While a growing number of companies are allocating more budget to a wide range of standalone and integrated mobile marketing programmes, many are still held back by a lack of strategy and resources, according to the results of the StrongMail Mobile Marketing Survey 2012.
The global survey, carried out in April 2012 by StrongMail, a leading provider of email marketing and social media solutions, involved 800 business leaders.
The most popular forms of mobile marketing are mobile websites (70%), mobile applications (55%) and QR codes (49%), yet less than half of marketers are currently operating any of them. Of those that are, 57% have only been running them for a year or less. The positive news is that 75% of businesses not currently running programmes are planning to within a year or more – and of those businesses that already are, 70% expect to see increased budgets over the same period.
The survey also reveals a genuine opportunity for marketers to embrace and integrate mobile with email and other digital channels to properly engage customers at various stages of the customer lifecycle.
“With smartphones now accounting for nearly half of all devices in use by mobile users, it is more imperative than ever for digital marketers to adopt and integrate mobile marketing tactics into email and their overall marketing mix,” said Kara Trivunovic, vice president of agency services, StrongMail. “Email marketers who are serious about garnering and maintaining consumer attention in this new era of mobile need more than just a solid strategy; they also need the right tools and resources to execute – and that’s exactly what StrongMail provides with its integrated solutions and comprehensive agency services.”
More than 50% of respondents believed that a mobile programme could help them increase sales and acquire new customers, while nearly 50% say a strong mobile programme would increase brand awareness. While 43% of businesses have achieved some level of integration between their email marketing and mobile marketing programmes, Strongmail’s research indicates that more progress needs to be made in implementing increasingly sophisticated programmes – as currently mobile landing pages (32%), mobile number capture at email sign-up (25%) and mobile optimised templates (22%) are the top areas of focus. Only 27% are running cross-channel, lifecycle marketing programmes that include mobile messaging, and just 29% have used mobile response data to optimise offers in email or other channels.
When quizzed about the main obstacle to launching a mobile programme, 37% of businesses cited lack of strategy, followed lack of resources at 22%. Most mobile marketing budgets are still just a fraction of the overall interactive budgets, with 54% of businesses allocating only 5% or less to mobile programmes, and nearly a quarter of businesses allocating less than 1% to mobile. On a more positive note, 55% of respondents reported increased budgets over the past year.
View the full report.
