Mobile marketing disconnect between consumers and marketeers

Retailbiz.com.au recently published an article showing how retailers need to re-think their marketing strategies as consumers who receive emails and access websites on their mobile devices are not happy with the experience!

The study, which involved 240 Australian marketers and 1000 Australian consumers, looked at the contrast between marketers’ and consumers’ perceptions of using mobile email.

Only one quarter (26 per cent) of Australian consumers consider the design of emails received on their mobile device as ‘good’. Almost half (47 per cent) of Australians who receive emails via mobile are using this service frequently or very frequently.

Also, more than three quarters (78 per cent) of marketers place a high importance on mobile marketing in future communications, yet consumers are demanding changes now.

Yet despite this, only 18 per cent of marketers have taken any steps to capitalise on the opportunity by amending their email marketing and communications strategies to meet consumer demands.

It’s all about the user experience
 “This is a wakeup call for those marketers engaging in one dimensional Electronic Digital Marketing (EDM) campaigns. Consumers are already reading emails on their mobile devices, and the proportion is growing with the massive uptake of smartphones. A poorly formatted email or a clunky website experience will render this channel worthless through lack of response,” John Merakovsky, Experian marketing services director, said.

Additionally, mobile email readers are reluctant to click on a link due to bad user experience for non-mobile optimised websites. It’s suggested that less than 10 per cent would click on a mobile link versus 61 per cent if it was done through a PC. But almost a quarter (23 per cent) of marketers have no plans to engage in ways to improve email delivery to mobile devices.

The research also found those consumers reading emails on their mobile devices are doing so anytime and anywhere. The most popular times to read are at the weekend (85 per cent reading all the time or sometimes), while travelling (78 per cent) and after work (78 per cent).

These findings indicate marketers should think outside of the traditional 9-5 window for campaigns.

“Mobile use will continue to grow with increasingly sophisticated devices. Consumers are currently reading emails on mobiles, but marketers want to get them to click through to a website. Marketers who have not optimised their websites for mobile devices will quickly find themselves turning off potential customers,” Merakovsky said.

Closer to home
In the New Zealand market we are very much at the infancy stage of using mobile marketing as a channel tool, but certainly need to think about the basics as we move forward – namely it should all start with the customer experience, as we all know that bad news (ie a bad experience) travels fast, particularly with the prolific use of social media!!

If you want to know more about how the mobile channel can work for your business, then please give Tim a call.

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