Optism™

In a fantastic post Mobile Marketing 2015: Rethink Customer Acquisition, Intent Targeting about how brands can either delight or disappoint their customers, Avinash Kaushik outlines his mobile experiences with a few of his favorite brands. Mr. Kaushik outlines 4 mobile success factors that determine whether a brand will continue to grab the “attention of the consumer” in this increasingly on the move world.

Customer Acquisition
With mobile web traffic providing about 20% of all the web traffic, it is criminal that many brands lack a mobile-optimized website. Mr. Kaushik shows how hard it is to book a flight on his mobile using an un-optimized mobile website from Travelocity, Kayak and Hotwire. Meanwhile, he shows how an elegant, mobile-friendly site from Cheap Tickets makes it easy to read the flight information and simple to book his travel. Additionally, once consumers get comfortable with competitor’s mobile-optimized site, a brand could lose their non-mobile traffic too.

Providing Value
As a surfer, Mr. Kaushik was looking for a mobile app that would provide him with surf reports and he came across the SkullCandy surf report app. He downloaded the app and was pleasantly delighted that the app did two things very well; delivered incredible amount of value to the audience and did so with a beautiful design experience. The result was that “SkullCandy gets the greatest gift any company can get from me: Attention.” The SkullCandy app didn’t push its products; it pushed value — what Mr. Kaushik dubs utility marketing. Eventually, he did purchase 6 pairs of SkullCandy headphones, so the utility of the app resulted in sales for SkullCandy.

Customer Data
By providing a rich, mobile experience – brands can learn valuable information about their customers. Where they are and what they like to do? By analyzing their behavior, company can continue to make their apps smarter and provide even more value. More value will drive more attention and ultimately more revenue.

Behavior Targeting
In an example of company that has combined customer acquisition, value provisioning and customer data analysis, Mr. Kaushik recounts how he imported his trip itinerary to New York into his TripIt mobile app. He hadn’t booked his hotel yet, so TripIt sent him an email the next day with a hotel recommendation near his New York office. Just one. Not a list of 30 or 40 hotels. TripIt knew from past itineraries that he typical stayed in the Hilton and they knew his Reward number. So when Mr. Kaushik clicked the link it took him right to the booking site with his reward number already typed in. As he exclaims, OMG! By reducing the friction to make a purchase, TripIt had made Mr. Kaushik’s life easier.

Brands are becoming aware of the power of mobile, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Mobile implementations can just as easily turn away an existing customer as it can bring in a new one. Brands need to be on mobile, since people are using their phones and tablets everywhere with increasing frequency. Whether it’s an app or a mobile-optimized site, companies should be focused on providing value, gaining more insights and then providing consumers even more value.

Just call it a mobile cycle.

In July, Oracle published a 40-page industry scorecard, answering the question, “When it comes to better data management, how are industries doing?”

Answer: Worse than bad.

Big Data is exploding, no surprise there. And businesses are not prepared to manage the data deluge in a way that is costing them real revenues.

For retailers, failure to properly process their customers’ data means that their already slim margins are even smaller. According to survey results, retailers estimate they are losing big bucks – to the tune of 10% of annual revenues – because they can’t leverage the information they collect across channels. The Oracle study found that only 17% of retailers rated themselves as having a 360-degree insight into their customers through data gathered across multiple channels.

Is this problem? We say it’s an opportunity. The Oracle report found that there is a silver lining within all the data to help retailers do a 180 degree turn to process the data and act on those insights.

Mobile.

How can mobile help? Here are 3 key areas which mobile can help retailers.

Mobility Element: For retailers, giving their sales teams access to mobile is key: 40% percent of retailers in the Oracle study said that providing store associates with mobile access to customer, product, inventory and other information is critical to combat “showrooming”. Mobile allows retailers to provide customized information to their customers using micro-location (in-aisle) technology. Mobile when combined with other CRM information (both offline and online) can provide the entire organization with a real-time, consistent and complete view of the customer.

Permission Element: A 360-degree solution is part technology and part human. You can have the greatest CRM system in the world and tie a mobile solution into it, but if you are missing the human element – it’s not going to work. We call this Thinking Human – which means asking the consumer what he wants and then actually listening and responding to the stated needs.

Engagement Element: For consumers, the ability to opt-in and share information with retailers allows them to share the products they like. Retailers can then target relevant offers to consumers. This concept was summed up very well over at the Mobile Demystified Blog in post entitled “How Mobile Solves The Retail Marketing Data Challenge.” Retailers, according to the author Kane, need to “look not for mobile marketing solutions, but mobile personalized engagement solutions.” A great example of personalized engagement is how Starbucks is using permission and mobile to connect all of its marketing channels.

Recently, I experienced two examples of how retailers were not using my data correctly.

1. I purchased a chair from JCPenney for my daughter’s bedroom and received a thank you email– with a $10 coupon. Cool. But the next email I received (and the several hundred I’ve received since then) told me all the things on sale in the store and online. Guess what? I’m not interested in the plethora of stuff they offered, from shoes to jewelry and baby gear. But I did recently buy bedding for my daughter at the store. Wouldn’t it be so cool if they referred to THAT and maybe even offered me new accessories that might go with the chair and bedding (throws, pillows, curtains)?
2. Earlier this month, I got email from my favorite restaurant wishing me “Happy Birthday”. Too bad my birthday is in August.

The Oracle study lays out the reasons why businesses and retailers should focus on using mobile to deliver “engaging and rewarding experiences to consumers”. All the elements are there for retailers to deliver a 360 degree experience; technology, mobile, permission and creativity. Retailers just need to get educated on the possibilities and really want to provide added value to their customers.

August is a good time to reflect so we thought it would be a good time to look back at all the mobile content we have created here on the Optism Blog.

 Mobile Marketing

Tap In to the Power of Digital Moms

Trust: A Competitive Advantage for Companies

Let’s Keep Mobile Marketing Simple, To Make It Big (!)

What’s hot in mobile marketing today? Read the IJMM to find out!

What Marketers Need To Know About Mobile Apps

Insightful Book Reveals How To Work, Create & Sell With Digital Natives

 

Mobile Payments and Mobile Wallets

LevelUp Upends the Mobile Payments Paradigm

Why Mobile Carriers Will (Not) Partner with Google Wallet

What Will Be the Compelling Reason That People Start Using Mobile Payments?

How Come Everyone Is Asking the Wrong Questions About Mobile Wallets?

 

Mobile Commerce and Mobile Shopping

Key Findings from the JWT 2011 Mobile Holiday Shopping Experience

Mobile Enabling Rewards for Consumer Behavior

There Is No Such Thing As Mobile Or Electronic Commerce Anymore

The future is bright for mobile commerce as Optism marks its second anniversary

 

Permission Marketing

Starbucks is the Grande Caffe Mocha of Permission Marketing

Mobile Marketers Should Not Violate Privacy, Location and Permission

Giving Up Privacy for Convenience

Optism Blog Series: A Book Review of Seth Godin’s Permission Marketing PDF

Thinking Human: Six Steps for Building a Successful Opt-In Mobile Marketing Strategy

20 Months of Permission Marketing Blog Posts

 

Mobile Events

Optism Wrap-Up of the Mobile Marketing Association Forum in New York

Optism Goes to the MMA Forum in NYC

MMA Forum Singapore Recap: The Shift from “Why Mobile to How Mobile?”

Carnival of the Mobilists #268

MMA Forum Singapore – Looking towards a smarter tomorrow

Marketing, Commerce, Wallet and Broadband – the Perfect Storm at Mobile World Congress

Optism Goes to Mobile World Congress

Enjoy.