What Retailers Can Teach Us about Mobile Marketing

skyword.com

It’s the age of the mobile device.

With Google making constant adjustments to support mobile friendliness and more users than ever using mobile devices to access their favorite media, it’s becoming evident that the future of marketing will fit in the palm of your hand. But between the rapid growth of mobile marketing and the pace at which the rules surrounding it are changing, many marketers have been left looking for a clear gameplan as to how they can best reach their audiences.

Thanks to a new study from OtherLevels, digital marketing professionals may find a clear foundation for mobile messaging principles, thanks to trends they’ve identified in retail markets. But what elements, beyond the guidelines laid out by automated and email marketing practices, can help marketers gain an edge on their audience’s mobile devices?

A Study In Frequency

The advantages of mobile marketing can seem deceptively simple. Messages can be sent directly to your audience at any time through various Web-based means, while digital marketers with a team of savvy programmers might find that apps give them access to a trove of data they never had before. But in this seeming simplicity, OtherLevels tested various methods of spacing messages to find the sweet spot for mobile messaging.

The test was simple: Five groups received various levels of message frequency, from no notifications to “heavy notifications” (two messages over the course of the week, with a retargeted message to anyone who didn’t engage with the first messages). Due to the retail market, the content of these messages was primarily promotional discounts and similar incentives. Taking nods from email marketing, one might expect that while some messages drive action, over saturation might result in an unsubscription or uninstalled app.

However, OtherLevels found that the higher the frequency of messages, the better their engagement improved overall, citing retargeting as the key factor which improved individual response rates typically somewhere from 36 percent to 66 percent.

• Test Different Data: Time-based notifications and retargeting makes sense for a lot of campaigns (particularly ones delivering content about a sale or special event), but apps give marketers access to a lot of data that can broaden the meaning of “timely” messaging. Testing against data points like geography or comparative user behavior (for instance, special discounts for the bottom 25 percent of engaging users) may perform better for your brand.
• Make Messages Exclusive: Mobile messaging can be great for disseminating content, but using it as a means of sharing mobile-specific incentives can help drive installs and/or subscriptions while discouraging people from uninstalling or unsubscribing.
• Make the Most Use of Behavior: Integrating app-based messaging with tools like Mixpanel or Mandril can open up both new avenues for data and testing, as well as new ways to target your messages specifically.