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.

A Quick and Dirty Explanation of Mobile App Retargeting

Lots of people have been asking questions about the ins and outs of mobile app retargeting, remarketing and re-engagement. This short explanation is designed to help clarify some of the basic questions people have about this important and fast-growing marketing tactic.

Mobile App Retargeting in Plain English

Mobile app marketing is undergoing a major shift – from focusing primarily on driving app installs, to something that matters even more – turning those installs into engaged and profitable users.

You’ve heard the stats by now – many installed apps are used only once. It didn’t take long for some businesses to figure out that marketing to users after the install was just as important as driving the initial installs – in many cases even more important. And today, thanks to technology advances in in-app attribution and device targeting, app marketers are now retargeting users of every flavor – from their most loyal shoppers to dormant users – with tailored messages that bring them back to the app and drive real business.

Mobile retargeting is a form of advertising that lets mobile app marketers send relevant messages to their customers while they are using other mobile apps or mobile websites. The user sees the ad, clicks on it, and gets directed to the advertiser’s app, sometimes to a specific section or deep link. Some app marketers are starting to put as much emphasis on retargeting as on driving installs, due to its high ROI. Rather than paying several dollars to acquire a new potential user, marketers can spend of fraction of that to re-activate lapsed users, increase conversions, and grow users’ lifetime value.

In fact, Apsalar just introduced a feature called SmartTags that makes remarketing even easier by enabling a brand to use one tag to redirect people to up to five different locations based upon their install status.

Mobile retargeting enables you to drive engagement across the entire app usage lifecycle. You can define user segments and display targeted ads to each segment, encouraging them to return to your app and ultimately convert into buyers. Whether it’s re-engaging inactive users or driving repeat sales from your best shoppers, retargeting is a versatile strategy that can help you achieve a range of sales and marketing goals.

Use Cases

Here are some examples of marketing goals and how you can use retargeting to achieve them:

Prod inactive users: Remind them with ads that bring them back to your app to drive ongoing engagement.
Upsell active users: Promote premium services, app updates or new apps.
Remonetize recent buyers: Message to sell them related items.
Heavy shoppers: Drive repeat sales or actions; cross-promote new products.
Users about to purchase: Find users who have added items to carts and reconnect with them before they purchase elsewhere.
Rectify incomplete conversions: Bring back users to complete an action, such as a tutorial or registration.
Segment target lists to develop messages for like users: Develop ad creative for each user segment.
Deliver campaigns via real-time bidding exchanges: User sees your retargeting ad in other apps or on the mobile web. User clicks the ad and returns to your mobile app.

The more detailed the users’ in-app engagement data, the more specific the retargeting ads can be, allowing you to tailor ads to users in different stages of the purchase funnel. The most effective retargeting programs leverage an analytics solution that tracks all post-install behaviors, not just one event type. This
provides you with more targeting options for each user, and also allows you to create larger, more sophisticated user segments (groups of users with similar attributes) that update as users take action to enter and leave the cohort.

Take a Strategic Approach

An effective retargeting strategy begins with an analysis of user attributes and segment users based on the action you would like them to take. Using variables such as how recently they used the app, products they’ve purchased or viewed, or subscription status, build user cohorts that eligible to take an action that is valuable to your business. Once you have defined goal-based user segments, you can create unique ads that are relevant to each cohort and the business objective you’d like them to achieve.

You can get an easy to download version of this content here.

New Presentation on the Cross-Device Consumer

We've put together great data from the most authoritative sources in the industry for this one. If you are looking to get up to speed on US mobile and cross-device behavior, start here!

Cross-Device Consumers in America - 2015 from Jim Nichols

My Wonderful Experience with Elance Designer Emagegraphic

Digital has had transformative effects upon my professional life, and its global reach has helped me capitalize on amazing resources I never would have found without it.

In my new job role, I work with a fantastic US designer who I will write about in another post soon, But this post has been about my experience using an Elance resource found when I posted my first job on that large and growing service.

A big part of my approach to B2B marketing is content development. I believe it is the great equalizer - helping innovative young companies compete head to head with their well-heeled established competitors.

I was looking for an efficient and cost effective way to deliver a broad range of content to the digital marketing industry. So, on a recommendation from a friend, I decided to try Elance. I posted a job and received a variety of proposals for the work. Among them was a Pakistani design firm called Emagegraphic.

