In 2010, Morgan Stanley came out with a report that charted online trends and made predictions for the future of web use. As part of that study, analysts believed that the mobile web will be bigger than desktop Internet use by 2015. The same study also found that 91 percent of all U.S. citizens have their mobile device within reach 24/7.
Four years later, marketers and media companies alike are leveraging these mobile opportunities like never before. While the term “big data” may sound like a buzzword, the huge amount of data available is allowing brands to intelligently collect and utilize user data to better understand the individual consumer. But how are they doing it?
“By giving consumers a better experience,” said Rishu Mandolia, lead mobile instructor at the Digital Professional Institute.
“Currently, such detailed consumer profiles are mostly used for traditional marketing functions such as advertising and promotions,” he continued. “But as some of the techniques for automated data analysis become more mainstream—and affordable from a computing standpoint—individual apps can customize them to improve the user experience.”
Mandolia likened this to the personalized product and movie recommendations that Amazon and Netflix provide for customers, based on automatic analysis of a user’s behavior. This kind of analysis is now used on mobile devices to provide relevant and targeted advertising and content for brands, allowing apps to respond with useful information. Calorie-tracking apps, for example, might offer diet tips or healthy alternatives based on the information a consumer adds for the week.
According to Mandolia, the key to the success of mobile personalization is the size of segments.
“Manual customer segmentation had to be limited to a manageable number,” he said. “Automated systems can theoretically keep slicing segments into an infinite number of custom related sub-segments.”
So as technology improves, so will the specific data available. Twitter, with its huge database of tweets from over 200 million users, has the ability to provide a massive amount of personalized information. This is leading to the tracking of multiple behavior patterns at once.
“Individuals who tweet about [the FOX TV show] Almost Human and are using an iPhone 5 can be more effectively targeted with a sponsored tweet for the new Samsung device, as a futuristic phone,” Mandolia said. “And if the person mentioned they have a pet, maybe the tweet is further customized to capitalize on that. The ability to mine a user’s historic tweets means the ads can become even more intelligent.”
Mandolia elaborated, using the example of an iPhone 5 user who tweeted about their new phone roughly 18 months ago. Since they would be in the market for a phone upgrade soon, they can be targeted in a timely manner. Mandolia predicts this type of targeted mobile app marketing will continue to grow. However, he advises that companies not disregard their desktop websites any time soon.
“Even though mobile is growing, as of 2013 it only accounts for less than 20 percent of global web usage,” he said. “It was supposed to get closer, but smartphone mobile is still far behind desktop.”
Moreover, consumers are using mobile devices and computers for separate reasons. They are more likely to be using mobile sites on the go, for more specific information, Mandolia said. For the time being, brands can find more success by focusing on independent uses for each platform. What is shifting, however, is the disconnect between mobile phones, tablets and TVs, he said. Networks will start encouraging more viewers to connect in real-time on their smartphones and tablets for a more immersive experience.
“Additionally, new Internet-connected TVs and video streaming boxes are supporting mobile as a powerful way to control and interact with the device and content,” he said. “Mobile phones are still going to be big for a few years. We’ll see them becoming even more popular as consumers switch usage from desktop to mobile more than the 20 percent mentioned above. That’s where we’ll see companies still focusing – and using mobile more actively.”
