STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 Research Report - May 2015
WHO WE SPOKE TO Number of mobile phone users globally overtook the number of desktop users sometime last year. More and more business executives are turning to their mobile devices to research and make business decisions. In this context, we spoke with B2B marketers to find out how extensively they were using mobile marketing in their overall marketing program; and what were the challenges they were facing to implementing an effective mobile marketing strategy in their organization. The companies we spoke to were a mix of product and service companies. This was a global study. A little over half the number of companies we spoke to were from the US; the rest were selected from across the globe. REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 01
KEY FINDINGS: 67% organizations have been using mobile marketing for less than 2 years» tweet this «64% respondents say their mobile marketing campaigns are integrated with their other marketing programs» tweet this «64% respondents feel investments in mobile marketing would increase in the next 12 months» tweet this «51% organizations say they invest in mobile marketing» tweet this «33% respondents collect their customers mobile preferences and behaviour data» tweet this «REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 02
ONLY A LITTLE OVER HALF THE ORGANIZATIONS WE SPOKE TO SAY THEY ARE INVESTING IN MOBILE MARKETING 51 percent of the organizations we spoke to said they were investing in mobile marketing; the remaining 49% said they were not. Does your organization invest in Mobile Marketing? 51% Yes 49% No REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 03
MAJORITY OF MARKETERS ARE RELATIVELY NEW TO MOBILE MARKETING 67 percent of marketers have been using mobile marketing for less than 2 years. Only 5% said they have been using mobile marketing for over 3 years now. How long have you been using Mobile Marketing? Less than 1 year 1-2 years 14% 53% 2-3 years 28% More than 3 years 5% REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 04
MARKETERS YET TO TAP INTO MOBILE S FULL POTENTIAL In terms of effectiveness, 76% of those investing in mobile marketing rated their organization s mobile marketing initiatives as only somewhat effective. This is not surprising considering that a majority of marketers we spoke to were newly inducted practitioners. In terms of effectiveness, how would you rate your organization s Mobile Marketing initiatives? 10% 76% 14% Very effective Somewhat effective Not at all effective REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 05
ONE-THIRD OF RESPONDENTS SAY THEY KNOW THE LEVEL OF MOBILE DEVICE ADOPTION OF THEIR CUSTOMERS VERY WELL With regard to the mobile device adoption of customers, 33% of respondents said they collect their customers mobile preferences and behaviour data. 62 percent said they depend on outside research data to guide their mobile strategy. How well does your organization know the level of mobile device adoption of customers? 33% Very well 62% 5% Somewhat well Not at all well Customers mobile preferences and behavior data is collected Outside research data is used to guide our mobile strategy Don t know our customers adoption rate REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 06
ORGANIZATIONS STICK TO THE BASICS WHEN TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THEIR CUSTOMER S MOBILE PREFERENCES Devices (64%), operating system (64%), social media usage (50%) and location (50%) are the most common data points collected by organizations to understand their customers mobile behaviour. What data does your organization collect and use to understand your customers mobile preferences? Devices (e.g. smartphone) Operating system (e.g. Android, ios) 64% 64% Social media usage and traffic referrals 50% Geographic location 50% Job title, company or industry Time-of-day usage patterns 50% 43% Application/functional behaviors 36% Mobile email 21% SMS 14% Mobile Carrier 7% REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 07
