The Many Strengths of Mobile CRM

Marketers have always loved the strategic promise of CRM – the idea that we can actively manage our relationship with each customer based upon her wants, needs and preferences. But historically there was often a gap between that promise and the marketing reality for most brands. For much of the 2000s and even into the 2010s, CRM was often used as a euphemism for weekly or even daily email blasts to an entire database. While there were some companies that took a more thoughtful and strategic approach to CRM, many simply used it to describe blanketing inboxes with emails. One size fits all emails.

Fortunately, that’s changing pretty quickly. While some brands still view email blasts as the alpha and omega of CRM, more and more brands are asking people what kinds of messages they want to receive, how often, and in what format. That’s fantastic news for the customer. And for any brand looking to maximize sales and customer engagement.

In 2015, some of the most intriguing CRM developments relate to using smartphones as a primary CRM delivery vehicle. At conferences and in trade journals we’re hearing the term Mobile CRM with greater frequency. Let’s talk a little about what the term means – and should mean – as consumers spend progressively more and more of their connected time on phones rather than PCs.

First Things First: CRM

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management — a way of planning, executing, delivering and measuring your brand’s relationship with its customers. CRM platforms or tools use technology to effectively and efficiently manage the data and insights you have about each customer, so that you can have an orchestrated and appealing set of interactions with each person.

Mobile CRM

A little digging showed us that Mobile CRM is a term currently being used in two different ways. Business-to-Business CRM solutions often use it to describe ways that salespeople can interact with customer and prospect data. The focus is on how the seller accesses the information, not on how messages are delivered to customers.

The way we use the term at Apsalar is to describe coordinated communications programs with consumers, using mobile-based communications vehicles like:

• Push notifications
• Mobile site personalization
• Mobile app personalization
• App message centers
• SMS/text messages
• Offers in/to ewallets
• And, yes, emails

Why Interest in Mobile CRM is Growing

The latest consumer behavioral data show that the consumer spends more than 60% of their connected time on mobile devices. Given this, it makes sense to focus on delivering CRM messages to consumers where they spend the most time. That doesn’t negate the potential value of emails opened on PCs. But it does suggest that those emails alone aren’t enough.

In addition, consumers generally carry their cellphones everywhere, and are within a few feet of them for the vast majority of each day. This is very different from their relationships with PCs. By tailoring a CRM program to a consumer’s mobile availability, brands can often find far more and far richer moments of opportunity in which to deliver their messages.

Using Mobile CRM, brands can also capitalize on the consumers’ ability to take action at virtually any time and from virtually anywhere. This means that they can drive more impulse purchases, and even deliver special communications based upon where a consumer is at times throughout the day.

Mobile CRM and Apps

Recent comScore data show that consumers spend the majority of their connected time in mobile apps. Given this, and given that app experiences tend to be richer, more engaging, and more entertaining than other web content, brands can deliver more effective messages in these environments. For app publishers, mobile CRM makes sense because the consumer is already using the device with the app on it. Therefore it is easier to drive app launches and other consumer actions with mobile CRM than with PC-based CRM.

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At Apsalar we don’t provide Mobile CRM services. As part of our vast network of partners, we work closely with Mobile CRM companies by providing data to power customer engagement platforms. Our focus is on collecting, managing and enabling brands to action customer data via the platforms of their choice. Mobile CRM – like any true CRM program – uses data as its foundation. The more of the right consumer data in a CRM platform, the better your CRM results.

The Apsalar DMP provides customer behavioral and demographic data, improves and enhances customer profiles, and uses device advertising IDs to seamlessly integrate with virtually any CRM or Mobile CRM platform on the market.  Our historical strength in collecting and measuring app marketing activity and in-app events provides the mobile app data that is absolutely essential to truly understand customer behavior on phones or in aggregate. If CRM is something you want to know more about, make sure that getting the right data to maximize the effectiveness of your CRM program is a high priority.

Published first on the Apsalar website. 

Joy, Pain and Everything In Between

It's been a week of incredible joy, terrible pain, and astounding surprises.

