Interviews with over 300 senior marketers revealed that although the vast majority (80%) agree the rise of mobile has significantly increased the amount of data and signals at their disposal, according to the study:
* Two-thirds admitted they’re not confident they've identified the most critical signals in their customers’ journey
* Over six in 10 (61%) aren’t still fully confident in their ability to find new profitable customers
* 58% are not fully confident in their re-engagement efforts to prevent customer churn
* Over 50% aren’t confident in their ability to acquire new customers and re-engage lost ones.
“The industry talks incessantly about the flood of new data being produced and this is certainly the case with mobile, as people do more things on them, but the simple truth is most marketers simply aren’t confident of exploiting it adequately,” said Craig Tuck, RadiumOne’s UK MD. “Consequently, the industry needs to do more in helping them in three key areas: identifying the right consumer signals of interest, building accurate predictions and then activating these to increase ROI.”
Indeed, when it comes to using data to improve branding, marketers cite “knowing where consumers are on their journey” as their biggest challenge (cited by 38%). For driving sales, it’s "knowing what the most important customer interaction points are" (also 38%).
Marketers cited content sharing from apps (29%) mobile site visits (28%) and app installs (27%) as the most valuable signals for improving mobile branding. For mobile direct response, its purchase data (38%), geo-location and bookmarked content (both 35%).
Tuck acknowledges that driving purchases on mobile has “historically, been a challenge compared to desktop,” so brands that want to increase mobile transactions should “focus on the in-app experience – from having a simple UI, easy-to-access content and sharing features, and an easy way to buy.”
The full report “Mobile’s Impact on the Consumer Journey” is available here.
