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Mobile marketing has not yet come anywhere near its potential

A recent Leanplum analysis of 671 million push notifications has revealed that smartphone ads are just scratching the surface.

Mobile marketing automation platform, Leanplum, has announced that it has completed its first research study, which it has published under the title “Breaking Barriers to Push Notification Engagement.”

This research determined that the majority of push notification users were not reaching their potential.

The study was based on the results of an analysis conducted by Leanplum, which examined 671 million push notifications and 1.4 billion in-app events. What they found was that while there is a great deal of potential to mobile marketing through push notifications, the majority of the marketers around the world who were using this technique were not living up to that potential. The analysis determined that, as a whole, approximately 63 percent of marketers were missing their targets when it came to the messaging itself, the frequency of their marketing efforts via mobile apps, and even their timing.

There were a number of key findings that may provide helpful insight to mobile marketing firms.

Mobile Marketing ResearchAmong the key findings from Leanplum’s study were:

• North American app marketers were especially prone to missing engagement opportunities with their users during evening hours. App users in that region typically open push notifications at 8 p.m. at a rate that is four times greater than the ads are actually being sent.
• In terms of notifications sent versus those that were opened, the times marketers were issuing their push notifications and the times at which users were actually most likely to open and engage with them were not synchronized. This was a worldwide issue based on out-of-date messaging strategies.
• Mobile marketing firms often fail to shift their efforts with time zones. For example, marketers focusing on Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are sending pushes that are reaching people at midnight, while the majority of recipients are sleeping, since they are aiming at reaching people during peak North American times. A change in the timing of push notifications based on the time zones in which the recipients reside could greatly enhance engagement results.

Zynga to focus on mobile games with new CEO

Zynga sets its sights on the growing mobile sector

Mobile and social game developer Zynga has announced that it has yet another new CEO. Frank Gibeau, former vice president of mobile games for Electronic Arts, has become the developer’s latest CEO. Mark Pincus, the founder and current CEO of Zynga, will remain as an executive chairman of the company after Gibeau takes the position. Appointing Gibeau as the new CEO highlight’s Zynga’s efforts to focus more heavily on the mobile space, which the company had moved away from in the past.

Mobile gaming continues to grow in power

Mobile gaming has become a very powerful force in the overall game industry. This fact has lead several companies, including prominent developers Nintendo and Konami, to focus more heavily on developing mobile games. Zynga has specialized in social games for some time, producing titles that can be played of Facebook. These games highlight interaction over social media networks, but this is not something that is foreign to mobile gaming. Consumers playing games on their mobile devices can easily interact with one another, making the mobile gaming space just as social as any other gaming sector.

Gibeau may lead Zynga to success

Zynga Mobile GamesZynga intends to provide consumers with an innovative experience when it comes to mobile gaming. Gibeau will lend his expertise in this regard, as he has more than 25 years of experience in the game industry. Gibeau has been involved in the mobile space for a significant amount of time and believes that interactive entertainment can be better, especially on mobile platforms. Zynga already has a strong consumer base to draw from, but the company has been heavily criticized for the decisions it had made in the past.

Mobile gaming may be a difficult market for Zynga

Zynga has managed to find success in the social gaming market with only a very small number of games. While the developer has produced many such games, only a few of them have managed to become universal successes. This may be mirrored in the mobile space, where consumers have proven themselves to be fickle when it comes to the type of mobile games they want to pay and, more importantly, pay for.