There's this:

I am 51. Knowing how far America was from this when I was born, I never ever ever expected this to happen in my lifetime. Let alone the White House lights. ;-) Ever. If you want some sense of how far the nation has come, I suggest you check out The Boys in the Band,  

Having just read Antonin Scalia's dissent, I can only chuckle a little and think back to my 10th grade history teacher, Caroline Loose, who said,

"When people complain about judicial activists, what they really mean is people that disagree with them."

Judge Scalia, I forgive you. The reference will make more sense in a paragraph or two. ;-)

And a reminder that the people who got America started on the road to this amazing moment were a bunch of drag queens and other "misfits". All hail the misfits!

And then there is the amazing eloquence of the community of faith of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. I still feel deeply affected by what's happened in South Carolina. It's hard to explain why exactly. These things seem to occur in America every couple of weeks.  But the idea that a man would enter a prayer meeting, be welcomed and asked to participate, and then shoot those in attendance. It boggles the mind. 

I think what REALLY gets to me about this is that the AME Church was created because blacks were unwelcome in the Methodist Church. This was not a scism driven by theological differences but rather because of hatred and prejudice. And, round about 200 years later, by which time surely that sort of misguided thinking should be understood and regretted, 9 people were shot in cold blood. During a PRAYER MEETING! Now, the UMC didn't pull the trigger. That's not what I mean. The UMC is quite progressive as Protestant denominations go. And I believe that the AME and UMC have ecumenical agreements in a step toward one Christian community. But you  get the idea.

And a couple days later, their friends and families forgave. (!!!)

The horror of the shootings. And the profound and astounding forgiveness given by the families and friends of those that were lost. The President's eulogy is filled with the pain and the hope and optimism that the families and friends display every day of their lives. God Bless you all! You are an example to everyone on earth. Tunisia, France, and the mosque attack in Kuwait today give us a sense of the evil that men can do. Its important, though, that we remember what love can do as well.


 

What's So Compelling About Mobile Marketing Automation

Mobile marketing automation is becoming increasingly popular around the world. For those that are a little less familiar, you probably know all about regular marketing automation. It uses technology to streamline, simplify and automate digital marketing tasks. Automation platforms can be used for audience-based communications, but many of their most interesting applications are in triggered personalized communications.

What is Mobile Marketing Automation?
Mobile consumer interactions are particularly suited to marketing automation because people keep their phones with them all day, and brands can identify and leverage moments of opportunity as they occur.  As brand attention to mobile has increased, and as new mobile marketing methods have been developed, more and more brands are deploying mobile marketing automation solutions. This is particularly true for app-based businesses.

Marketing Automation and Triggers
Marketing automation is often driven by individual customers taking specific actions that trigger some sort of targeted marketing event. Some examples include:

• When a user puts items in a cart but abandons before buying
• When an app user gets within a certain radius of a retail location
• If someone hasn’t visited a site or app in a certain amount of time
• When someone searches for a certain class of items on a site, like airline tickets

For instance, a person who abandons a full shopping cart might receive and email or push message reminder to return and finish their transaction.

This, marketing automation creates individualized marketing experiences at a scale that simply wasn’t possible before. Brands create business rules based upon triggers, and then is able to deliver personalized marketing experiences without significant human effort.

Example Touchpoints for Mobile Marketing Automation
Mobile technology now offers a vast arrays of potential communications paths to leverage with mobile marketing automation. Here are the most possible:

• Push notifications
• Emails
• SMS/texts
• Message center communications
• mWallet offers
• In-app personalized experiences
• Mobile site personalization
• Landing page personalization

In each case a trigger event could lead an automation platform to deliver some message, offer or content via this communications vehicle.

Personal messages. On the most personal of connected devices. Nice, huh?

Mobile Marketing Automation Use Cases
Marketing automation is an incredibly versatile tool with which to drive customer actions, especially for e-commerce and m-commerce businesses. The following chart outlines a variety of consumer actions (or…inactions) and how marketing automation and the delivery of focused messages and offers could help turn these actions into business opportunities for a brand.

How Apsalar and its Mobile-First DMP Improve Marketing Automation

The Apsalar DMP helps make data, profiles and audiences available to marketing automation tools more quickly and easily. By measuring in-app customer events and combining that data with mobile-web and other first party data sets, we create incredibly rich 360 profiles and can deliver real-time data on customer events. Most DMPs have little or no visibility into customer events inside apps. Apsalar, by contrast, enables you to measure any type of consumer event for rich insight and granular marketing automation programs. Our DataSync offering makes it possible to easily and securely share event data with leading mobile marketing automation and web-based automation products right from the Apsalar interface.

