Learn how to take your mobile marketing to the next level and find the right platform for your needs.
Mobile marketing is becoming more and more popular among consumers across the world. It’s something that businesses are already investing a lot of their time and money into. And from the looks of it, mobile adoption isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
That’s why companies are continuing to look for new ways to improve their mobile marketing efforts. For many, that now looks like investing in a mobile marketing platform to better reach their customers and automate some of their daily responsibilities.
If your company is looking for ways to improve your current process and considering taking the plunge into the world of mobile marketing automation, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll take a look at everything you need to know about mobile marketing and how to choose the right platform for your business needs.
Here’s a quick look at what lies ahead:
- Understanding what mobile marketing is
- What is a mobile marketing platform?
- 8 mobile marketing platforms to know
- How the right mobile marketing platform can benefit you
Understanding Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing encompasses any marketing or advertising activity that is promoted to customers through their mobile devices. Whether that device is a smartphone, tablet, or another mobile device, it’s important to understand the ins and outs of mobile marketing.
“Mobile marketing is an indispensable tool for companies large and small as mobile devices become ubiquitous” – Investopedia.
People are increasingly growing more dependent on their mobile devices. When you consider that roughly one in five American adults are “smartphone-only” internet users, if you aren’t already using mobile marketing, you may be falling behind.
People are no longer relying on devices like desktop computers or even laptops. Smartphones are the new normal and many are opting to move towards smartphone-only internet use.
Your competitors are most likely already using mobile marketing to get their messages out, and if you’re not in the mobile marketing game, your brand may be out of sight, out of mind for many. Having an active presence through mobile marketing will benefit your company through increased engagement, sales, and brand recognition.
Here are a few quick facts to help you understand just how important mobile marketing is in today’s world:
- In 2019, there were more than 5 billion mobile users
- More than half of all internet users access it through their mobile devices
- 78% of teenagers use their smartphone instead of a laptop
- 50% of people start using their smartphones as soon as they wake up
- More than one-quarter of emails are now opened on smartphones
There are a number of ways you can reach customers on their mobile devices. Let’s take a look at a few of the most common mobile marketing tactics and how they can benefit you.
Here’s what mobile marketing tactics we’ll cover:
- SMS and MMS messaging
- Using mobile apps
- Adapting email marketing for mobile
1. SMS and MMS Messaging
One of the most effective ways to reach your customers via their mobile device is through SMS or MMS messaging, also known as text message marketing.
Texting has become the new normal. People are opting to send a quick text message over calling someone and the number of minutes people are spending texting versus doing voice calls proves that.
“Americans spend about 26 minutes a day texting, compared to only spending about six minutes a day on voice calls.” – Chicago Tribune.
That’s why utilizing SMS and MMS messages in your mobile marketing efforts is so important. People are actively choosing to utilize texting and favoring it over other mediums. And they’re checking their smartphones frequently, 52 times each day to be more specific.
Knowing that, it’s easy to understand how SMS and MMS can be an effective mobile marketing tactic. When done right, text marketing can help you increase engagement, see higher conversion rates, and initiate two-way conversations with your customers.
Text message marketing is an extremely effective way to reach and engage your customers. In fact, many people actually want to hear from the brands they love via text message.
Here are a few stats you can expect to see when using text message marketing:
- 90% of SMS messages are read within 3 minutes
- Open rates of up to 98%
- Up to 209% higher response rates than phone, email, or Facebook
- SMS-delivered coupons are redeemed 10 times more than other coupon types
If you’re looking for an effective way to reach your customers and see a quick return on investment, text message marketing is a great option.
2. Using Mobile Apps
Another great way to reach your customers via their mobile devices is by creating an app that they can download directly to their device. Once a customer has downloaded the app, you can send messages directly to their device in the form of a push notification.
Mobile apps have been really gaining traction in recent years. As downloads grow year after year, more customers are interacting with brands through apps on their mobile devices.
In 2019, the number of mobile app downloads worldwide made it to over 200 billion.
