Ericcson’s new mobility report, in GigaOM this morning, says that total global smartphone subscriptions hit the 1.2 billion mark in 2012. The projections also state that we will see 4.5 billion smartphone subscriptions by the end of 2018.

For consumer-focused businesses like retail and ecommerce, that means 1.2 Billion consumers are expecting superior product and support experience through their mobile devices.

In April 2013, customer support software company Freshdesk released its Retail Mobile Support Report, which laid bare the state of mobile support and what customers actually looked for when they tried to access support on their phones.

Here’s a breakdown of the report’s findings:

Support Phone Number

80% of the apps surveyed had a support phone number listed, and surprisingly, apps with no support number listed actually had more favorable ratings. This clearly shows customer preference for a single platform solution, instead of being led from some place to another to get answers to their questions.

Contact Form

53% of apps surveyed had a dedicated contact form, and again, like the support phone number, this wasn’t a feature that was widely appreciated among users. It is telling that the in-app features with the highest prevalence seem to be the ones that users don’t really care much about.

Email Support

Support email IDs were found in 38% of the apps surveyed and users were generally favorably disposed toward support emails. This is surprising as users are until now were being wary of going out of the app itself to get support, but in this case, they somehow aren’t.

Dedicated Support Tab

This is what 31% of users said they wanted in a mobile app. Having a dedicated support tab inside the app that lets them raise queries instantaneously can actually increase the number of support requests users raise. What makes the difference here is probably ease of use and ‘instant gratification’, if we might put it that way.

Knowledge Base/FAQ

Though fewer users were vocal about getting a knowledge base inside their app, it could be a good move to consider given that reading apps on mobile phones have seen a resurgence. Users may actually start looking for product information in the app itself.

Key takeaways and Findings:

It is important for consumer focused businesses to provide a simple, intuitive experience within their apps, backed by an easy way for consumers to submit their feedback. Mobile app users are less likely to jump between channels like email or phone, or create separate credentials to submit their feedback. eCommerce players who are able to deliver a uniform experience across the desktop and mobile devices already have a clear majority over others who neglect one channel over the other.