Planning for Today – and Tomorrow – in Your Customer Data Strategy

The pace of change in digital marketing is staggering. Which gives marketers a serious challenge in that they must create programs and identify platforms that will work today while also paving the way to capitalize on the future consumer media environment. How people will connect tomorrow.

Some changes and time horizons in digital are very hard to predict. Ask an industry pundit to describe the consumer media world five years from now, and you’d probably get some statement to the effect that five years is simply too long for such an exercise because so many digital fundamentals will likely be disrupted during that period.

But just because you can’t predict EVERYTHING about the future, doesn’t mean you can’t feel very secure predicting SOME THINGS. The rapid and continued ascendance of mobile as our primary means of connecting seems a very safe bet. In markets like the BRICs where there were relatively low rates of PC ownership in the past, mobile absolutely dominates. And in markets like the US, Japan and EU where PCs have a strong presence, we’re seeing mobile’s share of total connected time rise every month. Not, interestingly enough, because PC is losing minutes of connected time, but rather because we use phones to be connected for so much more time than we were before.

If you agree that mobile is and will likely become even more the dominant means of consumer connection, then it follows that your customer data strategy should be mobile first. Understanding consumer actions in mobile environments – and particularly in apps – is as critical thing a brand can do to capture and interpret the signals consumers send us about what they want. This is important to accept because collecting data from in-app actions is very different from using third party cookies as in the PC web.

If you don’t have a data management infrastructure yet, make sure you’re thinking mobile first as you plan. And if you do, ask some questions about how your current toolset is capturing and action mobile data – in particular mobile app behavioral data.

Learn more about the importance of mobile app data and how to make it a part of your customer DMP and modeling by downloading our new whitepaper, “Is Half of Your Data Missing?”

mCommerce in the Mall

There’s an interesting piece this week from Mobile Marketing Daily about how mobile apps are figuring into the new in-person shopping experience in malls. We all know that mobile devices have become a keystone of many American consumers’ shopping strategies – and indeed became so long before retailers were taking aggressive steps to capitalize on this activity. In the early days, many brick and mortar stores feared the rise of showrooming and in-aisle comparison shopping. But things have changed on that score and one of the keys to making in-store mobile activity work FOR your business is leveraging your data advantage.

Many research studies show that the majority of customers are using their phones while in stores — at least some of the time. But it’s not just for price comparisons. They are seeking advice, visiting a retailer’s site for more info, taking selfies to get opinions on a new outfit, keeping track of their kids as they wander, or getting the best deals via iBeacon-triggered coupons. Wi-Fi is increasingly expected inside stores.

Today’s retail customers are constantly connected and that has made them savvier about price comparison and information gathering. They’ve also completely reset expectations for engagement with, or about, a brand. Radical shifts in consumer behavior are shaking up the industry in profound ways. Far from creating only problems, however, these new customer dynamics are creating more opportunities for savvy retailers to drive connection and sales.

When a retailer understands its customers, it has many means to compete for a sale. While price shopping is certainly more prevalent these days that in decades past, we know that “fit” with a customer can often trump rock bottom pricing. When a retailer can provide the information that the consumer seeks, and present them with a solution for their specific needs, they not only create an opportunity for a sale – they also help cement a bond that can contribute to a profitable long-term relationship with a customer.

Ultimately, what makes all this possible is data – mobile app and mobile web data that reveals preferences and intent. When a company takes a holistic approach to data by combining mobile data with PC web, site visitation, CRM and other types of first party data, they can capitalize on opportunities – in the aisle and everywhere else, around the clock.

What’s unfortunate is that most companies – even those that consider themselves very progressive with regard to data-driven marketing — don’t yet have the means to understand customer behavior in apps. Which is sad because they could easily remedy the problem.

Missing in-app customer signals might not sound like a huge deal until you realize that according to comScore 52% of connected customer time takes place. You hear that and all of a sudden the need for understanding in-app behavior becomes quite clear.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can start collecting mobile data and uniting it with all of your other first party customer information, and then leveraging that for real competitive advantage, please get in touch.

In addition, we have a whitepaper on the subject available now for free download. Click here to get it.

After all, what better way is there to live the adage, “the customer is always right” than to understand and act upon all the signals they are sending you and your team.

It’s YOUR Mobile Data! How to Take Control of It and Put it to Work ~ Part 2

We’ve discussed the issues. These are challenges facing many companies active in the mobile space but whom have not yet taken control of their mobile data, specifically their mobile app data. Now let’s take a few moments to discuss Apsalar’s approach to the challenge.

Apsalar Mobile DMP is a flexible set of data management offerings enabling direct marketer brands to enrich their customer profiles and audience targeting with insights from user behavior in mobile apps and across other marketing channels. Richer profiles and insights in turn contribute to increased ROI.

The Apsalar Mobile DMP has been productized into three interlocking solution sets, making it easier for clients to begin the process of understanding all of their customer behaviors while shaping the integration to fill their most pressing needs.