Nine MCommerce Apps That Are Definitely Worth a Look!

It used to be that gaming was the.. err... name of the game in the mobile app business. However, while games continue to be incredibly strong players in the battle for app mindshare, retailers and other direct selling businesses are gaining traction in the app space. One reason for that growing success is the creativity and inventiveness being shown in app development. Many such "m-commerce" apps are leveraging the power of the medium to enhance and even transform shopping and buying, right there on the small screen.

Making shopping more appealing is what it takes to be a "need to see app" in my book. Whether that's in thinking of new ways to merchandise, or simply eliminating the friction points in m-commerce, a must-see m-commerce app sweats both the big stuff and the small stuff to make mobile shopping more of a joy.

Here then are nine apps that are changing the face of selling in unique an inventive ways -- ways that are definitely worth a looksee.

The Hunt

Why it's a need to see

The core premise of The Hunt is to leverage the eyes and ears of its very passionate community of tog-forward users to help you find specific fashions. For example, here's a search that one person posted for a must-have iPhone case:

Users can ask for help finding "this exactly," "similar to this," or for those who are feeling particularly fashion-challenged, send a "style me" plea that asks users to find them items for a particular occasion or an overall makeover.

I'm thinking that there are like 19 million different ways for the creators to make money on this concept. But what I like most about it is the sense of purposeful community. It gives people a chance to connect over things, show off their eagle eyes, and even create their own flavor of "celebrity." That, and it takes impulse purchases to a whole other level.

Ralph Lauren

Why it's a need to see

Now here's a brand that knows how to leverage its extensive content to great advantage. The Ralph Lauren app created a rich brand experience by showcasing its goods in the context of total looks, runway footage, backstage vids, and other content features that keep you reading, watching, and wanting more.

All of the different flavors of Ralph Lauren are interwoven here, as well, and distinctive features like a focus on craftsmanship add to the sense of quality and luxury. What was most appealing about all this intermingling of content is that it really gives you a sense of what is possible in terms of brand immersion, and why interactive media is about so so so much more than the ability to "buy now." I was a bit skeptical about the need to visit a mobile site to buy, but to its credit, the app does a great job making that transition as seamless as possible. 

Wanelo

Why it's a need to see

When I first saw Wanelo.com, I remember thinking that I'd be hard-pressed to find a more addictive shopping experience. The premise is in the name there WAnt, NEed, LOve -- where users can explore the products of more than 350,000 sellers and get fed "like" products based upon their passions and preferences. The Pinteresty web experience is well suited to a mobile app, which uses a Tinder-like swipe right motion to record your likes. My own penchant for dress shoes, for example, was instantly rewarded with lots of related eye candy. And this community is plugged in and participating -- it isn't unusual for them to leave thousands of comments about a popular item.

Shopping is a snap once you add a payment card, and the range of goods offers something for virtually every price point. Members can create feeds of their liked merchandise and achieve a sort of celebrity by creating a signature style that others wish to follow. It's fun to follow friends' feeds, as well as feeds of people who have that certain je ne c'est quoi.  Trending items are also particularly addictive feature area, where you can restrict the items shown by price point. The Wanelo mobile experience isn't so much different on mobile as clearly intended for it.

Gilt

Why it's a need to see

I've been a fan of the Gilt app for a long time because it captures the spirit of that property so well and provides so many avenues in to buying -- and buying more. The basic premise of Gilt -- a member's-only community where you can get the world's best brands for up to 70 percent off – is enhanced with many paths to purchase. I like the rich designer previews it offers before each sale, and how well the app performs in all areas. As we all know, the performance bar is very high in the app arena, and Gilt always delivers.

Another great thing about the app -- Gilt knows when rich production values enhance an experience, and when they would just get in the way. It calibrates things just right.

