It's time for CMOs to hit the laboratory
The chief marketing officer is increasingly evolving into a 'data centric' scientist, using analytics to draw intelligence about the most pressing trends in consumer behaviour, like customers' booming mobile habits, writes IBM's Matt Cammack.
Chief marketing officers (CMO) are under the gun.
Exhibit A: Customers are more empowered and fuelling an era where smartphones and tablets have replaced PCs. Exhibit B: The use of social networks continues to grow as the go-to resource for brand information.
Exhibit C: Brands can no longer live behind a curtain. In fact there is no curtain, which allows consumers to learn about brands quickly, form opinions even faster and react before you’ve even finished your morning coffee. For CMOs, even the smallest blind spot or misstep could spark a behavioural change capable of fracturing the customer relationship.
This is why I’m calling for CMOs to take off their suit coats in favour of lab coats and trade their iPads for microscopes. Take the popular show CSI as an example. To solve even the most basic of mysteries, the crime lab examines every piece of evidence under the microscope.
The why is simple — the microscope takes things that normally are invisible to the human eye and puts them into focus, providing answers, which help the team anticipate their suspect’s next move.
In the world of brand marketing the situation isn’t that different. Marketers today are charged with investigating small objects – the minute to minute actions of their customers which are generating 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day.
This can include how they’re shopping or not shopping via their mobile device or tablet, or what they’re saying about their brand on Facebook and Twitter. But like in the lab, these insights can’t be gleaned without the right technology. In fact they require the microscope of analytics.
Analytics give marketers a chance to watch how consumers interact with one another and react with brands, products and campaigns. An example of an analytic tool in action is IBM’s US economic indicator. The indicator provides a snap shot of online retail sales and shopping trends as well as consumer sentiment towards the online and offline shopping experience. This project is exactly the type of effort brands should be conducting every day, just on a much broader scale.
From this study and over the course of 2012, we discovered that mobile commerce in the US passed the point of no return with sales over mobile devices reaching 13%, nearly double what we witnessed in the first quarter of 2011.
By comparison, a similar benchmark study by IBM Australia revealed retail sales via mobile devices in Australia saw a significant growth, reaching 26% in March 2012. This take-up rate in Australia is impressively high and illustrates that consumers are using iPhones, iPads, Android and other tablet devices for more than just finding directions to a store.
The Australian data also indicates that mobile surfers are less engaged than the overall population, with fewer page views, less time on site, lower conversion and higher bounce rates. Though this is not surprising, it does underscore the need for marketers to monitor and optimise the mobile user experience.
Now imagine you are the CMO. By observing these customer protons and neutrons in real-time, they can secure an unfiltered assessment of how their brand is being viewed. Are consumers satisfied with the shopping experience your brand is delivering? Perhaps issues exist around product availability.
When marketing campaigns are delivered, buyers who find out that those products are not available or out of stock turn their focus elsewhere. With this insight the issue can be fixed through intelligent automation around product cataloguing.
Next, you can observe their actions. For example, if sales for the past week have dropped off, what was the cause? Perhaps your latest campaign didn’t deliver a compelling mobile commerce element that your audience craves.
Maybe your customers have started to shop through their tablets but your site isn’t configured to handle the iPad and therefore you’re siphoning off dollars to the competition. Identifying the root cause and quickly quantifying its impact helps focus attention in demanding and ever-changing environments.
Looking closer at the Australian retail data, we find an interesting trend: Shoppers using small screen devices (iPhones, etc.) tend to convert to sales at around half the rate of PC/desktop users. On the other hand, users of larger screen mobile devices (e.g., iPad) tend to convert at nearly double the rate of PC/desktop users. Regardless of the reason, there is a clear preference among Australian shoppers to ultimately make a purchase via a mobile device.
Understanding which devices mobile customers use can give CMOs a decisive edge around how mobile shoppers use their devices. While mobile shopping is a growing area, technological innovations are fast emerging that will help marketers to meet customer expectations for a rewarding mobile experience while driving engagement and sales.
For example, advances in technology can enable a marketer to understand ‘device pathing’- how consumers are using smartphones, tablets and PCs to interact with a brand’s online presence. These data discoveries will be key for CMOs as they begin to take a more scientific approach to integrated campaigns and better align emerging areas such as mobile marketing into the overall strategy.
The fact remains that companies today have the opportunity to execute a microscopic analysis of their own business. This willingness to embrace new technology may put them in a position to regain control at a time when it seems like the consumer is calling all the shots.
Matt Cammack is enterprise marketing management group leader at IBM
Please login with linkedin to comment
Latest News
Sydney Comedy Festival: Taking The City & Social Media By Storm
Sydney Comedy Festival 2024 is live and ready to rumble, showing the best of international and homegrown talent at a host of venues around town. As usual, it’s hot on the heels of its big sister, the giant that is the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, picking up some acts as they continue on their own […]
Global Marketers Descend For AANA’s RESET For Growth
The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has announced the final epic lineup of local and global marketing powerhouses for RESET for Growth 2024. Lead image: Josh Faulks, chief executive officer, AANA Back in 2000, a woman with no business experience opened her first juice bar in Adelaide. The idea was brilliantly simple: make healthy […]
Is Meta’s New AI Chatbot Too Left-Wing?
Meta's chatbot accused of being left-wing after being caught wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt & listening to Billy Bragg.
TV Ratings (23/04/2024): Why Did No One Tell Angela That Farmer Wants A Wife Is Set On A Farm?
As wonderful as this headline is, let's face it, we all know an 'Angela', don't we?
PubMatic Unveils New AI Partnership To Turn Social Posts Into Ads For Any Digital Channel
Here's some nifty tech for turning social posts into ads. Assuming said posts aren't one-star character assassinations.
