Marketers Are Missing out on the Real Value of Mobile

Marketer’s are obsessed with mobile – mobile marketing at least. They understand mobile is fast becoming a bigger channel than the website (certainly at least as important), and with it, they can reach customers and prospects any time, anywhere.

But according to Forrester, mobile provides something even more important than simply providing another channel. Forrester says the real value is in the contextual data mobile provides.

In its research paper, “Mobile’s Untapped Value is in Contextual Data“, Forrester explains that mobile is the hub of our offline and online lives and if offers unique information that can be used to improve both the mobile/digital customer experience and the offline experience.

A Wealth of Mobile Data

Mobile offers a lot of data about a customer, including who they are, where they are and when they engage with a brands. When coupled with traditional data, companies can provide better personalized experiences online and predict offline experiences.

Forrester points out two areas where mobile data provides unique contextual information you can’t get anywhere else: timeliness and location accuracy.

Most Marketer’s Aren’t Using Mobile Data

Although there is a ton of data in mobile that can offer deep, granular levels of insights, but marketer’s aren’t using it. Most of the time, the analytics they are getting from mobile focus on how well their mobile marketing is doing, or how well their mobile apps are doing.

But it’s not all their fault. Vendors who can help provide these deeper levels of data and insights are still working on it. Some are moving there, but there’s much work to do.

The other problem that Forrester notes is that marketers are still working hard to figure out how to use what they already have. Monitoring and measuring data helps improve customer experiences, but understanding what metrics are important and how to get actionable insights from them is still a struggle for so many.

Mobile is More than a Channel

Yes, it is a channel, and it’s an important one. But there’s more you can do with mobile. The data you get from mobile interactions can be used to help power all your marketing, says Forrester. How?

• It provides a deeper level of understanding of your customer
• It helps you uncover new markets, products and revenue opportunities
• Enables you to anticipate customer needs.

Some of this data comes from sensors that are in mobile devices. But not every customer is going to give you access to this deeper level of information about them. To get them to buy into giving you this type of data, you’ll need to offer them something in return.

When you can’t get them to buy in you can get anonymized or de-personalized data from providers like Telecos, or mobile device providers like Apple, Google and Microsoft. It’s not as good, but it takes you a lot further.

You can also get mobilized market research and develop partnerships with vendors who are already integrating it.

Mobile Data Rush

Forrester says that there will be a mobile data rush in the next three years. So you need to get yourself prepared to handle it. A couple of suggestions from the research firm includes:

• Start with a few key mobile metrics and layer them on top of the data you already have. The three types they recommend are: where they connect, the time of day, and the device they use.
• Fix your big data basics first. You need to develop your customer data strategy and get all that information in a single location where you can analyze it appropriately and get actionable insights from it.
• Invest in mobile. Not just the technology, but the culture change and the competencies required to leverage it.
• Finally, master contextual privacy. The amount of lower level, detailed customer data you get from mobile is enormous, but if you aren’t letting customer’s know what it’s used for, and only using it for that specific purpose, you’re going to get into trouble.

So, think about your mobile marketing strategies – they are critical. But also take some time to think about how you can use all that great mobile customer data to really improve your customer experience, both online and offline.

Develop that full customer profile, and invest in mobile competencies, what you need to learn, who you need to change your culture to support mobile and how you will ensure that the data you collect is being used for the right reasons and the customer is fully aware and opted in it.

Even if you aren’t ready to go here full tilt, thinking about a small project you could do that leverages contextual mobile data and try it out. Come back and tell us what you learned.

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