High profile app developers are facing increased scrutiny as a result of a class action lawsuit being launched by 13 smartphone users in Texas.
The companies named in the lawsuit include Apple, Path, Hipster, Twitter, Facebook, Yelp!, Foursquare, Rovio (Angry Birds) and Zepto who have allegedly being collecting and storing user’s address books without users’ permission. Continue reading
With smartphone penetration rising and more and more consumers turning to the mobile web, the opportunity to get your mobile app into the hands of those consumers might seem to be growing by leaps and bounds.
But getting the users you acquire to stick around is proving challenging — perhaps even more challenging than on the web.
As the CTO of CBS Interactive, Peter Yared, recently pointed out in a blog post, mobile analytics provider Flurry has found that iOS and Android apps typically retain just 20% of their users after four months, and a paltry 4% after 12 months. For obvious reasons, this makes building a mobile app that’s successful for the long haul a tall order.
The good news is that maximising user retention in a mobile app doesn’t require magic. Many of the lessons of the web are applicable, and when a concerted effort is made to keep users around, mobile app developers can beat the odds.
Here are five rules for doing just that.
It seems the marketing industry has always discussed and been divided by “the line”. It has categorised marketers and agencies as specialists in either above-the-line or below the-line, but in recent years, the line is blurring as more marketing efforts take on a full 360° approach.
ADMA’s Multi-Channel Acquisition Council has challenged this ancient thinking through their whitepaper “The line doesn’t exist. An overview of how above-the-line media are becoming direct”.
The whitepaper delves into the various channels and how each are changing and have evolved to become direct.
How is online advertising becoming direct?
Once the realm of annoying pop up banner ads and spam emails, online advertising has had to work hard to rebuild its credibility. Peter Davies from Adconion feels that the online industry has created a rod for its own back by allowing the medium to become over commoditised by concentrating on clicks; “there is more to online than this”.
It is this type of blind focus on Cost Per Click or Cost Per Acquisition in display advertising that Peter Davies feels is detrimental because there “is nothing about the user, instead they are focusing on the media objective and only sometimes the business objective. It should be about knowing who these people are and what messages will make them engage and ultimately purchase a product online or in the real word. That is where demographic targeting, behavioural targeting and retargeting come in.”
Then behavioural targeting finds customers whose online surfing patterns and habits indicate they will respond well to a specific offer. Jupiter Research states that 65% of online shoppers say that they pay more attention to behaviourally targeted advertising, than contextually targeted advertising.
Peter Hunter from iProspect feels that only about 10-15% of companies are making the most of online targeting capabilities- “the full suite of online’s opportunities hasn’t been fully explored yet” … so there are a wealth of opportunities out there for those who can get this right.
How is TV becoming more direct?
TV is at a pivotal stage in its lifecycle where it needs to adapt. TV has historically been seen as one of the most effective mediums for mass communication, but in today’s world of interactivity, it has to change to still be relevant. Advertisers are demanding greater targeting and accountability, which will be the way of the future. TV will become more direct – much like a computer IP address leaving advertising and marketing more targeted and relevant.
One interesting point from the whitepaper was the fact that TV is becoming a two way medium capable of direct marketing rather than just a one way medium of advertiser message to consumer’. Only time will tell with this medium can offer marketers….
How is radio advertising becoming direct?
When TV was launched, many thought radio would die. Reality has turned out far from that as radio continues to play an integral part in the lives of many Australians.
From a marketer’s perspective, radio has some distinct targeting advantages. Radio is a live omnipresent medium that is consumed at home, at work, and in the car, offering unique day-part targeting opportunities. Ralph Van Dijk from radio specialist agency Eardrum claims that with radio “we know what they are doing at that point in time, and can tailor our creative accordingly to be more targeted, relevant and effective.”
In terms of direct response, the link between radio and online is well established, which according to Nielsen, over 80% of people who hear a relevant radio commercial referring to a website have visited that website as a result. Digital radio means more channels, more listeners, and from an advertiser’s point of view, this all means customer segments are now easier to target. More channels means brands have the opportunity to develop integrated branded programming to add value to distinct customer segments.
How is mobile becoming direct?
Mobile has always seen itself as having a highly personal relationship with its user the consumer. Marcus Giles from Telstra Media states that the power of the consumer is continually growing and consumers should be seen as partners, especially as they can reject you before they have even met you! Getting consumers to “self-select” their interest for relevant opportunities is key. For example Audi used Telstra Mobile to reach their specific target customer for the launch of a new Audi. Direct integration into Audi’s CRM system provided a real time view on customer queries, meaning that a hot lead could be acted upon almost immediately. Morgan Stanley’s renowned Internet analyst, Mary Meeker believes “more users may connect via mobile devices than desktop PCs within 5 years”. This statement is already becoming reality in Australia Telstra reports that approximately 75% of users to some high profile online properties
In summary, the whitepaper discusses the personal and portable nature of mobile which allows marketers to be relevant and valuable based on the consumer’s location, behaviour and current situation.
How is print advertising becoming direct?
