Category: Mobile Marketing

Mobile commerce accounts for 17.4 percent of online shopping revenues

| August 21, 2013

The contribution of personalization has made a considerable difference in the channel’s popularity.

According to a whitepaper that was recently released by Medio, this year, mobile commerce is contributing 17.4 percent to the total online shopping revenues, and that is only expected to rise.

The report went on to predict that the channel will represent 25 percent of online revenues by 2017.

Medio pointed out that retailers are finding mobile commerce to be appealing in a number of ways, and these are helping to make it more effective so that they can generate more revenues by way of smartphone and tablet shoppers. It stated that the channel gives companies the chance to collect a considerable amount of useful data from consumers. Though the majority have yet to figure out how to use this information to its greatest potential, there remains a significant amount of value that can be pulled from big data.

The mobile commerce whitepaper showed that real-time tools and predictive analytics assist in personalization.

Mobile Commerce RevenueIt showed that the information gleaned through mobile commerce can, in turn, be applied to personalizing the experience offered by the retailer to encourage the consumer to shop for the first time, and to return once more when similar products are needed.

In terms of personalization and its importance, the whitepaper stated that “A search for a product might begin on a smartphone, while order fulfillment is finalized on a PC or tablet. Being able to identify the same user across devices is necessary to create a personalized relationship; the foundation of sophisticated and intelligent user segmentation starts with being able to deduce when two users are in fact the same person.”

Mobile commerce does not typically allow for the use of cookies. Therefore, to compensate for that, it is important for companies to use advanced customer segmentation, said the whitepaper. This requires the use of matching algorithms with greater sophistication. This practice uses a form of predictive analytics, which can assist in targeting users more effectively, at the times that they are most likely to be interested and receptive to product information, discount opportunities, and calls to action.

Social media marketing value still hazy among some marketers

| August 16, 2013

Some people in the industry are still not entirely convinced about the benefits that it brings.

According to an analyst from Forrester Research, even though social media marketing has been around for almost a decade, many marketers are still questioning its benefits and there are still more who feel that their campaigns are failing than succeeding.

The analyst, Nate Elliott, published this statement in his most recent report, at a time when the channel has never been bigger.

This has caused many to ask questions regarding what is making social media marketing so difficult to use in a successful way. There were many different responses that were provided in the Forrester study, ranging from budget to return on investment and a number of other areas. It is clear that there are many different means by which to decide whether or not a campaign has been successful, and a standard has not yet been created.

Social media marketing has a number of challenges that are making marketers feel uncertain.

social media marketing challengesWithin the Forrester study, participants were asked to identify their top three challenges when it came to social media marketing. The answer provided a number of different areas, including the following:

• ROI (38 percent)
• Measurement (35 percent)
• Lack of internal resources, such as workers (34 percent)
• Lack of budget (25 percent)
• Integrating social media marketing with other channels (24 percent)
• Lack of time (23 percent)

The social media marketing industry doesn’t typically enjoy focusing on the struggles that businesses and brands are continuing to experience in its use. However, at the same time, the challenges are not suggesting that the channel is not worthwhile. Instead, it merely indicates that the channel is not a magical cure for all advertising and promotion issues that have been seen in other areas. It has reached a time in which it is being recognized as a useful, but not perfect way to connect with consumers, as is the case with virtually every other mature marketing channel. Furthermore, it still remains very unique from any other method of reaching consumers, which means that there is still a learning curve for applying it properly.