The Official blog of Dark Matter, Inc.

eMarketer smartphone usage stats point out some important behavioral insight. Marketers shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that just because someone has a smartphone that we will necessarily use the more advanced functionality that the phones provide. Here we see younger moms using their smart phones for inventory checks and downloading coupons. While moms over 45 using only basic level functionality such as store location. Read more.

Source: MediaPost, by Mark Walsh, Monday, May 9, 2011, 4:45 PM

What most brands call their mobile strategy really just amounts to a collection of mobile tactics, according to Altimeter Group analyst Jeremiah Owyang. In a new blog post based on a presentation he gave at the recent Mobile Marketing Strategies Summit in San Francisco, he argues companies should look at how their customers use mobile technologies and build a strategy accordingly.

Specifically, they should integrate mobile across the customer lifecycle, which Altimeter defines as an “hourglass” rather than the traditional purchase funnel. The inverted pyramid forming the top of the hourglass includes “awareness,” “consideration” and “intent.” The bottom section features “advocacy,” “loyalty” and “support.” Both halves narrow toward the purchase phase of the lifecycle.

For each part of the process, Owyang provides marketing examples, mostly popular apps. In connection with the awareness-building stage, he highlights a number of apps centered on location-awareness features such as GateGuru, which airport retailers advertise on to drive users into stores. Another example is Nestle Purina’s app providing a database of pet-friendly places in the U.S. to boost brand awareness and affinity.

When it comes to purchase intent, Owyang says apps or other mobile tools should reduce friction and smooth the way for a purchase to take place with a few simple clicks. Examples include Target’s app that lets users create wedding and baby shower registry lists, and the ShopRite app that allows customers to view and add weekly sales items to their shopping lists.

The presentation also notes that social commerce, while still emerging, will drive sales growth for mobile commerce by populating shopping lists based on social and location data. Next-generation apps will automatically fill out these lists based on past behavior. And apps like Starbucks’ mobile card already let people make transactions directly with a wave of their smartphones.

Apps have proven especially popular in providing customer support. In that vein, think Delta’s app-based e-boarding passes or the AAA app for getting roadside assistance. Owyang recommends these kind of apps include features like frequently asked questions, peer-to-peer support, and direct customer service once other avenues have been exhausted.

The presentation includes more examples of mobile tools geared to other parts of the customer experience. One observation from considering these suggestions is that it could get expensive if a marketer were to build separate apps for each phase of the process.

A single app can cost several hundred thousand dollars at the high end. Short of that, it seems companies have focused on the aspects of the customer lifecycle most suited to their businesses. Retailers, for instance, have concentrated on apps that help people find stores, find products while shopping, and make purchases.

Brands may naturally focus more on creating product awareness in mobile. Creating more partnerships between brands and retailers is one way companies may be able to reduce development costs while expanding mobile across the entire marketing process. And if you think you have great ideas for marketing in this emerging space, Altimeter is looking for a mobile analyst.

Keynote: How to Develop a Mobile Strategy (Video and Slides)

Last week, I had the honor of keynoting the Mobile Marketing Strategies Summit in San Francisco, to provide a strategic perspective of how mobile –and social technologies work together for today’s top brands. Sadly, we found that most companies are developing mobile tactics. That’s right, tactics. Why? As the latest technology came around, companies would prescribe towards them in a haphazard way, or rely on their agencies to select the app to appease a ‘mobile solution, quickly’.

Instead, companies should evaluate how their customers use mobile technologies across their entire life and brand process. Working closely with the research team here at Altimeter, we were able to structure a mobile strategy based on the customer life process –not just on features and functions, and found quite a few examples of companies spanning the gap.

If you’re seeking a strategic perspective, please watch the video below –and see slides. Caveat: My primary focus is social so you’ll see some crossover between my perspective and how mobile connects. Also, we’re hiring a mobile analyst (and other roles) that will be primarily focused and go deeper than I will have time to, while I’ll continue to focus on customer strategy across many platforms.

Source: comScore, May 13, 2011

On Friday, comScore published the results of a new study of mobile social networking check-in service users based on data from its comScore MobiLens service.

According to the findings, there are areas of mobile services and practices that are yet to be widely embraced by the mobile community at large.

The study found that only 16.7 million US mobile subscribers used location-based “check-in” services on their phones in March 2011, representing a mere 7.1 percent of the entire mobile population. 12.7 million check-in users did so on a smartphone, representing 17.6 percent of the smartphone population.

Check-in service users, defined as those accessing services such as Facebook Places, Foursquare and Gowalla, had heavy skews toward 18-24 year olds (26.0 percent) and 25-34 year olds (32.5 percent) in relation to both the total mobile audience and the overall smartphone audience.

Not surprisingly, the study similarly found a strong correlation between check-in service users and the propensity to consume mobile media and access retail sites and shopping guides.

Mobile users presently embracing location-based “check-in” services also displayed other characteristics of early adopters, including a stronger likelihood of owning a tablet device and accessing tech news, when compared to the average smartphone user.

“Although still in their relative infancy, location-based mobile check-in services are seeing rather impressive adoption among smartphone users,” said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile. “The ability to interact with consumers on this micro-local level through special offers, deals and other incentives provides brands with the real-time opportunity to engage consumers through their mobile device.”

Source: Mobile Marketing Watch, Greystripe collected the data from its expansive network of touch devices during a three-month period from November 16, 2010 to February 15, 2011.

The mobile revolution is being shown some motherly love, according to the findings of a new Greystripe study.

Based on the findings of the report by the mobile ad network, Greystripe says better than 66% of moms are plugged into their mobile devices while engaged in the act of shopping. And as it turns out, smartphone usage extends far beyond making grocery lists and simple organizational functions.

45% of connected moms use their smartphone to locate stores, while another 36% utilize some form of price comparison app or service.

“Smartphones have become the super tool for moms on the go,” said Dane Holewinski, director of marketing with Greystripe. “The majority of moms with smartphones are using those devices for their day to day tasks especially shopping, making them the ideal target for advertisers.”

31% of the moms surveyed revealed using their smartphones to research products, read reviews, and check product availability.

Perhaps most interesting, however, is the swelling number of moms who turn to their smartphones in search of discounts. Greystripe found that 57% of moms now search for mobile coupons via their mobile device.

A new survey just published from digital marketing agency White Horse suggests smartphone users are still showing a surprising lack of interest in location-based mobile services.

The report, based on the White Horse Digital Futures Group’s recent survey of 427 US smartphone users, defines immediate opportunities to “test participation incentives, increase social integration, and actively overcome privacy concerns to drive participation,” according to the agency.  The report reveals that more than 60% of smartphone users still aren’t using location-based services, and marketers and location-based service providers have more work to do in establishing the value of the services to the uninitiated.

The report also revealed strong correlation between location-based service usage and heavy social network usage, suggesting the need for brands to strongly integrate their social and mobile strategies to take advantage of early adopter behavior.  The report, dubbed “Lost in Geolocation: Why Consumers Haven’t Bought It, and How Marketers Can Fix It,” shares key findings and detailed recommendations for marketers to improve mobile engagement with location-based services, including Facebook Places, Foursquare and Gowalla.

You can view/download the survey and report here.