Mobile apps are becoming more popular among customers and continue to grow year after year. The great thing about mobile apps is that you can create campaigns and marketing efforts to communicate with your customers through each stage of their purchasing journey.
You have the data to understand when they first download your app, when they’ve become an active user, and then once they’ve made in-app purchases. This allows you to better market to their specific wants and needs and build a stronger relationship.
3. Adapting Email Marketing for Mobile
Email is probably already a staple in your marketing strategy, but are you actively optimizing your content and design for mobile?
If not, this could be another huge missed opportunity. As we’ve already discussed, people are opting to use mobile devices more than ever before and that’s true for sending and receiving email as well.
In fact, ⅔ of emails are opened on a mobile device and 75% of smartphone owners use their devices to check their emails.
When you think about those numbers compared to your subscriber list, that’s a huge percentage of your customer base using mobile devices for their email needs.
Smartphones come out on top as the most-used device for opening emails. While desktops aren’t too far behind, it’s easy to see the importance of optimizing emails for mobile consumption.
So, how do you adapt your emails to ensure they are mobile-friendly? Here are a few optimization tips to send you in the right direction:
- Keep your subject lines short and sweet
- Utilize a single-column template
- Keep emails 600 pixels wide for best results
- Make your call to action stand out and tabbable
- Always test your emails on mobile devices
You don’t have to reinvent your email marketing strategy to adapt to mobile, but you do want to make sure to optimize your messages the best you can. Mobile usage will only continue to grow in the coming years, so if you haven’t already taken your emails mobile, now’s the time to do so.
What Is a Mobile Marketing Platform and How Does It Work?
Mobile marketing platforms are designed to help you reach your customers in all the different ways we just discussed, in a more manageable way. They collect customer data to help you improve the overall customer experience and continue to personalize your mobile marketing efforts.
With all of this data, a mobile marketing platform will help to automate your efforts and improve the content that is being served to your customers. Your mobile marketing platform can use this information to better target your audience with the right messages at the right time.
It takes the guesswork out of your mobile marketing by only providing the most relevant content to your customers based on their behaviors and interactions.
Let’s take a look at a few different mobile marketing platforms that you should consider when looking for the right platform for your business.
Top 8 Mobile Marketing Platforms You Should Know About
When it comes time to invest in a mobile marketing platform, there’s a lot to consider. Knowing that you want to make sure you’re making the right choice, we’ve compiled a list of 8 platforms and some of their key factors that can help you compare them in one place.
1. Listrak
Easily create, manage, and automate marketing messages to reach customers on their mobile devices via SMS and MMS messaging, email optimization, and mobile push with Listrak’s mobile marketing platform.
Having the ability to quickly and easily reach customers on their mobile devices can be a game changer. With the right push notifications, you can engage customers no matter where they are or what they’re doing.
Listrak’s automation platform takes all of your mobile marketing efforts into consideration.
From ensuring your email marketing automation is optimized to improving in-app mobile experiences, Listrak has you covered. With all of these platforms working together, you can build cross-channel marketing campaigns to reach your customers with the right message at the right time.
Mobile marketing capabilities:
- Easily create mobile app push notifications
- Manage mobile app contact lists
- Create and send SMS and MMS messaging campaigns
- Automate email marketing efforts
Important considerations:
- Good solution for all company sizes
- Pricing varies based on company needs
- Provides guidance from advanced technology, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics
- Easily accessible and responsive training and support teams
What makes this platform stand out? The wide range of mobile activities you can integrate into the platform and the supportive team backing you.
“I’ve been very impressed with the speed of innovation and continual investment into the platform. The tool itself is powerful and the people we work with go above and beyond to make us feel supported.” – Listrak Customer Testimonial
If you’re looking for a way to automate your mobile marketing efforts to more effectively reach your customers, this is a platform you should consider.
2. Swrve
Swrve’s mobile marketing platform helps companies scale communication to a wide array of customers while always providing the most relevant experience.
Swrve allows you to create campaigns across platforms to provide your customers with the most relevant messaging.
