What your mobile app usage means for today's marketers
This year's Super Bowl was an interesting event to watch. If you are into American football, the game was exciting and went down to the wire. The Super Bowl ads, not so much! Many of the ads exhibited all of the tired clichés designed for past couch potatoes two decades ago. From where I watched the game, everyone was using a mobile device "while watching the game". Apparently, many of the Super Bowl marketers missed that fact. Many missed the mobile factor entirely. In this age of mobility, there is an app for almost anything. If mobile is our preferred portal, even during events like the Super Bowl, then where should marketers invest? The old adage is fish where the fish are. So, one of the most critical questions is where are consumers going on those smartphones … and where do they spend their time?
Why this is important: As mobility continues to rise, there has been a rush for retailers and brands to build an app. Usage data suggests that marketers need to rethink their strategy of how to best reach consumers, especially on mobile devices.
The world has gone mobile
It is almost impossible to get an accurate estimate of how many mobile devices are currently in use on this planet. Digital Trends has estimated that the number of mobile phones exceeded the number of people on this planet in 2014. That puts the number of mobile phones at 6+ billion. And, this estimate does not include tablets.
But, it is not the number of mobile devices so much has how they have changed consumer behaviors. In many countries, consumers literally have separation anxiety if they can't check their phones. Recent studies from the UK and the US estimate that "average" consumers spend 2 to 3 hours using their mobile phone per day. Young adults, particularly college students, spend 8 to 10 hours on their smartphones. So, if a sporting event gets dull, and if the TV ads are boring, it is little wonder that young and old turn to their mobile device.
There is an "App for That" … Literally millions of Apps for everything
With the proliferation of mobile devices and use, there has been a rush to build mobile applications, "apps". I can't think of one mobile device user that doesn't know what an "app" is, or how to search and buy one. There are literally apps for everything from gaming and entertainment, to the most specialized hobby imaginable.
The challenge today is that there quite literally millions of apps. There are over a million apps for Apple and another million plus for Android. Throw in all of the other apps and the consumer literally has over 3 million to choose from. We have clearly reached a point in the mobility era where "build it and they will come" does not apply. Indeed, if you have a new app, it is now a question of whether and how consumers will even find your app. Some marketers still argue that the best way to reach "loyal customers" is through a branded, specialized app. Perhaps, but how do you reach the 114 million watching the Super Bowl?
Research says … You spend 80% of your time using just 5 apps
Marketers have been rushing to build their branded apps in order to 1) reach mobile consumers, 2) communicate their messages and offers, and 3) create loyalty or at least repeat visits. However, consumers have evolved from the early days of smartphones. They have changed their patterns of use from many to a focused few.
Forrester has published some very interesting stats in their "2015 Mobile App Marketing Trends". According to their research based upon mobile users from the US and UK:
- Consumers spend a majority of their mobile time on apps (not search)
- Consumers use an average of 24 apps per month
- Consumers spend 80% of their time on just 5 apps!
What this means for brand and retailer mobile strategies
The nature of brand marketers is … well "branding". They want to put their brand on something and create a unique identity. To that end, brand marketers have been focused on building branded apps. The theory has been that if you create differentiation, with apps that enable targeted offers you will: attract consumers, generate sales, and increase loyalty. In short, the emphasis has been on building branded apps for mobile.
It is very interesting to note the full title of Forrester's research: "2015 Mobil App Trends: Orchestrate Your Brand Presence, Beyond Your Own Apps, By Borrowing Mobile Moments".
Wow, what a succinct statement of consumer centric reality, and strategy! Because you the consumer spend 80% of your time on your favorite 5 apps, brands and retailers need to:
- Swallow their "brand ego", quit building ads, and engage you where you are
- Quit wasting time and resources building brand apps that will never be discovered
- "Borrow" their way to consumers home screens that command consumers prime time
- Rethink strategy to develop "rich content" that engages consumers on apps they use
- Create advertising on preferred apps with significant reach, e.g. Facebook, WhatsApp
- Link most used social media and apps as a journey to branded websites
- See the objective of mobile to be to start a conversation, not deliver an ad
Mobile and social are media … but they are very different
In an omnichannel world, our path as consumers is a journey. Marketers need to start seeing mobile media as a link in that journey where they need to connect. The key in the mobile world is to connect where the consumers are, not where the brand marketers would prefer to "drive them" (e.g. their own branded apps, or traditional media messaging).
Forrester's research underscores that there are very definitive success factors in mobile marketing … and building a new branded mobile app is not one of them. Marketers, and especially retailers need to be able to understand the 80/20 rule – Consumers spend 80% of their time on just 5 apps that matter.
Five Critical Success Factors for mobile marketing today
- Marketers need to engage consumers where they are … "Borrowed Moments"
- They need to leverage very rich content across mobile platforms and moments
- They need to create a context to "tell a story" rather than promote a product
- Consumer relevance trumps messaging, production, or anything else
- Learn how to use apps that truly engage consumers (Pinterest, Twitter, WhatsApp)
So, what were you doing during the Super Bowl … besides "watching the game"? My South African friend made the interesting observation that compared to rugby, there is a lot of time between plays in American football!
Where did you spend your mobile time in those 30 seconds between plays … and during those painful TV ads that seem to last forever?
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Sources:
- Mobile Marketer: 80pc of time spent in just five apps: Forrester, Chantal Tode; February 2, 2015
- GeekWire: Study: Americans spend 162 minutes on their mobile device per day, mostly with apps, Taylor Soper; April 1, 2014
- App Image: KROMKRATHOG; Freedigitalphotos.net
- Male Mobile User Image: Patrisyu; Freedigitalphotos.net
- Female Mobile User Image: David Castillo Dominici; Freedigitalphotos.net
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