BRAND AWARENESS & CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT ARE THE KEY OBJECTIVES BEHIND MOBILE MARKETING 67 percent of respondents chose increase in brand awareness, and 62% of respondents chose increase in customer engagement as key objectives that they sought to achieve using mobile marketing. Only 48% chose increase in sales and increase in lead generation as key objectives of their mobile marketing initiative; given that revenue & lead generation are the top priority objectives for B2B marketers this year, it isn t surprising to see mobile find lesser takers among marketers 1. What are the key objectives that you are trying to achive using Mobile Marketing? Increase brand awareness Increase is customer engagement 67% 62% Increase sales/ revenue 48% Increase customer retention 48% Increase traffic/ search rankings Increase lead generation 48% 48% Improve customer service 33% Nurture and engage with prospects 33% Reduce length of sales cycle 24% 1 Source : State of B2B Marketing 2015 REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 08
MOBILE WEBSITE & MOBILE APP TOP THE LIST OF TACTICS USED BY ORGANIZATIONS TO ACHIEVE THEIR MOBILE MARKETING OBJECTIVES Mobile website (65%) and Mobile app (65%) were the most favoured tactics employed by marketers to meet their mobile marketing objectives. Among the less favoured tactics were location-based mobile service (20%) and m-commerce (20%). Which of the following Mobile Marketing tactics does your organization currently use to achieve objectives? Mobile website Mobile app 65% 65% Mobile email 45% Mobile landing page 40% Mobile search Mobile advertising 40% 40% QR codes 30% In-app ads 30% SMS campaigns 25% Mobile display ad campaigns 25% Location-based mobile service 20% M-commerce 20% MMS campaigns 15% REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 09
CONTEXTUALIZING CONTENT FOR MOBILE IS STILL A WORK-IN-PROGRESS Contextualizing content for mobile is critical in ensuring the success of the medium. Designing mobile pages to load fast (50%), dynamically personalizing mobile content (43%), contextualizing message for a mobile experience (36%), and segmenting campaigns based on behaviour and/or sales cycle (36%) were some of the activities that organizations were pursuing to improve the relevance and engagement levels of their mobile content. While this may be in the right direction, the low scores indicate that a lot more needs to be done by marketers to get the most out of this medium. To add to this point, while video is one of the most sought after content-type in digital marketing today 1, video content for mobile scored a low 29% here. 1 Source : State of B2B Content Marketing 2015 REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 10
Which of the following activities does your organization perform to improve the relevance and engagement levels of mobile content delivered to subscribers? Design mobile pages to load fast 50% Dynamically personalize mobile content 43% Contextualize message for mobile experience 36% Campaign segmentation based on behavior and or/sales cycle 36% Message optimization for specific OS and/ or device 36% Add video content 29% Leverage mobile device tools 21% Drive participation in surveys, trivia or games 14% Facilitate an easy, fast payment system to secure conversions 14% REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 11
64 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS SAY THEIR MOBILE MARKETING CAMPAIGNS ARE INTEGRATED WITH THEIR OTHER MARKETING PROGRAMS 36 percent of respondents, on the other hand, said their programs were not integrated. Have you integrated your Mobile Marketing campaigns with other marketing programs? 64% Yes 36% No REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 12
WEBSITE TRAFFIC IS THE LEADING MOBILE MARKETING METRIC TRACKED BY ORGANIZATIONS Website traffic at 79%, followed by social media sharing at 71% and click-through rate at 64% were the most tracked mobile marketing metrics by organizations. Which of the following Mobile Marketing metrics does your organization track? Website traffic / views Social media sharing (like, followers etc.) 79% 71% Click-through rate 64% Open rate of messages / emails 50% Retention rate (use of application / web) Customer opt-in / opt-out for messaging / emails Revenue contributed 43% 43% 36% Application & Content downloads 36% Leads generated 29% Engagement rate 21% REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 13
INCREASING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION & EXTENDING CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT ARE KEY BENEFITS OF MOBILE MARKETING, SAY MARKETERS Increasing customer satisfaction (82%) and extending customer engagement (73%) were the leading benefits of mobile marketing as identified by our respondents. Mobile marketing appears to be used by B2B marketers primarily to engage with customers than as a lead generation exercise currently. In your opinion, what are the key benefits of Mobile Marketing? Increasing customer satisfaction Extending customer engagement (anytime / anywhere access) 82% 73% Strengthening customer service 64% Generating leads 55% Broadening brand reach Increasing loyalty and retention 55% 55% Acquiring new customers 36% Increased traffic to website 27% REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 14
