Measuring Mobile How to Quantify the Success of Your Mobile Initiative
Executive summary The mobile revolution has not only arrived, it is gaining momentum. As consumers continue to adopt mobile devices, tablets, and smartphones in record numbers, businesses are seeking to identify new ways to benefit from the always available, always connected advantages these devices offer. The trouble is that while the qualitative benefits of mobility seem obvious, translating those values into quantitative statistics that reflect return on investment (ROI) can be cumbersome. When it comes to convincing stakeholders of the value mobile offers, it is not enough to simply point to mobile s promise of improved communications, streamlined efficiencies, seamless access to data, and increased customer service opportunities. Calculating the true advantages of mobile requires translating those advantages into tangible and quantitative values. 1
Part I: Setting the foundation: what s the intended outcome? Regardless of company size, industry served, or services offered, the success of just about every mobile campaign is measured by how effectively it meets one of two intended outcomes. Consumer engagement. How has it increased consumer engagement and improved customer satisfaction? Operational efficiencies. How has it led to improvements in operational or workplace efficiencies? While on the surface these outcomes may appear qualitative, it is easy to uncover the measureable outcomes. Intended outcome #1: improving consumer engagement The travel and hospitality industries were among the first to aggressively embrace mobile, and for good reason. Considering the on-the-go nature of the industry and the changing demands of the customers served, mobile was a perfect match. Because customers were either traveling or located remotely, they were unable to rely on the support of their desktop computers. Instead, whether they were booking a hotel room, checking into a flight, or seeking updated travel information, they were turning to their mobile devices for real-time access to information. These early examples of mobile adoption were not driven by ROI. Instead, any early returns on investment were a happy coincidence, as businesses were simply scrambling to meet the growing expectations of the consumer. Because more and more consumers were carrying smartphones and tablets, the expectations and demand for a mobile experience was growing at an exponential rate and companies, regardless of industry, needed to generate mobile apps just to keep up with the competition. An unexpected outcome: While ROI was not a planned outcome, businesses soon began to recognize that mobile offered a number of unexpected (but welcome) cost saving advantages. For instance, in the airline industry, customers were not only able to use their mobile apps to check-in or access travel info, they also gained the advantaged of mobile selfservice solutions. Through these mobile services, the airlines empowered customers with the tools needed to solve problems independent of a help desk or customer service agent. For instance, if a weather problem or other unexpected event occurred, the customer was able to re-accommodate themselves directly from their mobile device. This meant no more standing in line at crowded checkout counters, or waiting on hold for a reservation specialist. 2
In the end, this not only made customers happy. It allowed the business to streamline resources as gate agents, reservation counters, and ground specialists could be consolidated. Intended outcome #2: creating operational efficiencies Those identifiable advantages are not restricted to the consumer space. As savvy firms have come to recognize the power of mobile as an any time, anywhere corporate resource and productivity tool, it has become apparent that mobile s ability to improve communication, increase access to data, and streamline efficiencies offers its own set of measurable metrics. The trick lies in identifying and defining those metrics. For instance, just like at the consumer level, the basic purpose of an enterprise app is task specific: users are accessing information, sharing information, or completing a function specific to their job responsibilities. A not-so-unexpected outcome: The difference is that unlike the consumer space, the intended outcome for the enterprise was entirely expected. Consider how a home healthcare agency is able to improve the quality of care for homebound patients. During home visits, nurses can use a mobile app to update patients medical records and schedule follow-up services. They make more effective use of their time and patients promptly receive follow-up information and services. In this example, the business achieved what it expected: the worker s productivity increased, inefficiencies were avoided, and patient satisfaction was improved. These examples of measurable success can be carried throughout the enterprise. Whether the result is faster delivery of services, increased sales, or better customer satisfaction, the measurable advantages of a mobile initiative are clear. Part II: Proving value and determining ROI While the above outcomes each have their own unique and clear set of intrinsic values, in order to gain true organizational buy-in and strategic alignment, those outcomes will need to be quantified - adding tangible numbers that illustrate ROI and value. Quantifying value by proving consumer engagement When the primary goal is to improve customer experiences and meet ever-burgeoning consumer expectations, a simple way of measuring success is to identify how well those customers are engaging with the mobile initiative. If consumers are engaging with a mobile app, this is an indication that the mobile campaign is positively impacting quantifiable measurements, such as customer acquisition, lead generation, retention rate, and resource allocation. 3
