Mobile Measurement – A Customer Intelligence Imperative

On Wednesday May 16th, I had the great pleasure of being invited to speak at the Mobile Marketing Strategies Summit in San Francisco.   The organizers invited me to speak because they recognize just how critical mobile analytics is becoming to the success of this channel.

The event brought together some of the top thought leaders in the world of mobile marketing for an intensive two-day session which focused heavily on how marketers could forge a compelling mobile strategy.   Mobile “rock stars” such as Tim Ware from the Wall Street Journal, Chad Summervill from Hewlett Packard, Johann Huber Gutirerez from Macy’s, Sheila Collins from American Express, Ed Deutscher from Home Shopping Network, Elizabeth Shaw from Forrester Research and Julie Renwick from Ogilvy were invited to come and share their expertise on how brands should look to forge a compelling mobile strategy.

My presentation was entitled “Mobile Measurement – A Customer Intelligence Imperative” and focused heavily on steps that mobile marketers could take in order to put in place a culture based around measurement and accountability.

While I was honored to speak alongside three well-regarded practitioners, I was encouraged even more by the focus that was dedicated to the importance of having a solid mobile analytics/measurement capability in place.   If there’s one thing that distinguishes these best of breed mobile marketers, it’s the importance they place on measuring and using this data to not only guide strategy but to evolve the mobile user experience.

In presentation after presentation, the importance of getting mobile measurement done right was front and center.   HP’s Chad Summervill shared the importance that the company places on measuring all facets of their mobile program.  Chad came armed with a variety of metrics on HP’s QR code program that he shared with the audience to demonstrate the importance that HP places on measurement of these programs.

One of his graphs showed a huge spike in traffic that looked like a seismic event.  As attendees looked at the data they were curious why this particular weekend spiked so wildly and what kinds of other marketing activities would trigger such an event.  Chad delighted the crowd when he admitted that it wasn’t all kinds of brilliant marketing in so much as it was the amount of in-store traffic for BLACK FRIDAY that generated all this QR code scanning activity.  But, he also pointed out that these shoppers were either price checking or seeking additional information that would facilitate purchase, and this was precisely the intent of this program.

6 Keys to a Successful Mobile Strategy  - Courtesy of Julie Renwick – Ogilvy & Mather

Julie Renwick, Executive Director of Mobile for Ogilvy & Mather North America, delivered an excellent presentation that really captured the importance of putting a successful mobile strategy in place.  Julie was previously with RG/A in NYC and has worked with blue chip mobile brands like WalMart, Nike, Barnes & Noble, L’Oreal, and Tiffany’s.   Julie is one of the mobile marketing industry’s respected thought leaders and she spent a fair amount of her presentation explaining why mobile measurement is mission critical.   It’s this approach that has helped Julie win a coveted Cannes Cyber Lion for work that she’s done in the space.   I’ve attempted to summarize her presentation below (and ad- libbed in certain cases) and you’ll undoubtedly recognize just how serious she takes mobile analytics.

Understand your mobile customer via world class analytics

• Understand what kind of devices do they use and what are they doing (mWeb, SMS, etc.)
• Measure traffic to your site and use this data to prioritize development activities.

Make sure your content scales across all different mobile form factors

• Insure your CMS system is designed for mobile
• All your key sites should be mobile optimized
• Measure engagement with this content and understand what’s working and what’s not

Invest in discoverability (search)

•  Consumers must be able to find your mobile sites, apps and programs or your “Field of Dreams” will be lost in the corn fields of Iowa
•  1/7 of all searches are mobile – up 5x in past two years
• Mobile SEO strategy is fundamentally different than desktop
• Mobile keywords are different than desktop keywords

Optimize the conversation chain

• Make sure content is mobile optimized
• Measure engagement and conversion religiously

Empower your team

• Don’t treat mobile as yet another experiment
• Give them budget but hold them accountable (ROI)
• Integrate with other channels and use mobile as means of engaging consumer

Listen, MEASURE & evolve

• Have a solid measurement plan in place.
• Forge a 360 degree view of your consumer in your digital channels
• Use this data to evolve the user experience
• Use focus groups and do usability studies for apps and sites.

Placing bets in mobile (prioritized)

• Invest in a Mobile web presence
• Have a mobile content strategy
• Invest in mobile SEO
• Integrate mobile with CRM (connect all the dots — digital and otherwise)
• Have the best mobile measurement you can afford

Secondary bets

• Apps
• Mobile media (display, video, etc.)

Final Hint for Success

• Use mobile to create conversations and deliver experiences that will differentiate your brand from the competition and drive business.

In my experience, Julie’s advice is rock solid.   She has done some outstanding work for some of the leading brands in mobile marketing and I believe it’s fair to say that her success stems from the obsession she has with measuring and evolving.  Like HP’s Summervill, the WSJ’s Tim Ware and the rest of the “mobile thought leaders” that were assembled here, she is religious about measurement and this is what sets her apart from the crowd.

In our opinion at Webtrends, you can’t do mobile correctly until a culture of measurement is in place.  Thanks to Julie for a great session and to Chad and Tim for sharing their expertise as well.  You’re all rock stars, but that’s because you understand how “mission critical” mobile analytics is!