Marketers are focusing on mobile as another messaging channel, and mostly ignoring its potential as a medium through which to build deeper customer relationships, finds the [download page] CMO Council in an October 2012 report. The survey found respondents most likely using mobile to notify and inform customers (51%), deliver content and services (43%), and promote and advertise brands or special offers (37%). Lost in the mix are opportunities to support customer care and handling (23%), gather real-time insights (19%), and acquire or reactivate customers (18%).
Still, the global marketers surveyed do see the potential for mobile as a relationship-building channel, even if they haven’t yet fully embraced it in such a way. 55% cited mobile’s accessibility and always-on nature as a critical benefit, and about half feel that mobile will play a role in influencing customer interactions through its ability to provide more relevant and personalized experiences. This suggests that what’s holding marketers back are immature strategies and a lack of talent to produce the right content. Indeed, the report finds among those marketers who are unsatisfied with their current progress, about half say that a lack of resources and talent necessary is to blame. And overall, less than 1 in 5 respondents have a fully connected and integrated mobile strategy. This same lack of integration has been found in recent reports from Econsultancy and from IBM.
1 in 4 Say Mobile Marketing Results Are Inconsistent
The CMO Council’s report, “Engage at Every Stage,” also finds that true success has so far eluded marketers using mobile, possibly due to its lack of integration into their overall strategies. Only 27% have seen “good” results from their activities, although an additional 24% have seen “moderate” results. Still, 26% say their results have been “inconsistent at best.”
How are these results being measured? Most often through typical digital metrics, it appears – such as user feedback and repeated use of content (38%), volume of mobile application downloads (33%), mobile transactions (26%), and conversion rates (26%). Others such as customer loyalty and affinity (17%), audience quality and reach (10%), and consumer referrals (8%) are being used by far fewer, which reflects the low take-up of mobile as a relationship-building medium.
Other Findings:
- Only 18% of respondents say they will be adopting a comprehensive mobile marketing strategy, and just 14% believe they have been successful in using mobile to activate their customers.
- Roughly one-quarter of the marketers surveyed are planning to develop content exclusively for the mobile channel.
- Just 3 in 10 respondents are looking at mobile advertising.
- The mobile applications that have seen the most widespread investment from marketers are messaging (49%), social media interactions (35%), opt-in value-added service delivery (34%), rich media content delivery (33%), mobile commerce (33%), and search and location optimization (31%).
About the Data: The CMO Council data is based on a survey of more than 250 global marketers.