RueLaLa

Why it's a need to see

RueLaLa also uses the private sale model and has a distinctive look and feel that is both inviting and intuitive. Its navigation system also quickly gets you drilled down into the right product categories without your losing a sense of where you are in the overall experience. Buying is extremely fast, easy, and clean. RueLaLa has also prominently built sharing and calendaring into its functionality, and its "boutiques" section helps simulate that "couture floor" of retail department store shopping.

Barney's NY

Why it's a need to see
What stands out about this app is that its boiled down the browsing process and product information to its minimum "essence." When you explore products, the information and product shots available are attractive and intuitively organized. Most products have multiple views, and detailed sizing info is available almost everywhere. My suspicion is that this app will be expanding to include a lot more content in the coming months, but in the meantime it's created a really tight and "frictionless" buy process. It's just delightfully simple. While I focused on examining the iPhone version, the iPad version debuted to strong reviews as well.

Peach

Why it's a need to see

The premise of Peach is built around nine-minute auctions that offer a significant savings over retail on luxury goods. Users place bids and get immediate feedback about their bid rank in this fast-paced environment that takes the eBay auction and adds plenty of drama for everyone involved, not just two people tit-for-tat outbidding one another. That "democratic" tension keeps more people plugged into the auction, I expect, as must the incredibly short duration of the offer versus traditional online auctions.

The experience is sort of dreamy and fluid, and the imagery and product information first rate -- as befits a high end goods seller. One of my favorite touches is its expression of the spend more save more mantra of the power shopper. Every time you adjust your bid you get immediate feedback on your savings, which -- not that I know myself you understand, but a friend, yeah that's right, a friend -- tells me it keeps you bidding even when the remaining savings aren't huge.

Drync

image: http://www.imediaconnection.com/images/content/5Dryinc.jpg

Why it's a need to see

What's compelling about this app is the brilliant interweaving of expert and community reviews, and the ability to get wine recommendations based upon the wines that you know you already like. It knows what you like because you build your cellar in the same way GoodReads has you build a shelf. Ultimately it's a store, but you'd never guess that by your experience wandering its many sections, features, and reviews. You can also make purchases through the app for home delivery.

Being able to scan your own collection gives you an easy way to demonstrate the sorts of wine you like quickly and easily, so the service can provide great value right from the outset.

Neiman Marcus

Why it's a need to see

Neiman Marcus has captured the spirit of its ultra-affluent variety-seeker clientele by weaving merchandise into really compelling original content. I also love how it uses the app to better connect customer with associates, with experiences like an ability to FaceTime your favorite store personnel and even get your dressing room pre-stocked with goodies you want to try. For a seller on commission, this must be a godsend. In short, they do a fantastic job of weaving app features into real world shopping, providing an additive experience on both sides of that equation. I'm also really impressed by their blog, inside reports from designers, runway vids, and more!

Thanks to iMediaConnection for publishing this first!

So What is First-Party Data Anyway?

We just posted some educational content on the Apsalar site, and one of the most popular downloads is about understanding the difference between first- versus third-party cookies. Thousands of marketers use the term, and yet our downloads suggest that there’s still some confusion/questioning going on. With that in mind, we thought we’d put up a brief summary of what “first-party data” means, provide some examples, and outline its role in understanding your customers.

WHAT IS FIRST-PARTY DATA?

Definition

In the context of marketing, first-party data is information that a company, website or app collects itself. Much first-party data is information that you and your company alone have access to. It helps you understand the characteristics and behaviors of customers and prospects as they interact with your brand. First-party data is (or should be) the foundation for rich customer profiles and insights for your brand.

Examples

There are many types of information that companies collect about their customers. Here are just a few examples:

• Past online purchase information and browsing for customers
• PC web browsing and behavior data
• Mobile web browsing and behavior data
• In-app browsing and behavior data
• Email CRM records of email interactions (opens, clicks, send to a friend, etc.)
• Customer interactions with your social media presences

It’s easy to see how these varied sources of data can provide a foundation for understanding individual customer behavior via customer profiles, as well as aggregated audience characteristics. At Apsalar we view in-app actions as a starting point for those brands with their own apps because in-app now represents such a huge proportion of total connected time.

Why First-Party Data is Important/Valuable for Marketing

More and more brands are focusing on “data-driven marketing” — promotional approaches that tailor efforts based on customer profiles. Data-driven marketing programs can drive greater ROI and engagement because they are shaped to the specific needs of customers or customer segments.