Print media is one of the earliest forms of communication. In fact you could say that print -media launched mass media and marketing from what had been up until then one to one communication. Joe Talcott from News Ltd said in the whitepaper that press is often labelled as “the poster boy for a dying media” but Joe feels this is far from reality. Peter Hunter from iProspect highlights how offline also drives online. “In the past we have seen clients stop their offline advertising, because search was delivering the results. However when they stopped advertising, all of a sudden the search results dropped off.” Peter Hunter feels that about 67% of search comes from an offline source such as direct mail and so stopping this source is not recommended.
Conclusion
This paper has shown that each of what was seen as the “traditional above-the-line” mediums are fast becoming capable of direct marketing, signalling the end of the line. Traditional mass market channels have to adapt to a more interactive landscape to remain relevant. The old patterns of dominance are changing given the greater insight into consumer behaviour that is now available with intelligence.
It’s clear from the whitepaper that increasingly sophisticated and selective consumers can abandon channels if they fail to stay relevant. Even the supposedly ‘new’ technologies are re-inventing themselves and their application to adapt to this rapidly changing environment. It’s an exciting time to be in direct marketing -some channels will prove to be less effective than others in the increasingly crowded media landscape, but all will provide greater insight into consumer behaviour. All channels now have the capability to be direct it is now up to the marketer to adapt their thinking and finally remove “the line” for good.
The whitepaper was produced by Allison Ells and Chris Maloney from ADMA’s Multi-Channel Acquisition Council. Click here to view the full whitepaper on ADMA Dialogue.
The opportunities for Direct Marketing campaigns on mobile are as many and varied as any other digital channel. According to the end of year White Paper released by ADMA’s Digital Council, the key for marketers is getting the message appropriate for the medium being used, which is particularly important in mobile with its limited screen size and immediate nature of the channel.
The Whitepaper demonstrates the simple steps that can be taken to deliver effective and successful campaigns that build loyalty and deliver the right message at the right time to the right person, something that is only possible on a truly personal device – the mobile phone.
Although Mobile is a relatively new channel the fundamental principles of marketing are just as applicable to mobile direct marketing campaigns as they are to any form of direct marketing.
Digital marketing is an ever changing landscape, with new technologies rising and falling almost daily. The challenge for marketers is determining where email sits in the armoury of marketing tools? How to select the right digital tools to deliver on client’s direct marketing requirements and expectations? How to deliver effective email marketing without falling foul of regulatory guidelines, codes of conduct and laws such as the Spam Act?
This White Paper provides marketers with an understanding of the email landscape including an overview of relevant regulations, a best in class guideline and a practical step-by-step guide to implementing a successful email campaign. The Paper also includes successful case studies that lend themselves to almost any business wishing to better communicate with its customers using email.
Download the white paper here.
White Paper created by ADMA Digital Council Members:
Maryjane Aviles, Client Services Director, Moon Communications Group
Oliver Palmer, Co-founder and Head of Innovation, TigerSpike
Elly Towns, Director, Growth & Retention Marketing Development Manager, IAG.
Mobile marketing should be top of mind for all marketers as we move to a world where the mobile device will be central to customer communications. Mobile devices are now replacing a number of the functions traditionally seen on laptops and desktop devices – email, social networking, calendar management and internet browsing to name but a few.
The opportunities for integrating mobile into a direct campaign are many and varied, and mobile is often the “first screen” that a consumer may experience a product or marketing message. The key is getting the message appropriate for the medium being used. This is particularly important in mobile with its limited screen size and immediate nature of the channel.
The ADMA Digital Council has developed a short White Paper that demonstrates the simple steps that can be taken to deliver effective and successful campaigns. The paper includes case studies and guidelines around building loyalty and delivering the right message at the right time to the right person. Something that is only possible on a truly personal device – the mobile phone.
Download the white paper here.
White Paper created by ADMA Digital Council Members:
Maryjane Aviles, Client Services Director, Moon Communications Group
Oliver Palmer, Co-founder and Head of Innovation, TigerSpike
Elly Towns, Director, Growth & Retention Marketing Development Manager, IAG.
The mobile phone becomes increasingly essential to our daily lives. Gone are the days when we used our mobile to make a simple telephone call – now we live in a world where our mobile device is central to everything that we do. Our mobile device is now the funnel through which we receive our emails, search the web, participate in social media, shop online, complete our banking transactions, find our way around town and play scrabble with our international friends…..the possibilities are endless.
A new report has just been published YouGov which finds, not surprisingly, that regular display advertising on mobile is not going to cut it with the vast majority of mobile users. Not only do people ignore these ads, but 79% find them irritating too.
The nugget to come out of this research, and this has been echoed in other reports I have seen, is that: ‘Just over a quarter of respondents said they would welcome more advertising if it offered money off deals or special offers and 21% said they don’t mind ads that are relevant to them’.
Newly-minted Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA) chief executive Jodie Sangster has fired a warning shot at advertisers who ignore mobile in their marketing
plans.
Sangster believes mobile is a device that is revolutionising marketing like no
other device has managed to do before it.