Elance enabled me to review past work from all of the designers who expressed an interest in the project, and several had strong work, Emagegraphic really stood out for me. It was the range of styles and attention to detail that impressed me most. The portfolio offered everything from B2B brochures to bodybuilding products to prayer books.

You don't fly blind with Elance.The service shows ratings and comments from people that have worked with the designers so that you have a better sense of their strengths (or red flags.)

I did a jump ball between them and another designer, awarding the job to both resources. While both did a good job, Emagegraphic impressed me with how they followed the creative direction, went an extra mile to really give great fit and finish to what they did. Interactions with Raheel, the head of the company, were cordial, professional, and clear.Turnaround times were great. And the finished product was a delight. Attention to detail deserves specific mention because I produce long form content and edits are often numerous. But Emagegraphics did it all right the first time.

Simplify Your Switch from Ad-X Attribution and Measurement from Jim Nichols

Since then, the team there has developed about 15 items for me - each one a great piece of work. And over time, they've created a set of content development aesthetic standards that I didn't even know to ask for but which have made each document better than the last. Raheel understands what a brand is, and is able to deliver brand-compliant - and brand enhancing - work every time.

Four ways to improve dmps from Jim Nichols

We have a great working relationship, and I think part of that is recognizing my responsibility to provide clear direction and pay promptly. Many Elancers use the service as a primary source of income, so I would imagine many have tales of people who don't pay on time, or even at all. I wanted to be different. By contrast, sometimes I pay before they have completed the final round of changes, particularly if my carelessness led to an extra round.. For me it is an expression of trust, as well as a recognition that people have bills to pay. And, indeed, we've built up a strong trust so that I know that deadlines will be met, and they know that Paypal payment will be prompt. After all, it's a do unto others system.

How to Choose a DMP (Data Management Platform) from Jim Nichols

True confession: part of the reason why I occasionally pay early is that I want to be clear that I am looking for a longer term relationship with someone - one that lets each side benefit and gets past some of the doubts that can come from being 5,000 miles apart. And the designer is assuming far more risk in these relationships than the buyer. If I can put a mind at rest paying a few hours before something if finished, then they know that I want to create win-wins.

And I can also say that I trust Raheel to always deliver.

In total, my experience with Elance has been stellar. But I think THEY THE SERVICE would be the first to admit that what makes a great experience are buyers and sellers that are aware of their responsibilities and work toward building strong relationships. Emagegraphic has made my Elance experience stellar, and if you are looking for new ways to buy creative and tech services, I really do recommend you try Elance and Emagegraphic in particular. Raheel and team do outstanding work every time, and deliver exactly what and when they promise. Just don't monopolize ALL of his time as I need to keep working with him! ;-)

Raheel didn't ask me to write this - I just want to see him succeed even more, and if my little blog here can help, well then there you go!

The Four Steps to Uniting PC and Mobile Customer Data

More and more brands are convinced that they must take ownership of their customer data. The burgeoning DMP business is a testament to the idea that marketers want to create and control customer profiles, leverage insights across their marketing programs, and keep their data safe. There's also growing awareness of the need to collect and measure activity across mobile screens in addition to PCs, and to combine mobile behavior data with PC-based data to develop comprehensive customer profiles. This primer outlines the challenges of collecting, measuring, and combining mobile data along with tips on how to make it happen at your organization.

But first: Why you should care

A few years ago, U.S. marketers might safely postpone addressing the mobile data "gap" because relatively little consumer time was spent in apps. But things have changed in a very big way -- and a lot more quickly than most people expected.

In 2014, comScore reported that time spent on mobile devices accounted for a full 60 percent of U.S. connected time. Even more interesting is that 52 percent of total connected time takes place in apps rather than on the web. This is significant because you can't collect data in apps the same way you do on the PC web. Net, without collecting mobile data, means that you're missing out on a massive proportion of the signals consumers are sending as to what they care about. That's why mobile data matters. This is particularly true if you have an app and use it to drive m-commerce.

Step 1: Getting mobile data

When most of us hear "customer data," we think first of third-party cookies, the little workhorses of that have done so much to help us begin to understand consumer digital behavior on the PC web. While there are a growing set of challenges to the veracity of third-party cookie data (cookie-blocking, deletion, etc.), cookies remain fairly effective on the PC web.

But mobile -- and especially mobile apps -- are an entirely different animal, and require very different data collection methodologies. There are a few mobile measurement and attribution options here -- many of which use SDKs that companies incorporate in their apps. Data from in-app measurement tools traditionally has been used to measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts.