First-party data is invaluable to creating robust consumer profiles. First, first-party data has consistently been shown to be the richest predictor future customer behavior. Second, most or all of it is exclusively available to you. Other brands cannot capitalize on the insights that can be derived from it. That means you have a real competitive advantage.

It’s YOUR Data! It’s critical to ensure that you capture it and fully leverage it for greater marketing effectiveness and maximum ROI!

Other Types of Data

You’re probably hearing about other kinds of data – specifically, second-party data and third-party data. Here are brief definitions for each:

• Third-Party Data: This refers to data that is collected by someone else, and is made available for sale by a “third-party” data company. An example would be if you wanted to find individuals online who have an interest in camping and hiking. You would go to an exchange and purchase the data. The data vendor accepts payment and then makes the data available to you. They are the third-party.

• Second-Party Data: Here the data is collected and owned by another company, which sells it directly to you. An example would be if you contracted directly with another brand for data on their customers, and used that in your own marketing efforts. Purchasing second-party data is becoming more common as brands/sites/app publishers seek new ways to monetize their assets.

First-, Second- and Third-Party Data and DMPs

A DMP, like Apsalar’s Mobile DMP, is designed to ingest and manage a brand’s first-party data and associate it with individual, anonymized consumer profiles. From there, a brand can choose to enrich its profiles with third-party data. Then, the brand can conduct customer analysis, formulate strategies, and create/export high-performing audiences to its choice of marketing solutions providers. Thereby driving customer-centric brand experiences and increased marketing effectiveness.

First-party data really is the most important part of the data equation for customer-driven marketing, for there is nothing better to help you understand and build client relationships than data on those relationships itself.

Mobile Programmatic Needs Mobile Data for Targeting

Tyler Loechner at MediaPost published an intriguing piece on the incredibly rapid growth of Mobile programmatic media spending. Given that Mobile media is often more expensive than media available on the pc web, it follows that maximizing your understanding of your customers and prospects is even more important for mobile programmatic than programmatic PC display. The great thing for advertisers is that mobile advertising IDs, which would be the primary way by which mobile events are associated with a person, are a more precise way of associating customer actions than third-party cookies. What’s not so great is that most advertisers don’t have any infrastructure in place with which to capture that mobile data and unite it into 360 customer profiles.

For months, many in the industry have been predicting this explosive growth in Mobile programmatic spend. Tyler’s piece also reminded us that eMarketer predicted that more than half of Mobile spend would fall in the programmatic bucket this year.

From Tyler’s piece:

eMarketer notes that programmatic’s story can’t be told without including mobile, which will account for nearly half (44.1%) of all U.S. programmatic display ad spending in 2014 ($4.44 billion). The research firm says programmatic spend in mobile will surpass desktop spend by 2015, accounting for 56.2% of all programmatic display spend next year.

Mobile media has a variety of characteristics that make it well suited for programmatic:

1. Dominance of standard IAB sizes, especially small banners.
2. Strong advertiser interest in reaching specific individuals and segments given the higher prices paid for this media and the more personal nature of the Mobile experience.
3. Higher media sticker prices, which drive a quest for maximum efficiency
4. Difficulty for human buyers to add significant value to many efficiency-oriented “DR” Mobile buys. 

That’s not to diminish the tremendous value a human buyer can add for a custom Mobile program – it’s simply a recognition that the forces driving the growth of programmatic media in general are as strong or stronger for programmatic Mobile.

The key to doing programmatic right – whether it’s for PC Display, PC Video, Mobile Display, Mobile Video or whatever else it is that you’re trying to buy, is having the right data to determine the fit between an individual and your ideal target audience so that you can choose bidding occasions and offer the right amount for each impression. Without a strong foundation of Mobile customer data, getting the best results in Mobile programmatic simply isn’t going to happen.

The Problem is Acute AND Chronic

It’s interesting – few marketers disagree that Mobile behavioral data is beneficial for developing a stronger understanding of each customer. And that there are significant benefits to having such a richer customer understanding. But many marketers also appear to think of the Mobile hole in their customer data strategy as more of a chronic long-term problem rather than an acute problem that needs to get solved right now. Which creates a barrier to making real progress on the Mobile data front because many of us have too many problems to solve today to address the longer term challenges like gaining comprehensive customer knowledge.