For business-to-consumer (B2C) mobile initiatives, the KPIs (key performance indicators) and consumer engagement metrics to consider include: Number of application downloads Number of active users Reduction in call volume Number of users Number of sales-ready leads Evaluating customer engagement User acquisition This measures how much is spent per new mobile customer. Example: If mobile expenses equal $10,000 and there are 2,000 total users, the user acquisition rate is : $10,000 2,000 = $5 per user Why this matters: Now you can compare the costs of your mobile Lead acquisition This identifies the number of leads that can be directly attributed to mobile. Example: If out of 50 new leads, 10 of those leads are a result of mobile, the lead acquisition rate is: 50 10 = 20% acquisition rate Why this matters: Now you can compare the costs of your leads from mobile against the cost of leads from other channels. Retention rate This will identify if the mobile campaign is encouraging return customers and behavior. Example: If a total of 500 apps were initially downloaded and 50 app users were retained, retention rate is: 500 50 = 10% retention rate Why this matters? Now you can determine the costs of retaining one customer through mobility. Quantifying value by proving improved efficiencies For enterprise apps, proving the value of a mobile initiative s intended outcome requires the identification, measurement, and analysis of KPIs. However, unlike a consumer facing app, those KPIs are not centered on customer interactions and consumer engagement. Instead, each intended outcome and KPI is related to specific user cases. Consider these scenarios: A field service technician needs to access real-time information in order to resolve a customer complaint A sales engineer needs up-to-date information about product capabilities to design a specific solution while on site 4
A supply chain manager needs information in real time in order to identify weak points and increase productivity. These scenarios identify specific use cases. By taking each of these qualitative end goals and applying KPIs, organization can then identify the value being added. Measuring enterprise mobility Use case Objective KPIs for measurement Sales and marketing Field service Supply chain For a sales engineer or marketing agent, the end goal may be to maximize sales and improve ROI, all while creating a For a field technician or service provider, the qualitative goal may be to improve service while maximizing resource usage In a supply chain, the qualitative goal may be to track and monitor products across the entire supply chain less paperwork Increase overall sales Create additional up-selling and cross-selling opportunities Reduce response time Create less travel, paperwork, and reliance on internal resources Improve first-time fix rate Minimize time to market Reduce production costs by identifying supply chain problems other systems Enterprise mobility by the numbers Enterprises who successfully measure mobility often discover impressive statistics, including: 30% improvement in sales efficiency 25% increase in service technician productivity 40% increase in asset uptime 30% reduction in parts inventory Part III: Adding costs and revenue to the equation The final step in measuring mobile requires comparing the measurable KPIs to the mobile initiative s total cost of ownership (TCO). Take note, calculating TCO requires the consideration of a number of factors that are directly unique to mobile. 5
For instance, unlike online applications, which only need to account for a small number of browsers, operating systems, and platforms, a mobile initiative must consider the development, maintenance, and upgrade costs associated with an ever-evolving pool of devices, environments, and platforms. Overall, TCO associated with a mobile app will include: Hardware Implementation Integration Support Upgrade cost The trick then becomes balancing these costs against identified KPIs and calculated ROI. Having carefully calculated TCO and ROI metrics on hand lays the groundwork to do more than just reinforce the mobile initiative s qualitative value. Instead, businesses can better identify the strategies most capable of creating value, rank the apps based on the value they offer, and demonstrate how this value can be spread across multiple service areas through various applications. The result is a mobile strategy that offers more than identified costs; it offers identified advantages for each of the intended outcomes it is expected to serve. Kony is the fastest-growing, cloud-based enterprise mobility solutions company and an industry leader among mobile application development platform (MADP) providers. Kony empowers today s leading organizations to compete in mobile time by rapidly delivering multi-edge mobile apps across the broadest array of devices and systems, today and in the future. Kony offers ready-to-run business mobile apps to help organizations better engage with customers and partners, as well as increase employee productivity through mobile device access to company systems and information. Powered by Kony s industry-leading Mobility Platform, enterprises can design, build, configure, and manage mobile apps across the entire software development lifecycle, and get to market faster with a lower total cost of ownership. For two years in a row (2013 and 2014), Gartner has named Kony a Leader in its Magic Quadrant for Mobile Application Development Platforms. Gartner also gave Kony the highest scores in 3 of 4 enterprise mobility use cases in their latest Mobile Application Development Platform Critical Capabilities Report, released December 2014. In additional to these recognitions, Kony was also honored in the Mobile Star Awards for achievements in enterprise application development; named the first place winner in CTIA s MobITs Awards in the Mobile Applications, Development & Platforms category, and included on the Inc. 500 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in America. For more information, please visit www.kony.com. Connect with Kony on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. 7380 West Sand Lake Road #390 Orlando, FL 32819 1.888.323.9630 info@kony.com www.kony.com 2015 Kony, Inc. All rights reserved. 6