With the help of Swrve, you can integrate multiple mobile marketing channels to create one comprehensive experience for your customers. Swrve can help you improve the customer experience across platforms, including your website, mobile app, and email marketing efforts.
Mobile marketing capabilities:
- Mobile push messaging with deep-linking capabilities
- Create interactive in-app experience
- Send triggered SMS messages
- Integrate email marketing efforts
Important considerations:
- Best for larger companies and agencies
- Pricing varies based on services and support needed
- Allows for customizable A/B testing
What makes this platform stand out? The focus on improving the customer experience through relevant content, the customizable A/B testing, and in-app capabilities.
“Real-time relevance through Swrve has resulted in significant increases in revenue for our mobile game.” – Swrve Customer Testimonial
If you’re looking for a solution that allows you to continuously test your efforts and provides great in-app experiences, you’ll want to consider Swrve.
3. Vibes
Vibes mobile marketing platform allows you to connect with, create, and deliver personalized content to your customers individually across multiple mobile platforms.
Vibes allows you to reach customers via multichannel mobile marketing, provide personalization, and grow through analytics and insights.
Vibes is a great option for companies looking to expand their mobile marketing efforts and create a multichannel mobile experience. It adds a competitive edge with the ability to integrate your mobile efforts with other platforms such as mobile wallet and popular messaging apps.
Mobile marketing capabilities:
- Send SMS and MMS messages
- Integrate your efforts with mobile wallet
- Use push notifications to connect with customers
- Connect with users on outside messaging apps
Important considerations:
- Good solution for all company sizes
- Pricing varies based on services needed
- Provides valuable integration with outside applications
What makes this platform stand out? The ability to integrate with outside platforms to improve a brand’s mobile experience.
“PetSmart partnered with Vibes to help us engage with our pet parents on mobile and run campaigns with exclusive offers that have resulted in greater than 50% CTR and higher in-store traffic.” – Vibes Customer Testimonial
If you’re looking to create a multichannel mobile marketing campaign that allows you to leverage outside platforms, you’ll definitely want to consider Vibes.
4. OneSignal
OneSignal’s mobile marketing platform will allow you to send messages directly to customers via push notifications, in-app messaging, and email marketing.
OneSignal makes creating in-app experiences easier than ever before and makes bringing your vision to life possible.
You can easily create, manage, and communicate with your customers on mobile across various platforms. From in-app and mobile browser messaging to optimizing emails for mobile consumption, OneSignal has a solution for you.
Mobile marketing capabilities:
- Bring customers to your app with relevant mobile push notifications
- Send messages through mobile browsers
- Use in-app messaging to engage with customers
- Create and optimize emails for all devices
Important considerations:
- Good solution for all company sizes
- There is a free version available but for additional resources, pricing can range from $99 – $500 per month
What makes this platform stand out? It helps make creating mobile marketing messages simple on various platforms. But the biggest differentiator is that there is a free version you can test out before investing in a paid plan.
“OneSignal has helped us develop world-class push notification capabilities with little effort on our end. We’ve increased our retention by over 20% since we’ve started.” – OneSignal Customer Testimonial
If you’re looking for a cost-effective platform to increase mobile engagement and drive customers to your mobile app, OneSignal is a great option.
5. Mixpanel
Mixpanel’s mobile marketing platform lets you automate your mobile efforts while using analytics to help you continue to improve the customer experience.
Create automated campaigns based on specific triggers and customer behaviors. Then track campaign success to help identify future opportunities.
Mixpanel is a great solution for companies who are looking to use analytics to improve their mobile marketing efforts. You can use the system to automate and send messages through mobile, but the true power of this system comes from the analytics.