Intuit Mailchimp Makes A Splash With Its First Australian Brand Campaign
Ever laugh along at a gag you didn't get so as not to appear dumb? Get ready for more feigning with this new work.
GumGum’s Rob Hall: Advertisers Can No Longer “Rely On Binary Descriptions” Of Consumers
If anyone's got their finger on adtech's pulse, it's Rob Hall. He also avoids using the good paper in the office printer
Mastercard Nabs Florencia Aimo From Marriott International
Marriott International's Florencia Aimo jumps from the hotel business to the exploitative credit card one.
Bastion Agency Appoints Cheuk Chiang As New ANZ CEO
Cheuk Chiang takes the reins over at Bastion Agency. But not the rains down in Africa.
Spotlight On Sponsors: Major Sponsorship Wins After A Disappointing Week In Sport
B&T continuing our deep dive into local sport sponsorships & that's despite not a single offer of a free ticket as yet.
Macca’s Marketing Director, Samantha McLeod On Big Mac Chant: “What Was Once Old Is Now Cool Again”
Macca's using the power of nostalgia in latest Big Mac campaign. Well, only for those who've ever eaten one sober.
World Premiere Of Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line To Open Sydney Film Festival 2024
Oil's biopic to open Sydney Film Festival. Here's hoping Molly Meldrum will take his pants down at the premiere.
Entries Are Now Open For The 2024 Brandies, IntelligenceBank’s Annual Brand Marketing Awards
The Brandies are, of course, a prestigious marketing gong and not the mystery tipple favoured by nannas everywhere.
The Fred Hollows Foundation Appoints Ardent For PR
Yes, we all like to have a joke at PR's expense. But sometimes it does important work, like this.
AI, eCommerce & Marketing Specialists Are In Increased Demand By Businesses, New Data From Fiverr Shows
Has your philosophy & anthropology degree left you with nothing but a huge HECS debt? Here's what you should've studied.
Perth’s First 3D Anamorphic Billboard Arrives Courtesy Of oOh!media
Do you love a buzzword? Now you can add anamorphic to the list as it relates to billboards, not a colleague's ears.
MasterChef Australia & Crown Resorts Launch Unique Dining Experience With ALUMNI
A pop-up restaurant staffed by MasterChef contestants! That's fine dining prices for first-year apprentice chef cuisine!
Amanda Laing Announces Resignation From Foxtel Group
Foxtel's chief commercial & content officer heads for the exits. Read nice things the bosses said about her right here.
The Lost Letters From Our Diggers: News Corp Unveils ANZAC Day Special
It's nice when brands respectfully acknowledge ANZAC Day.
Howatson+Company Acquires Akkomplice
Large indie acquires a slightly smaller indie. Much like a shark eating a tuna, just with less thrashing and blood.
Google Delays Third-Party Cookie Deprecation Again
In good news for the sale of picture library biscuit photos, Google continues to tease over the end of cookies.
Education A Low Priority For Aussies More Concerned With Cost Of Living Forethought Study Reveals
Study finds Aussies cutting back on education due to cost of living. Booze & Uber Eats sales remain largely unaffected.
“I’m Still The Same Person That I Was”: Rikki Stern Says “Fucc It” To Cancer Stereotypes
B&T always happy to promote the anti-cancer cause. Even brands that massively overdo it with the hot pink.
The Unapproved Climate Certification Allegedly Causing Mass Greenwashing
Are you left flummoxed in the canned tuna & free range eggs aisle? Just wait till this green certification gets up.
TV Ratings (22/04/2024): Fans Mock “Over The Top” Reaction To New MasterChef Judges
MasterChef returns for its 2024 season. B&T stands by putting peppercorns in Gravox & no one will be any the wiser.
Dentsu Restructure: Muddle, Harvey & Johnston Take Leadership Baton As Bass & Yurisich Exit
A large broom has swept through Dentsu's local ops this morning, taking with it some big names & the air con's cobwebs.
Industry Shares Trends Shaping The Industry This International Creators Day
B&T's asking adland creators to reveal their top trends. And it's not good news for your Jenny Kee cardigan collection.
Mable Extends HOYTS Sensory Screenings Partnership
Mable has extended its HOYTS sensory screening partnership. Vigorously defends its two-star Oppenheimer review.
Orphan Launches ‘They Need Our Help. We Need Yours’ For Children’s Cancer Institute
Anything to do with childhood cancers has B&T's 110% support. That said, we do ignore the red meat & alcohol warnings.
Smile Team Orthodontics & Keep Left Collaborate On Smile-Inducing Campaign
As parents would attest, given the cost of orthodontics you'd expect this campaign to be a lavish production indeed.
Opinion: How Video Calls Neglect Learning Diversity
Need an excuse to duck out of a video call this arvo? Show this to your boss.
DoubleVerify Achieves First-Of-Its-Kind Responsible AI Certification From TrustArc
DoubleVerify receives responsible AI certification. However, not its robotic vacuum that's been seen menacing the cat.
Smile For A Good Cause: The Social Media Campaign Giving Back To The Community
Are you known as the office Austin Powers? More for you teeth than shagability? Get snappy new fangs with this news.
Elon Musk Mocks Albo After ESafety Wins Court Injunction Against X
Albo's 2024 from hell continues - Rabbitohs in crisis, down in the polls and now feuding with world's richest man.
Real Estate Developer In Hot Water Over “Sexually Exploitative” OOH Campaign
Real estate agents again tops in the 'least trusted profession' polls, nudging used car salesmen & ad creatives.
Epsilon’s Shane Hanby: Post-Cookie Era Relies On “Teamwork” Between Brands, Marketers & Tech
This pro predicts more "teamwork" in a post-cookie era. Which spells bad news for the uncooperative or plain stubborn.