• Apsalar Attribution: Purpose built for the tracking and measurement needs of mcommerce, Apsalar Attribution measures customer behavior and mobile marketing performance in apps and on the mobile web.

• Apsalar Audiences: Apsalar Audiences unites your mobile and cross-channel data and makes it actionable by managing customer profiles, enriching them with third party data and creating high performing audiences for future marketing programs.

• Apsalar DataSync: Apsalar DataSync streamlines the process of safely sharing customer insights and audiences with a brand’s marketing partners and platforms. Clients define business rules for data sharing right from the Apsalar platform. The company has a large and growing number of pre-existing integrations with marketing analytics, app monitoring, marketing automation, tag management and PC web DMPs.

Apsalar Mobile DMP was designed to be flexible – to be deployed in multiple ways so it can supplement any of the highly variant data infrastructures present at different companies. Clients can deploy all three elements at once, or engage sequentially based upon their needs and legacy data infrastructures. In addition, clients can choose to use the Apsalar platform to analyze their data and create audiences, or receive a feed of customer data or profiles that can be analyzed and interpreted in the platform of their choice.

CONCLUSION

If you’ve already made a commitment to data-driven customer marketing, you know how important it is to understand what people are doing in digital channels. Website browsing, PC third party cookie data and CRM interactions, for example, reveal important insights into what a consumer is likely to want and do next. But without access to in-app customer data, you’re really missing out on so many of the signals that should be powering your marketing.

GET MORE INFORMATION

For more information about Apsalar and how we can help you fill the in-app gap in your data collection strategy and profiles, visit our website atwww.apsalar.com or contact us

It’s YOUR Mobile Data! How to Take Control of It and Put it to Work ~ Part 1

The essence of good marketing is being customer-focused. Our field is all about understanding consumer needs and aligning products and communications to reflect and address them.

Today, many companies are working hard to collect and unite their customer behavioral data across channels into rich individual profiles – profiles that reveal insights into what people want. The “Data Management Platform” category has been created to provide platforms that can bring together information and make it actionable in future marketing programs.

First party data – whether collected on the PC web or on mobile devices in apps – is an incredibly valuable asset. Yet most brands squander it by not working to collect and control it themselves. Leaving others to do so – and garner the benefits.  While many brands aren’t working to control their data at all, a growing number have begun the process of asserting their ownership rights over PC data. But far, far fewer are doing so with mobile app data.

Years ago, US marketers might reasonably postpone addressing this challenge because in-app time represented only a small proportion of total connected consumer time. But time spent in apps has grown rapidly and now represents 52% of connected Americans’ time, according to comScore.

Pause for just a moment to consider that statistic. It means that without visibility into what your customers do in apps, you are blind to a majority – A MAJORITY – of their digital behavior.

In the US, mobile mcommerce is expected to represent about 10% of total ecommerce sales in 2014. While that might not sound like a huge number, a 2014 comScore study also reported that mcommerce is growing almost twice as fast as ecommerce as a whole, and 23 times as fast as all retail sales.

In addition, mobile INFLUENCES far more purchases than those that are made via a phone. According to a 2013 study from Google and IPSOS, two thirds of us begin purchase considerations on one device and complete purchases on another. Mobile accounts for the vast majority of those starts. In total, Deloitte estimates that more than $593B in purchases were influenced by mobile searches and utilities in 2013. Making reasonable growth assumptions, that figure now likely exceeds $1Trillion.

Net, if you aren’t collecting in-app behavior data and including it in your customer profiles, you’ll likely fall short of making your marketing customer-focused and –driven.

Another way this affects a brand is that most interest-based (behavioral or BT) and retargeting is based upon the amount of content a person consumes related to a particular topic. If more than half of a person’s connected time takes place in app environments, it’s clear that you need access to information about what you customers do during that time in order to truly understand and reflect consumer behavior in your marketing.

By saying that, we are not implying that PC web data isn’t important as well. Actually, collecting all of it – taking control of all of your data across devices – is essential to driving the best ROI for your marketing efforts.

But if apps account for more than half of connected time, doesn’t it make sense to START there?

TOMORROW: HOW YOU CAN TAKE CONTROL AND GET BETTER RESULTS

Forrester: mCommerce to Reach 10% of Total eCommerce in the US This Year

Over at MediaPost today, there’s a nice rundown of a new Forrester report outlining ecommerce and mcommerce trends in the US. According to the article, about $34B in mcommerce sales are expected this year. The article also identifies some interesting trend info about ecommerce in general. Purchasing via digital channels, for example, has reached 69% adult penetration, an impressive figure to be sure.

There’s also a healthy reminder in the piece – that online and mobile sales are by no means the total story with regard to purchase INFLUENCE. The article states that more than a trillion dollars in sales are influenced by online and mobile research.