But look at it another way. If you are spending significant dollars in the Mobile programmatic arena, the Mobile hole in your customer data strategy is an acute problem – it’s harming your advertising results RIGHT NOW.

Understanding what your customers are doing in apps and across the Mobile web is essential for driving maximum ROI from Mobile programmatic. And if your Mobile programmatic ads are supporting a brand app, then addressing that acute challenge isn’t just timely and important – it’s critical!

Published first on the Apsalar website.

What all those media buying model abbreviations mean

There are a remarkable range of ways to buy mobile digital media these days, and each one has a set of initials that is used as shorthand for it. As brands explore their many options for reaching and engaging with consumers, it can be tough to remember which set of initials stands for which buying model. So we thought we’d publish a little glossary today, along with some ideas about how one can compare the relative advantages and disadvantages of each.

CPM

CPM stands for cost per thousand impressions (the M is the Roman numeral abbreviation for 1,000.) CPM is one of the most common ways of buying digital media. You essentially pay for every time your ad loads on a page or in an app. It’s a simple way to buy, but is coming under increasing scrutiny because the client is charged for the impression whether or not a consumer actually sees it. If, for example, the ad appears below the browser window and the user never scrolls down, the advertiser still pays. The industry is expected to move from CPM to cost per viewable impression (CPVI) standard over time as the industry works to address viewability issues.

CPC

CPC stands for cost per click advertising. Here the advertiser pays when a click is made on an ad. Some advertisers prefer to buy CPC versus CPM because they believe they only pay when someone is interested enough in the message to want more info. Some CPC programs are very effective, but there is a potential for fraud if a company deliberately uses bots or some other technique to drive clicks not initiated by a real, interested person. In mobile particularly there are some concerns about paying by the click because of the higher propensity for unintended clicks on small, touch screens. All that said, good CPC programs can be outstanding elements of a program. The key is knowing which CPC efforts are good at driving high quality clicks.

CPL

CPL is short for cost per lead, meaning that the advertiser pays when a lead form is completed and submitted. CPL is common in B2B marketing where it is unlikely that someone will make a purchase immediately. It’s also common in affiliate marketing. It can be an effective way to buy, though there is some risk of fraud if bots are programmed to fill in leads automatically. Therefore it’s important to understand both the quantity of leads and the quality of leads generated in a CPL program.

CPA or CPS

Cost per acquisition or cost per sale. Here the advertiser pays only if a purchase is made. This is a relatively low risk way to buy media because the advertiser only pays when revenue is driven. But many media companies won’t sell media this way because they must assume all of the risk in the ad buy. Ergo, scale can be a real issue in CPA buying. Many brands pursue all of the CPA opportunities that they can, but move beyond CPA when their revenue goals rise.

CPI

In mobile app marketing, CPI refers to media programs where the advertiser pays for every installed app. Lots of app marketing is purchased CPI, because it is a fast way to drive installs. But the quality of installs driven varies by media vendor. Some CPI vendors work hard to find users that will likely use an app. Others use incentives like giving a user free “gold” for a game in exchange for their downloading an app. The quality of those installs really varies based upon the extent to which the users are truly interested in the app. You need to dig deeper than just the CPI to understand the true value that these vendors are delivering.

CPCV

A measure for video, CPCV stands for cost per completed video. It is a popular buying model for both PC- and mobile-based video adverting. The advertiser is charged each time a consumer watches the ad in full.

Which Model is Best?

There’s no easy answer. It depends upon your objectives, target audience, and what your media partners are willing to do for you. The most important thing is to have high quality, unbiased third-party-verified information about the results each vendor drives, whichever form of media buying they offer. You need to understand the revenue results of every effort, regardless of how you pay for it. You need to have a way to track the results of every vendor at driving your true KPI, be it purchases, revenue dollars, or some other metric. Only then can you truly determine the best media opportunities and partners for you and your business. For example, while CPA always sounds great to marketers, it’s possible that a CPM program could actually be more efficient at driving revenue per dollar invested. CPA means very low risk, but it does not necessarily mean best return on ad spend.