The SDKs associate customer events with a "device ID" that is a (semi) permanent unique identifier for each smartphone. The common device identifier helps address the problem that apps generally can't -- or don't -- share information between one another. Without the ID, it would be extremely difficult to get a macro view of in-app behavior.

The good thing about device IDs is that they tend to be much longer lived than third-party cookies, so it is often easier to associate mobile activity with a single user. The challenging thing about them is that in order to be able to collect data on lots of devices, you need a lot of SDK installs. Only a small number of companies have that kind of device penetration.

Step 2: Measuring mobile activity

To measure customer behavior in apps, you must define the sorts of activity that are relevant to your business. We call consumer actions in apps "events." An event might be a product search, browsing activities, adding an item to a cart, beginning the purchase process, finishing a purchase, referring a friend, etc. Once you define events, the SDK tracks consumer actions by device ID, under the assumption that a phone is almost always used by a single person.

Mobile web activity works differently. Third-party cookies can capture some mobile web activity. But Apple's Safari browser blocks third-party cookies by default. SDKs are far better data collectors in mobile.

Step 3: Combining PC and mobile data

Once you have your cookie data from the PC web, and your mobile data from an app measurement company, you need to bring them together into anonymized profiles that represent a single individual across devices. To understand this fully, all behavior data needs to be combined into a single profile.

To combine PC and mobile data, we use a "device graph." A device graph infers that two or more devices belong to the same person based upon signals like household Wi-Fi IPs, login information, etc. These are called probabilistic matches. The limiting factor for most graphs is the number of mobile devices they track. Companies that can "see" more devices can naturally make more matches. The matching is generally performed by "data on-boarders."

Most brands have many other sources of first party behavioral data that can be anonymized and aggregated into these customer profiles. Examples include CRM email interactions, purchase records, and website visitation. Including these data sources naturally further improves your customer view.

Step 4: Putting your data to work

Having profiles isn't an end -- it's a means to an end. What you really want is to leverage these profiles to empower audience development and analysis that you can export and utilize across your marketing mix.

Insights from these united profiles can be leveraged across many of your marketing platforms, powering tactical programs like PC and mobile retargeting, push notifications, triggered emails, site personalization, and larger analytics projects. Most marketing tactics can be made better with audiences and data built on these omni-channel profiles.

What you can do at your company

Taking action at your company is a process of discovery and education. Whether or not your company has begun the process of uniting its PC web data, these five broad steps should help get you started:

1. Find out how/if your company is collecting mobile customer data -- both on the mobile web and in apps. If you are, then you have a head start. If not, you will need to identify means of collecting the data.
2. Understand the data ("events") that are being measured. Much of app measurement focuses primarily on app installs. This information is useful for evaluating the relative effectiveness of media vendors, but not at revealing what customers are actually doing in-app. Make sure that your measurement tool can and is collecting data on all of the event types that are relevant to your business.
3. Once your company has a way to collect the data, you must ensure it is being processed and retained in a DMP and a set of anonymized customer profiles. Be careful here, as many companies have DMPs that aren't equipped to collect or combine mobile web, mobile app, and PC data. Remember that a PC-only DMP is only seeing on average 40 percent of customer activity. A PC web and mobile web DMP is only seeing 48 percent. You need to make sure in-app activity data is in the mix. It is also immensely valuable to have other types of first party data combined in these profiles as well, for an even more complete customer view.
4. When all of these data types are being collected and retained, you need to ensure your company is combining them into omni-channel profiles. While it is useful to leverage mobile data for mobile targeting and optimization, and PC data for PC web efforts, it's far more effective to leverage a combined omni-channel profile and insights across the entire marketing mix. If you aren't, you'll need to task your tech team with identifying an on-boarder.
5. Once you have all the data together, get creative with how you leverage the profiles across your marketing mix. Retargeting and "look-alike" marketing are the gimmes here, but imagine how a complete view of a customer can, for example,  drive a precision push notification effort, or an individualized email program that responds to customer actions, or a marketing automation program that orchestrates a series of touch points to drive customer action. 
6. In conclusion, the "360 profile" is more than a marketing holy grail. It is (or soon will be) essential to drive optimal marketing effectiveness. While uniting PC and mobile data isn't a doddle, it is now possible -- and with more than half of connected time taking place on phones and in apps, it's a need-to-have, not a nice-to-have.

Thanks to iMediaConnection for publishing this first!