The Future Of Marketing In A Mobile World

The explosion of mobile devices has totally shifted the way we engage with the internet and each other. In this opinion piece, Lucy Brindley, mobile specialist – marketing cloud, JAPAC at Salesforce has compiled a list of three key trends that are creating exciting and seamless customer experiences through mobile.

Collectively Australians look at their smartphones more than 440 million times a day. The obsession with the smartphone reflects a craving to connect and check-in, from the moment we wake up to when we fall asleep.

The growth of mobile was also uncovered in the Salesforce 2016 State of Marketing report, which found mobile marketing had hit triple-digit growth, with the use of mobile marketing is growing exponentially every year. Seventy-nine percent of marketing leaders agree that mobile marketing — inclusive of SMS, push notifications, mobile apps, or location based functionality — is core to their business.

Mobile apps are getting smarter

Custom mobile apps are becoming increasingly more intelligent and can open the door for marketers to connect one-to-one through push notifications.

A 2015 study analysed 38 billion push notifications sent to 750 million application users during 2015 to reveal push notification opt-in rates and reaction rates across multiple app industries. Push notifications had a 71 percent average opt-in rate.

The key to effective push notification is making sure they are integrated into your engagement strategy. The content needs to be timely and offer unique value that is specific to each customer’s needs – in other words, it needs to be highly personalised.

An app within an app

The rise of private social media and messaging apps is already challenging traditional social media strategies and represents a shift to genuine one-to-one marketing.

Messaging app WeChat is a hybrid message app used by over 560 million people. The hybrid platform is not only used for messaging, but also for ordering taxis, paying bills, and making purchases. WeChat’s meteoric success illustrates the move towards building apps within an app – the so-called mega app – which becomes the one-stop-shop for users.

This presents significant opportunities for marketers to understand the needs and behaviours of users, and tailor offerings that are valuable and relevant.

Escape from Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) through mobile devices has experienced huge growth and has the potential to enhance how people experience new products.

Leading brands have already experimented with it including L’oreal’s Makeup Genius mobile app, which lets people play around with different make-up looks, while Topshop’s dressing rooms lets customers on clothes virtually via their phone. IKEA also launched its augmented reality catalogue so that shoppers can visualise how certain pieces of furniture could look inside their home.

With the right execution, AR can create an amazing engagement platform for brands by immersing the consumer in new, highly visual and interactive experiences. However, like all good marketing initiatives, in order for that engagement to lead to a conversion, AR needs to be developed on the basis of creating a true value exchange for the consumer.

I’ll be covering these trends and sharing more useful insights at Salesforce’s Future of Marketing in Sydney on Wednesday, 24 August 2016.

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