One thing that US marketers should consider – given the far higher percent of connected time via mobile in the developing world, countries like India, China and Brazil are good places to look if you are trying to predict what will be true in the US in a short while. Overseas we see more and more big companies abandoning PC-web stores to focus on their apps only. Of course, most US sellers wouldn’t do that given current mcommerce development here. But it provides some great fodder for the need for great commerce apps along with a rich understanding of customer actions taken in the app.

It also points to the elephant in the living room with regard to data collection and customer profiles – far too many companies are profiling their customers without collecting and incorporating mobile app behavior data in their mix. With research demonstrating that more than half of US connected time takes place in apps, omitting in-app behavioral data from your customer insights and targeting models is short-sighted.

Android Dominates in Smartphones and Tablets in LATAM

For some time Android has been the dominant operating system in Latin America for smartphones, likely in part because of the lower price points for some Android phones. But eMarketer reports that a study from IMS and comScore shows similar Android dominance in tablets throughout the region.

The study, which encompassed six different markets in the region, showed Android tablet market share ranging from 59% in Mexico to 74% in Argentina, with a regional average of 68%.

According to the article, experts predict Android share will increase in Mexico in the coming months because “the country’s education bureau, Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP), set out to distribute 700,000 Android tablets to students and teachers in five states and the Federal District (Mexico City). The decision not only impacts immediate market shares but may also contribute to long term platform growth by giving users experience with Android tablets first.

Get all the data and analysis here.

Millennials Relying on Phones for Auto Shopping

From Edmunds.com comes this fascinating infographic about how Millennials use their phones for shopping. A little factoid to whet your appetite:

• 80% of Millennials use their phones for an auto shopping task
• Just 46% of older people do

There’s lots of other data which we encourage you to check out. This is yet another sign of the increasing centrality of the smartphone in its users’ lives. While Millennials tend to adopt mobile behaviors earlier than older audience groups, if past patterns hold it won’t be long before pretty much everyone uses their phone as a critical auto selection and buying tool.

As auto makers continue to beef up their mobile offerings, it seems clear that understanding user behavior in those apps will be an absolutely critical element of deciphering (and influencing) the customer journey.

eMarketer’s Mobile Content and Activities Roundup Now Available

Periodically the eMarketer team publishes a “roundup” document summarizing a great deal of research on a particular topic, and this US mobile roundup is a great example.

Inside this great publication, which is presented by HP, you’ll find tons and tons of data relating to mobile usage, favored content types, app statistics, and more. Two of the most eye-popping stats are that by 2019 mobile ad spending will constitute 78% of total digital spend, and that in-app ad spending will run 160% higher than mobile web ad spend in 2015.

Another interesting section relates to the number of app buyers versus installers on both tablet and smartphone.

The data show a greater willingness to BUY apps among tablet users.

Docs like this are a great way to evangelize for mobile within your organization. Get this report free by clicking here (reg required.)

In-Store Mobile Shopping Data

We’ve all seen it and done it. Using our mobile phones at retail to compare models, prices, get product ratings, and the like. Over at Mobile Marketing Daily, this Shop Talk piece reviews a host of mobile in-store shopping metrics.

Here’s a tease to whet your appetite:

Of those who use their phones in a store, here’s what they do:

• 61% — Compare prices
• 52% — Maintain shopping lists
• 49% — Take/share product photos

Lots more thought provoking stats about in-store mobile shopping – all from a study by InReality.

Who’s Using App Data to Power All of Their Marketing?

Most of us know that time in apps now represents more than 50% of US connected time, and the figures for countries like India, Brazil and Japan are much higher. Given the high levels of marketer interest in powering marketing and customer experience with a 360 view of the customer, you’d think that many companies would be including app data in their DMPs and models.

The latest data from eMarketer show that while a small number are, most aren’t. According to the study, which was fielded by Econsultancy, just 9% view their app data collection capabilities as strong, while 68% say their capabilities are weak or nonexistent. In fact, the study showed that only small number of marketers rated ANY of their data collection capabilities as strong. From the eMarketer article:

In addition, Econsultancy’s polling demonstrates another angle from which data-related efforts could improve. When client-side marketers worldwide were asked to rate their capabilities in various data-related areas as “strong,” “average” or “weak,” no activity rated a “strong” from more than 18% of respondents. And the strongest areas both involved collecting data from online sources. When it came to integrating, modeling or otherwise using data, respondents were even more likely to say they were merely average—or worse.

There’s lots more interesting info in the piece. Find it here.

The landscape of mobile app attribution and measurement is changing rapidly as more mcommerce players enter the field. Once the near-exclusive province of gaming companies, mobile apps and event measurement have become mission-critical for businesses like retailers, etailers, travel, personal finance and on-demand services providers. Apsalar has been at the forefront of mcommerce data management and attribution since the space emerged. Every day our clients demonstrate that mobile app data can be an incredibly powerful ROI driver. Find out how to collect and measure your mobile app customer activity and put it to work powering 360 customer profiles and optimized marketing efforts.  To learn more about our offerings, visit this page or contact us now.