While only 31% of marketers and agencies ran campaigns or promotions directed at mobile users last year, a slight majority 52% plan to run campaigns specific to mobile users this year, according to the latest edition of Chief Marketer’s Annual Mobile Marketing Survey. While it appears that respondents are putting a wider array of mobile tactics to use, only a couple of metrics are being commonly used to gauge the impact of mobile marketing efforts.
Not surprisingly, most respondents are measuring click throughs (58%) – although that’s the only metric being used by a majority. The next-most commonly used metrics are traffic-based: mobile site traffic (43%) and traffic pass-through to main website (37%).
Interestingly, only 28% report measuring text message opens, despite 49% saying that their brand or agency’s clients use SMS/text, the most widespread mobile tactic this year. And while scannable tags and QR codes closely follow as a widespread mobile tool, only about one-quarter report using bar code/QR/tag scans as a metric.
The least-used metrics, per the report, are the time of day a mobile site or app was accessed (10%) and the geographic location the site or app was accessed from (10%).
In terms of the common mobile tools or tactics in use this year, 47% said their brand or their agency’s clients use smartphone applications, a significant increase from 39% last year. In fact, almost all of the tools or tactics identified have seen an increase in adoption in this year’s survey, including mobile video (33%, from 22%), tablet apps (32%, from 21%), and geolocation/check-ins (25%, from 18%). Of the 16 tools identified, only scannable tags/QR codes saw a slight drop in adoption, from 51% last year to 47% this year.
Of note: only 42% of respondents indicated that they measure how many of their customers (or their agency’s customers) open emails on mobile devices, despite several indications that a majority of email opens now occur on mobile. But, only 11% of respondents to the Chief Marketer survey said that a majority of their email opens were on mobile devices.
On a more encouraging note, 78% said they optimize email for viewing on mobile browsers. According to a new study from Yesmail Interactive, responsive design might be the way to go, boasting higher click-to-open rates on mobile.
About the Data: The Chief Marketer 2014 Mobile Marketing Survey was conducted online from March 26 to April 7; 678 marketing professionals responded. 47% described themselves as B2B marketers, 24% as B2C marketers, and 29% said they market in both the B2B and the B2C space. 28% of respondents were from agencies or marketing services firms, 7% were from financial services companies, 12% were from professional services firms, 12% were from manufacturing and 5% were from media companies. The remainder were from a variety of verticals, including wholesale, travel/hospitality, education and non-profit. Over 40% of respondents were C-level executives and 13% were at the vice president level; the remainder held titles such as director or manager.
