The vast majority of businesses are embracing mobile apps, but many still have a limited mobile infrastructure, according to a recent benchmarking report from Urban Airship.
More than 500 mobile leaders—including executives, marketers and developers—took Urban Airship’s Mobile Maturity Self-Assessment. Eighty-five percent of the respondents reported that they are using mobile apps in their marketing efforts, but nearly have of those marketers are still in a tactical phase, with a “one-size-fits-all” approach to mobile.
Not surprisingly, app developers ranked highest in their mobile maturity. Media, sports and entertainment firms also ranked strongly, while retail, food and travel marketers were the furthest behind.
When asked which mobile channels were the most essential, the largest number said push messaging over mobile advertising or SMS. Thirty-two percent cited push as essential, versus 11% for SMS. Software/tech and finance were the most likely to say SMS was essential.
Mobile ROI is still a moving target for many marketers. Only 56% of those surveyed reported using sales/conversions as their metric for mobile success, followed next by engagement and reach/frequency. Downloads and frequency of use was the main metric for app success, while uninstall rate was the least often considered number.
Almost half of the respondents said that mobile decisions in their organization was lead on a case-by-case basis by different parts of the company. Urban Airship predicts that the position of chief mobile officer will be come more common—and critical—as the channel matures to give companies more a more cohesive mobile strategy.
For more on how to improve your mobile marketing strategy, join Urban Airship for a free webinar on May 7 where they will share more results from the benchmark report and ideas for boosting your mobile revenue. Click here to register.
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