPad to iTunes, Android to Google Play, Kindle to Amazon, etc.
What does this mean for me?
With different devices, using different operating systems, all around the world, it is easy to see how promoting your content and managing your links can get incredibly complicated very fast. New technologies will continue to come online, and the purchasing gap will continue to grow. Marketing strategies that have worked for years are no longer effective. You now need more than just a single affiliate link. You must provide your customers with different options and the means necessary to allow them to convert, from their own local store, for their particular device.
This can become very confusing for not only you, but your customers as well, if you are promoting internationally across many different devices. For example EA Sports’ FIFA 14 would need to be presented like this:
How do I address this problem?
At this point, this problem is not going to go away and will only become more prevalent as more devices come online all around the world. The most important thing that you can do is focus on your users’ experience. Finding a way to ensure a solidified user experience is the key to increasing your conversions. Focus on giving each user the best possible user experience, and ensure that they are able to get to the product that you are promoting as easily as possible. In addition, I would recommend doing some research on solutions for bridging this purchasing gap, as there are a few companies who are already working to fix this problem.