Mobile marketing capabilities:
- Build reports and monitor KPIs
- Use customer interactions and behaviors to provide relevant content
- Send targeted messages via email, SMS, and in-app messaging
- Implement A/B testing to help improve future campaigns
Important considerations:
- Good solution for all company sizes
- There is a free version available but paid versions start at $89 per month. There are also custom pricing options for those with additional needs
- Provides a strong focus on product analytics to improve conversions and engage customers
“Notifications were previously impossible to track. We had zero idea how effective they were. One of the biggest things Mixpanl gave us is the power of Notifications, and the analytics that come with it.” – Mixpanel Customer Testimonial
What makes this platform stand out? The focus on improving mobile marketing efforts with the help of product analytics.
If you’re looking for a way to improve your mobile marketing experience through real-time customer data, then add Mixpanel to your consideration list.
6. Insider
Insider’s mobile marketing platform uses artificial intelligence to help companies grow their presence and improve the overall customer experience in the process.
Insider allows companies to leverage multiple mobile marketing platforms to increase conversions and customer spending.
By using artificial intelligence to create a consistent and personalized experience, you can grow your company like never before. From better audience segmentation to consistent cross-channel marketing, Insider is a great option for mobile marketing.
Mobile marketing capabilities:
- Use cross-channel personalization to provide a consistent experience across email, messaging, apps, and more
- Increase segmentation for better targeted campaigns
- Provide relevant product recommendations and help mobile users discover new products
Important considerations:
- Good solution for all company sizes
- Pricing varies based on specific business needs
- Takes your mobile marketing to the next level with new growth opportunities
What makes this platform stand out? The ability to use artificial intelligence to help you grow your mobile marketing presence and provide customers with a more comprehensive journey.
“The best thing about Insider’s platforms is their detailed analytics platform which gives amazing insights into how our campaigns are performing and of course we are happy to avoid dependency on our IT team, which was always the issue.” – G2 Customer Review
If your main goal for your mobile marketing platform is to grow your customer base and expand your reach with real data, you’ll want to check out Insider.
7. Braze
Braze is a mobile marketing platform that puts customer engagement at the forefront of all mobile marketing efforts to help build stronger relationships.
Braze makes engaging with your customers on a personal level easier than ever before. Easily create campaigns that span multiple channels and keep a consistent brand experience.
Braze allows companies to easily manage mobile marketing and communicate the right content to customers. Leveraging real-time data let’s you adjust campaigns as the needs of your customers change and help move them through the sales funnel.
Mobile marketing capabilities:
- Add personalization to your mobile efforts, including in-app and push notifications and emails
- Use feedback loops to see real-time data of how customers are interacting with your mobile marketing
- Artificial intelligence technology will provide you with campaign-boosting insights that allow you to evolve each customer’s journey in real time
Important considerations:
- Good solution for all business sizes
- Pricing is based on specific needs and requirements
- Integrates with various other platforms to expand your capabilities
What makes this platform stand out? Having the ability to track and adjust campaigns with real-time data is an invaluable tool. That coupled with the numerous integrations available help Braze stand out.
“Our goal is to provide better experiences for our audience in this competitive landscape. Our data enriched in Braze’s mobile messaging and testing platform has helped with this goal.” – Braze Customer Testimonial
If you’re looking for a mobile marketing platform that allows you to integrate with other platforms and helps you provide a more personalized experience for your customers, Braze is a good option.
8. Upland Localytics
Upland Localytics is a mobile marketing platform that combines analytics with digital intelligence to connect with customers through omni-channel methods.
Understanding your customers and providing them with a personalized mobile experience can make all the difference when it comes to conversions. The Upland Localytics platform can help you maximize your efforts.
Make the most out of your customer journey marketing efforts with data-driven marketing decisions. Upland Localytics provides you with the tools you need to understand the needs of your customers and cater to them.
Mobile marketing capabilities:
- Track real-time website and app data to learn what customers are doing and thinking
- Location-based mobile marketing opportunities
- Send tailored marketing messages via email, texting, social, web, and more
- Deliver valuable messages through mobile apps
Important considerations
- Good solution for all business sizes
- Pricing varies based on customer needs
- Customer journey mobile targeting solution
What makes this platform stand out? The ability to provide localized mobile experiences and the real-time data capabilities.
