Mobile Marketing Automation: Reaching Out to the Next Billion Users

Marketing automation has become an integral part of the customer engagement process for brands across different verticals. Given the scale, frequency, and diversity of channels involved in digital marketing, it’s getting pretty hard to imagine not having some level of automation in place. The advent of new age marketing platforms has made it easier for marketers to track user behavior, set rules and use customized messages to communicate with the customers and prospects.

For the uninitiated, marketing automation platforms are most commonly used in more traditional marketing channels like email and direct mail.

• Collect and store user information


• Segment users based on the collected information


• Personalize user communication based on the web and in-app activity


• Customize the tone and timing of your messaging


• Determine the best channel to interact with your users


• Provide a seamless user experience across all the communication channels. (Think Omnichannel marketing.)


• Perform A/B testing and multivariate testing

 

But when you move over to the mobile marketing ecosystem, you encounter a new set of challenges. (Many of the similarities end after the initial step of collecting user information.) A traditional marketing automation system cannot leverage newer technology like Mobile Push or In-App Messaging. Most platforms are not built to work in real-time or to leverage mobile-specific user data like location, app usage, etc. This means mobile customers may not get a seamless experience, and mobile marketers don’t get to take advantage of the unique opportunities this channel presents.

In contrast, mobile ready marketing automation services like Boomtrain incorporate all the traditional marketing automation capabilities but also include the ability to optimize communications in the mobile channel and create a comprehensive user experience that includes all digital channels. Mobile marketing automation platforms include capabilities such as:

• Mobile Push and In-app messaging


• Mobile-first engagement


• Omnichannel user-experience


• 1:1 personalized user experience


• SMS communication capabilities


• In-app product and content recommendations

What makes mobile marketing automation different from the traditional methods?

Method of Communication

In addition to getting emails on their phone, mobile users also engage through:

• Push notifications


• In-app messaging


• Wearable device notifications


• SMS and phone calls

A traditional automation system can’t leverage these communication channels. This is a missed opportunity, but can also result in an inconsistent or annoying user experience, if the left (traditional) hand doesn’t know what they right (mobile) hand is doing. A modern automation system, however, can help in actively engaging with users over traditional channels like email and mobile based communication channels like the ones mentioned above. It can also help you craft a user experience that is consistent across all channels.

Segmentation & Personalization

In traditional marketing, personalization happens in three ways: via emails, form submissions, and web activities. In mobile marketing automation, there are additional data points that a marketer can leverage.

Additional attributes like location, mobile platform, app usage activity etc can help marketers understanding their users better and act more quickly in response to trigger actions like app downloads, interactions and uninstalls, providing a more seamless and personalized experience for users.

Uber’s interaction with its users is a good example of this mobile-specific personalization in action. If you’re a frequent Uber user, then you know the brand interacts with you through personalized offers like “25% off on UberX,” or “2 free UberGo rides on us,” and more. They serve all of these offers based on the data they collect from their users’ activity, including location and app behavior.

Personalized communication over mobile is also far more interactive and effective than the traditional mediums. For example, you can now send an interactive push notification with “yes” and “no” buttons that let a recipient take action instantly and effortlessly, without even needing to open an app!

Timing and behavior-based engagement triggers

One of the biggest advantages of engaging mobile users is that the interaction can happen in real-time. A user can be reached quickly and unobtrusively, even on the go. A push notification with breaking news can be sent and seen when the news breaks, not discovered hours later in a user’s email inbox.

Smart mobile marketing automation services also leverage the real-time update feature. They use real-time behavior triggers like first app opens, abandoned shopping carts, and usage milestones to initiate timely and relevant communications. And as every marketer knows, it’s the relevance of your communication that has the largest effect on its ability to engage users and shift behaviors.

Better Data & User Integration

Successful brands have always focused on strategies that provide users with a consistent and seamless experience.

A smart, omnichannel marketing automation service will provide you actionable data and insights to increase engagement across all consumer touch points.  

For example, you can use this rich, integrated data to:

• Win back customers based on abandoned shopping cart contents, app uninstalls, or user inactivity,


• Run exclusive mobile-first offers and campaigns


• Use Mobile Push to promote limited offers and one-day events


• Figure out when your customer is most likely to read and interact with your messages


• Optimize the delivery of your content and offers based on your users’ most active time and preferred channels.

How can my brand get started with mobile marketing automation?

Mobile marketing automation can do a lot for your business and help you explore previously untapped customer landscapes. However, there are some things to consider before you jump into evaluating vendors and platforms. Here are some considerations that can help you put an effective mobile marketing plan in place:

• Make sure that your app and website are optimized for mobile usage and mobile communication.


• Look at how your brand communicates with users across multiple devices, like desktops, laptops, mobile or wearable tech. Try to implement an Omnichannel Communication Model.


• Learn the intricacies of different Mobile OS (for example, Android and iOS). This will help you in tailoring your messages across channels.

This guide by Appboy is another great resource when preparing to make the move to an OmniChannel strategy.

Conclusions about Mobile Marketing Automation

There is no doubt that mobile as a channel is only going to keep growing for the foreseeable future, and if it’s not already, you need to treat it as a critical—and distinct—part of your digital marketing strategy.

An efficient mobile marketing automation service can handle all the inner intricacies and complexities of a mobile-first world, and integrate them with your traditional marketing channels. Better automation means you can focus more on creating great content and user experience for your customers (and put your engineering resources to work where they really matter instead of asking them for help on push notifications.)

If you’d like to see what a smart, omnichannel marketing automation platform like Boomtrain can do for your business, contact us for a demo.