Every serious marketing professional today needs to be familiar with mobile marketing tools, understanding the role they play and what they can deliver. This blog has been developed as a useful guide for that purpose.
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The Penetration of Mobile Devices
Why have mobile marketing tools become so important?
Till 2017, desktops were the more popular means of accessing the internet. Since then, mobile devices have taken over. Today, mobile devices account for 92% of internet users and nearly 60% of all web traffic. Further, it is estimated that mobile commerce sales which were US$ 339 billion in 2021 would reach US$ 432.2 billion in 2022 and cross US$ 700 billion by 2025.
Currently:
· Over 50% of users prefer using mobile apps to traditional e-commerce
· Just under 50% use mobile devices to compare prices
· Nearly 80% of smartphone users have made purchases using their device in 2022
· Among the millennials, or digital natives, over 70% use their mobiles for shopping between 1-4 times a week
Mobile Marketing – Features
Mobile shopping is vastly different from traditional e-commerce due to the technology used. This impacts the choice of the most appropriate mobile marketing tools.
Mobile connectivity is based on a wireless or cellular network. It allows users to remain connected from a single device at all times and places. While mobile devices have smaller screens, smartphones with touchscreen activation have enhanced browsing speeds.
Thus, the segmentation of a target group has risen to entirely new levels. It is now become feasible to personalize messages and deliver location-specific and time-specific communications to an individual.
Smartphones have also led to greater integration of visual, audio and text. They offer multiple interactive methods – swipe, voice-activated, use of icons etc. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tech has also opened new possibilities – such as intelligent chatbots for standardized customer interaction.
Categories of Mobile Marketing Tools
It is good to divide mobile marketing tools into two broad areas, though there is no hard and fast separation between them:
Mobile Marketing Tools for Communication
These are tools that will be needed to create and deliver brand messages.
Mobile Marketing Tools for Analytics and Customer Profiling
These help in understanding the customer – their preferences, patterns, habits, etc, to refine the actual mode and frequency of delivery.
Mobile Marketing Tools for Communication
This broad category combines tools for creation and those for distribution. Many overlap and perform both functions.
There are app-based versions of software and systems first developed in the pre-mobile digital period. Some examples are:
· Older social media channels – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.
· Other digital communications methods such as websites, Slideshare, blogs, etc.
· Time-tested shopping portals – Amazon, Flipkart, Yelp, etc. – where listing enhances visibility and customer-reviews aid in boosting brand credibility.
All these have developed mobile-friendly avatars or Apps. The newer versions are lite, fast loading and mobile-friendly i.e. automatic re-sizing to a given device.
Therefore, tools that rely on the brevity of the text and communicate visually or through audio or video have zoomed ahead in the mobile marketing matrix. Blogs and websites are relatively less effective. Twitter and Instagram have come to the fore. This is all the more true for the Millennials and GenZ, all born in a digital age.
At the cutting edge today are a set of new-age tools which incorporate the latest tech developments such as:
· intelligent chatbots for interaction and customer responses;
· ease-of-doing business systems such as one-click ordering and voice shopping;
· augmented reality type of software that enhance customer experience
· marketing automation
Finally, there are the systems that enable targeted communications
· location- and proximity-based tools
· geo-fencing tools
· in-App marketing
· weather targeting, etc.
A few examples of the options available in this category (this is not a comprehensive list nor is it based on ranking):
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, WhatsApp, Telegram, Websites, Slideshare, Blogs, Amazon, Flipkart, Yelp, Ground Truth, WordPress, Google PageSpeed, Google Ads, Buffer, Hootsuite, Trello, Get Response, Slick Text and so on.
Mobile Marketing Tools for Customer Profiling
Mobile technology has taken the possibility of communicating directly with specific individuals based on their preferences, their location, their choices etc. to new levels. Yet, effective use of these mobile marketing tools for communication is only possible when they are combined with the proper use of analytics.
Some of the areas covered by these tools include analytics for advertising, web usage, funnel mapping, user satisfaction and loyalty, etc.
A good marketing professional must be familiar with all the possibilities that exist for collecting and analyzing data. In choosing the ones relevant to a particular brand, select from among apps with algorithms that can:
· Provide info about user behaviour, demographics
· Map geographical / location use
· Compare usage against trends and general market patterns
· Give insights into levels of satisfaction, both positive and negative
Another useful set of tools is those that gather data on responses to ads and marketing initiatives. These should be able to:
· Produce reports that map click-throughs and rates of conversion.
It is also necessary to ensure that the tools can provide
· Funnel analysis i.e. tracing the steps taken by visitors to reach a pre-defined goal such as the purchase of a product or service.
Another set of choices relate to customer-retention tools that
· Map behaviour, repeat usage and encourage brand loyalty.
A few examples of the options available in this category (this is not a comprehensive list nor is it based on ranking):
Google Analytics, Ground Truth, Semrush, Kiip, Tableau, Loyalytics, Hotar, Mixpanel, Kissmetrics, data.ai (formerly App Annie), Segment, Flurry, Braze, mFilterIt, OpenLoyalty, Qualaroo, analytics offerings from well-known brands like Oracle, Microsoft and Adobe, etc.
Conclusion
Proper selection of appropriate mobile marketing tools for brand communication and data analytics will help ensure success for any mobile marketing strategy and deliver
· Increase in Revenue
· Better Customer Experience
· Relevant Data Insights
Thus opening out the future for newer and more effective marketing and communication.