2014 was definitely a banner year when it comes to mobile ad spending. As we enter 2015, even more advertisers are expected to shift marketing budgets towards mobile in even bigger numbers.
With mobile applications in the app stores numbering well into the millions and over half of Americans now owning smartphones this isn’t surprising.
Looking at marketing budgets, a recent study by eMarketer found that the growth in mobile budgets and mobile application development is taking away from money spent on print, television and digital display advertising.
It is obvious that as mobile grows as an advertising medium that other areas will see reduced budgets. But what is unique this year is that we are starting to see digital display having reduced funds allocated to it for the first time. Digital advertising has been the heavy hitter over the past five years and many assumed that it would continue stay unfazed.
We are seeing changes in consumer behavior. Consumers are starting to lean towards mobile devices like smartphones and tablets over computers. Which means that advertisers who are looking to advertise where their customers are spending time and improve their return on investment are reducing their budgets allocated to other advertising methods and increasing their spending within the mobile medium.
The best way to market to your mobile application users just might be through push notifications. 9 of the Top 10 in the 2015 Internet Retailer Mobile 500 use push notifications as part of their program to market to consumers, making push notifications the most-used feature among that group. Digging deeper we find that 136 of the 500 use push notifications.
Push notification use continues to grow with mobile applications and are something you should discuss with your mobile application developer. A study published this past Spring by OtherLevels found that the number of retail apps utilizing push notifications increased 48 percent from 2012 to 2013. Additionally the study went on to further detail that 66 percent of the top 100 retailers in the study with a mobile applications utilized push notifications.
Beyond just being popular amount top retail companies with mobile applications, push notifications have been shown to increase engagement and retention among consumers. In a study from Urban Airship, they detail that consumers who opted-in to push notifications on retail oriented mobile apps generated 40 percent more monthly app opens. The average increase in engagement across a spectrum of industries including media, retail, entertainment, games and sports was 26 percent.
Looking at data gathered by Localytics, they found that users who enable push notifications have a 3X higher retention rate compared to users who disable them.
How do you make your push notifications more productive?
“It’s important to ask users for their preferences when you use push notifications,” states Kimber Johnson, Managing Director, Vanity Point. “This allows you to personalize delivery. Additionally, we encourage our client’s to use push notifications for useful information and not just advertisements. Useful information will create a click but spamming users with ads or frivolous information will just have them deleting your application or opting out of your push notification program.”
The mobile market has progressively become a tight market. Based on data from comScore, Android leads with just over 50 percent of the market of mobile OS with Apple following behind with 40 percent of the market. When it comes to devices, Apple leads with over 40% of the market and Samsung trailing at just under 30%.
On a local and SMB level the competition is also increasingly tightening as businesses mobile offerings are maturing and competing for market share with their mobile applications and mobile web sites. A new report from B2X and Motorola can help shed light on how businesses can improve their position by including this into their next iPhone application development or Android application development project.
According their report, customer service is the key factor to more mobile customers. B2X polled US smartphone owners about their mobile experience and based on their research post-sales service and customer support was the most important purchase factor for consumers they polled.
“We encourage our customers to utilize applications to improve communication not only to consumers but from consumers,” states Kimber Johnson, Managing Director, Vanity Point. “A quick response to service issues can be invaluable and mobile is the perfect medium to make that happen.”