FOR 71% OF ORGANIZATIONS, WEBSITE TRAFFIC FROM MOBILE DEVICES IS BELOW 25% What percentage of your website traffic comes from mobile devices? Below 10% 10%-25% 21% 50% 25%-50% 22% Above 50% 7% REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 15
FOR 72% OF ORGANIZATIONS, REVENUE GENERATED THROUGH MOBILE IS BELOW 10% What percentage of your organization s revenue is generated through mobile? Below 10% 10%-25% 72% 14% 25%-50% 14% Above 50% 0% REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 16
MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A MOBILE MARKETING PROGRAM STILL A CHALLENGE & A BARRIER TO WIDER ADOPTION A whopping 73% of marketers we spoke to said they were unable to measure the effectiveness of their mobile marketing programs on an ROI basis. Are you able to measure the effectiveness of your Mobile Marketing programs on an ROI Basis? 27% Yes 73% No REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 17
Which barriers exist to overcoming your organization s top Mobile Marketing challenges? Inability to measure the effectiveness / ROI 46% Lack of budget 46% Inadequate understanding of mobile user conversion path 46% Lack of effective Mobile Marketing strategy 36% Inability to track / measure mobile user behavior to segment mobile audience Difficulty in integrating mobile data with other systems (e.g. CRM) Lack of compelling content to engage mobile user 36% 36% 27% Lack of expertise 18% Lack of senior executive buy-in 18% REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 18
MOBILE MARKETING IMPORTANT FOR ORGANIZATIONS GROWTH, SAY MARKETERS When asked how important mobile marketing was to their organization s growth in the next three years, 45% of respondents said it was very important, while the rest felt it was somewhat important. How important is Mobile Marketing to your organization s growth in the next three years? 45% Very important 55% Somewhat important REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 19
INVESTMENTS IN MOBILE MARKETING ARE CURRENTLY LOW, BUT MARKETERS ARE HOPEFUL IT WOULD INCREASE 73% of organizations invest less than 10% of their overall marketing budget in mobile marketing. But 64% of respondents felt it would increase in the next 12 months. What percentage of your marketing budget is currently allocated towards Mobile Marketing? Below 10% 10%-25% 73% 27% 25%-50% 0% Above 50% 0% How do you see your organization s Mobile Marketing budgets changing in the next 12 months? 64% Increase 0% Decrease 36% Remain same REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 20
FINAL THOUGHTS With the dominance of the mobile device in our lives, B2B marketers need to urgently work out a mobile strategy that would fit in well with their overall marketing plan. Mobile devices are no more just social tools; there is enough and more research done in the field to show that business decisions are being increasingly moved to the mobile platform. According to a recent Forbes study, 51% of executives they spoke to say that in 3 years, their primary business platform will be a mobile device - a tablet or smartphone. Already, 52% say that they re comfortable making business-related purchases on a mobile device 1. Our research seems to point that mobile marketing is lagging behind the technology curve today and some quick catching up needs to be done by the B2B marketer to the fast changing landscape. Marketers, with the help of their digital partners, need to outline a mobile marketing strategy that makes the mobile platform more relevant and integral to the B2B business process. 1 Source: The Connected Executive: Mobilizing the Path to Purchase REGALIX RESEARCH STATE OF B2B MOBILE MARKETING 2015 / 21
ABOUT THE ANALYSTS Nimish Vohra SVP, Principal Analyst Nimish, Senior Vice President, works with CMOs and senior marketing professionals. His research focuses on customer experience management, predictive analytics, mobile enablement and other emerging trends that help customers leverage technology as an enabler of marketing and business outcomes. Srinivasan Seethapathy Senior Marketing Manager Srinivasan s research is focused on optimizing customer experiences across all channels. His research is aimed at marketers who want to understand how they can spend their budgets more efficiently by improving customer experiences across marketing channels.
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