“Acquisition, app usage, and marketing are all part of one customer journey. Localytics was the only solution that captured all this data in one place, and gave us the marketing tools to make an impact at every stage.” – Upland Localytics Customer Testimonial
If you’re looking for a platform that provides you with valuable data and insights to market to your customers based on their personal journey, Upland Localytics may be what you need.
Here’s How the Right Mobile Marketing Platform Can Benefit You
Finding the right platform will help you take your mobile marketing to the next level and reach its full potential. With the right partner by your side, you can automate your mobile tactics and improve the overall customer experience by making data-driven marketing decisions.
Let’s take a closer look at a few ways you can expect to benefit by improving your mobile marketing efforts.
Reaching More Customers Is Easier Than Ever
With the help of the right mobile marketing platform, you can reach more customers easier than ever before via mobile. That’s because you’re sending messages to the device that they have with them at all times.
If they are at work, on vacation, sitting at home, out at the mall, or wherever else they may be, you can almost guarantee that your customers have their phones with them.
Cell phones are one of the most-used mobile devices among people of all ages today. That’s why it’s such a powerful tool when it comes to getting your messages out via mobile marketing.
We’re always attached to our phones and many people find it hard to disconnect, but it’s an opportunity for companies looking to reach customers.
Nearly 40% of people have said they never disconnect from their cell phones — even when they are on vacation.
That means that just under half of your customers are literally always connected to their cell phones. If you were only sending messages in more traditional ways, or not optimizing for mobile, you’d be greatly lessening your chances of reaching customers.
Think about it this way: if you send your customers a text message, email, and post on social media, all of these things can be seen on mobile. This means that you don’t have to wait for your customers to get home and log onto their laptop or desktop computer.
The chances of them opening their phone and reading your message, wherever they may be, is much more likely.
See Instant Results and Track Real-Time Campaign Progress
With mobile marketing, you can track and monitor campaign success as it happens.
Think back to our earlier statistics around how quickly text messages are read — 90% within 3 minutes. That means that when you send an SMS or MMS message out to your customers, nearly all of the recipients will have read it within 3 minutes.
Text message marketing is one of the best ways to see instant results. With high open rates and read rates, mobile marketing allows you to see quick results and track campaign progress.
That’s just about as instant as you can get when it comes to tracking a campaign.
It all boils down to the fact that we are attached to our phones and can’t help but look when they go off. Whether that notification is a text message, email, or push notification from an app, we feel inclined to check it almost immediately.
While frequently scrolling may mean we’re a little too invested in our mobile devices, it presents itself as a great tool for marketers. It provides quick, high-quality metrics that help gauge success and improve engagement with our customers.
Improve Personalization Through Mobile Marketing
In today’s marketing world, you won’t get very far without personalizing your content. That’s because customers expect relevant content, discounts, and offers from the companies they follow.
Consumers are 91% more likely to shop with brands that provide relevant offers and recommendations.
That’s why personalization is a key factor in successfully marketing to your customers. Luckily, mobile marketing allows you to easily add personalization in a variety of ways.
Personalization can make a big difference when it comes down to purchasing behaviors. It’s not just about using their name, but also about understanding their previous purchasing history.
Here are a few different ways you can make your mobile marketing more personalized:
- Track on-site customer behavior to provide the most relevant content and product recommendations
- Use location-based marketing to bring customers in-store when they are in a certain proximity
- Optimize mobile send times based on when customers are most active with your marketing campaigns
- Send relevant content and product recommendation based on previous shopping and purchasing behaviors
As customers continue to expect personalization from the communication they receive from companies, personalization has become an important marketing tactic. Taking the extra time to learn about your customers and provide them with relevant content will pay off in the long run.
Now You’re Ready to Take Your Mobile Marketing to the Next Level
At this point, you should have a pretty good understanding of what mobile marketing is and how the right platform can help take your efforts to the next level. Hopefully this article provided you with the insight and guidance you needed to take the next step in your journey.
Knowing that mobile isn’t going away anytime soon, there’s no better time than the present to get started.
