‘Mobile ROI’ And Why So Many Are Disconnected From What It Means

August 4th, 2011, In Advertising, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Media, Social Media, by Beverly Crandon

We’ve been chatting for years on the benefits of mobile and how smartphone adoption and mobile, will impact search and commerce moving forward. But even though the writing is on the wall, the number of business adopting market relevant mobile strategies, does not add up. The numbers of those dabbling in mobile appears lower or stagnant, at best.

In a new study by the Relevancy Group, the data points to an apparent low ROI being the reasons businesses have not ventured into or have pulled their dollars out of mobile campaigns to date.  The Relevancy Group numbers show that 43% of respondents said they won’t increase their mobile spend in 2011 because the ROI simply isn’t there, but that if it was, 93% of them would feel comfortable improving their spend.  The comment and viewpoints of these business owners and advertisers clearly contradicts the mobile behaviours of consumers that we know exist.  More and more, users are turning to their mobile devices to source information they were once had to be wired to find.  So then, why the disconnect?  To put it simply, advertisers are utilizing the mobile medium, without taking the consumer behaviours and life-cycle to thought.

Today, many believe that placing banner ads on mobile news apps qualifies as a well oiled mobile campaign and that given smartphone adoption rates, their mobile click-thrus should be through the roof, but that’s just not the case.  The more targeted your strategy so it fits to the advertising medium and your target demographic using that medium, the better.

Those interested in embarking on mobile strategies should be thinking about things that:

• Better blend the online world, with offline, given the use of mobile applications and campaigns
• How global positioning tools on smartphones can aid in the directory process, consumers embark on almost everyday, when trying to find retailers or restauranteurs
• How mobile devices can be used to allow patrons and consumers to make advanced mobile purchases
• Building recommendation agents that takes the user mobile GPS quadrants into consideration

In addition to changing the approach to mobile, the expected way to measure revenue and or return must change.  Businesses need to look at cost per registration, cost per download, etc… but make all of the measurable actions, actions that are specific to the world of mobile.

The above is the same issue many marketers faced with social media – they knew thy should be there, but did not know in what fashion.  In the beginning many dollars were wasted as folks tried divergent campaigns and wondered why they were not getting the following that they felt they should have.  The same goes for mobile.  If advertisers think in specific platform and mediums and create plans that fit the specificity required, mobile ROI would start to be a comparable partner to smartphone adoption and usage numbers we’er all wowed by, regularly.

Header image courtesy of: Ewan McIntosh

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Today’s blog post is a little different than I had originally intended.  First, it was going to be a positive about how Expedia led me to spend 15 minutes taking part in a contest via Facebook, but as my contest experience continues, it worsens.

First let me say this, I use Expedia for all of my travels, primarily because of the special access you get as a return customer and of course from time to time, the obvious savings you get from using their travel service.  So, when Expedia sent me a link to participate in their contest that would give me a chance to win a free trip, I was interested.  It’s a brand I use regularly and trust.  In addition, they were conducting the contest through a handy Facebook app., which is obviously right up my work alley.  As an interested and loyal Expedia customer, I signed up and signed up a few friends to travel with me.  In order for my entry to be processed, all of the friends I had selected to accompany me on this free trip had to accept my invitation, which was sent to them via Expedia.  Most of my friends were able to do so, with ease – so far so good - but I have a friend who is travelling at the moment, and like most of us light travellers, they chose to travel with their iPad and iPhone only.  Makes sense as I normally travel with those two devices as well.  Nonetheless, when my travelling friend tried to accept the invitation, this is what they got:

Needless to say, I was surprised, considering the facts and statistics that are readily available to marketers and brand owners:

• There are more than 250 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices
• Apple is now seen as the most valuable brand
• The iOS market share is 27%

Knowing all of the above, making your Facebook application not workable via mobile, is a major faux pas.

Just another word of truth around understanding your audience and the tools they use before you go to market, with an audience generating campaign.

There seems to be no shortage of excitement with Barnes & Noble’s entry into the eReader sector and what’s funny is that each time it takes a step to put out something new, you slowly see their two-year strategy or plan coming to form.   First it was the launch of their eReader in October 2009 (the Nook) that caught people off guard in the first place, even though the play made sense!  To date, their sales show that B&N’s Nook is second in terms of market share in the eReader space  and as a result, an obviously good product release decision: Amazon – 43.3%, Nook – 16.3%, Sony – 13.8%, Other eReaders – 26.6% (source; DigiTimes).  Then, earlier this month, B&N announced that it was opening up a self-publishing site that would enable writers to post their content directly to the Nook Store.  An interesting idea and a good way to secure content that at least in the early stages, will be unique to the Nook reader.   So, given their eReaders infancy and the already busy year they have had, we were surprised to hear that Barnes & Noble is now coming to market with it’s second generation Nook, brilliantly (?) entitled ‘Nook Color’.

With B&N moving their reader to a colour enabled platform, they’ve opened themselves up to a ton of opportunity and user delight, none of which do I think they are unaware of.   The bookstore chain has already made agreements with CondeNast and Hearst to enable their Nook Color users to either purchase single editions of a magazine or newspaper, and even subscriptions – and if you recall, the business of magazine and newspaper subscriptions is something that Apple mentioned a few months ago, but is still in the process of working out right now.

With Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color now providing better content presentation, direct access to newspapers and magazines, coupled with it’s WiFi enabling, the Nook is no longer just an eReader.  Users, if connected to WiFi, can utilize their Nook to access the Internet in ways they would a tablet device, and it is to this point where B&N’s strategy starts to get interesting.  From what we understand, Barnes&Nobel is going to market with a sticker price of $250.00 for the Nook Color and for some who find the Apple iPad pricey and out of range, they may find B&N’s solution enough for them.  Besides, we know for a fact that Barnes & Noble isn’t stopping here.  With the upcoming launch (November 19th) of the Nook Color, they have invited developers to create Nook specific aps. for their users and they just announced their Nook Kids product, which couldn’t have happened before the Nook Color release anyway.  Nonetheless, I see the beginnings of a sustainable strategy here, which if done right could position Barnes & Noble as the provide of the eReader+ that bridges the gab between the iPad and the Kindle.