As consumers continue their adoption of mobile into every facet of the shopping journey, marketers are challenged to adapt strategies to better fit the mobile-minded consumer—and while marketers are willing to keep investing in better solutions, the proven success of those efforts remains murky, according to new research from digital savings destination RetailMeNot.
The vast majority of retailers surveyed said they are increasing their investments in mobile (92 percent) and social media (89 percent) advertising this year—although they clearly indicate that they experience challenges in executing or successfully tracking ROI on these efforts, according to the firms’ new study, How Retailers Are Adapting to New and Evolving Mobile Marketing.
“Marketers should not underestimate the influence mobile marketing has on purchases made in all channels—in-store, online and on mobile devices,” said Marissa Tarleton, chief marketing officer at RetailMeNot, in a news release. “Equally as important is the ability to attribute sales back to mobile marketing efforts. Because 90 percent of retail sales still occur in-store, mobile is the key to understanding digital attribution from online to offline.”
Many retailers choose to partner with companies that can help meet these mobile-specific challenges, and with good reason—the study revealed more than 80 percent of retailers that used partner platforms to issue mobile promotions said they received above-average ROI, up from 66 percent of retailers in 2016.
Additional key findings:
Mobile marketing has evolved, but challenges remain the same
As mobile marketing and adaption matures, the challenges in targeting customers and effectively linking to in-store sales remain. In fact, 1 in 4 (25 percent) retailers do not have the ability to tie their mobile marketing efforts to in-store sales, missing key opportunities to provide push notifications or customized offers to help complete the shopper’s journey.
Retailers rely on partnerships in areas where they lack expertise
Such areas include the ability to track mobile marketing efforts to in-store sales. These partnerships are also a key driver in providing mobile offers to their customers. Most retailers are sharing mobile unique promotion codes (56 percent) or mobile single-use promotion codes (56 percent) to customers through owned and partner apps.
The RetailMeNot Retailer Mobile Survey was conducted by Kelton Global between April 14, 2017, and April 20, 2017, among 200 marketing decision-makers who work at organizations that sell products both online and in physical retail locations, using an email invitation and an online survey. Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results.
