Contrary to what you may have heard, measuring the mobile medium is not impossible. Here's how to get started.
It's the perfect storm -- an irresistible combination of factors that compels marketers to seriously consider how they will bring their brand messaging to the mobile platform. Devices are becoming increasingly sophisticated as carriers lower the costs of data plans and consumers grow more sophisticated and demanding in their use of internet devices. If they aren't actively planning their first forays into mobile, marketers must at least understand what is happening in the space and begin to set the stage for future endeavors.
However, this uncharted territory can be daunting. In the face of economic uncertainty and tightening budgets, it becomes more important than ever to provide ROI justification for a project. Measuring your mobile marketing campaigns is not impossible; success just requires some creative thought and tailoring to a specific campaign. The following article will show you how.
Align and integrate with other campaigns
The nice thing about digital campaigns is that there are a million different things to measure, and then a bundle of ways to slice and dice the data. When adding mobile to the mix, ensure that the defined success metrics align with other channels. For example, when creating a mobile campaign for its Lipitor product, Pfizer defined success so it could be compared with its other traditional campaigns. The company also extended the reach of its marketing efforts by tying the mobile campaign to posters in doctors' offices.
Use what you've already got, and synthesize everything together
If a mobile campaign is aligned with larger efforts, it is likely that there are tools already in place that can be leveraged. For example, if a campaign targets high-end phones that render HTML, it is possible to re-use the tags in the other website. While this can help lower the overall effort, it takes some planning and work to execute and can make it difficult to gather a holistic view of how a campaign is performing. Moreover, mobile is not the only channel -- suddenly marketers are faced with a multitude of different data inputs from varied, inconsistent sources. Tools such as those offered by Visual IQ can be used to understand and increase the performance of mobile campaigns by aggregating data from multiple channels.
Use mobile measurement to make real-time changes
Currently, many marketers are looking to basic text campaigns on mobile platforms. Isobar and Neighborhood America worked together to create the successful All Star Mobile Experience for Adidas. The goal of the work was to connect consumers to the Adidas brand and drive traffic and increase revenue for the Adidas Sport store in Las Vegas during the NBA All-Star Week. Embedded in a larger campaign, the mobile call to action invited users to text "Vegas" to Adidas. By employing a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, Isobar was able to monitor and analyze consumer interactions and opt-ins through a web interface. This enabled the client to make real-time changes to maximize returns. Other more-tangible metrics also demonstrated the success of the program. Revenues from the Adidas store peaked during the five-day event, with sales increasing 20-fold.
Other firms have used mobile metrics to make real-time changes in their campaigns. A large European consumer products manufacturer rolled out a mobile campaign involving a video game and was able to track how successful customers were in playing through. Initial metrics revealed that too many people were losing the game and not completing the process. The marketing team made the game easier, thereby increasing conversions and the overall success of the program.
Seek to be unique
Even though it's best practice to align mobile metrics with the larger goals of a campaign, it's still important to create unique identifiers that will provide specific insight into how mobile is doing in and of itself. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. For example, a large consumer bank offered a mobile program that enabled users to dial into a support center. By creating a unique mobile phone number for users to call, they could measure the overall lift.
Conclusion
There is no question that mobile is becoming ubiquitous, and it is critical that smart marketers begin to understand how to reach their audience on the emerging third screen. Measurement becomes increasingly crucial as marketing budgets tighten, and it's ever more important to quantify successes. As this channel evolves, it's crucial that marketers measure their mobile campaigns; these data will provide the fundamental learnings that can drive real-time changes, as well as provide insight to guide future forays into the blossoming mobile landscape.
Evan Gerber is a principal user experience consultant at Molecular.
