Marketers Willing to Put More Money into Mobile Ads as Strategy Evolves
Publishers and marketers alike have high hopes for mobile advertising as consumers spend more and more time on their smartphones to access information, seek out entertainment and shop online.
But the effectiveness of mobile ads still leaves much to be desired when it comes to engaging and acquiring customers — at least from marketers’ perspectives.
The latest results from Duke University’s bi-annual survey of marketing executives found that marketers think their mobile advertising programs have much room for improvement. On a scale from 1 to 7 (where 7 represented the best score), respondents in the Duke Study gave their mobile marketing programs an average score of 3.56 when it comes to customer engagement, 3.12 for customer retention and 2.89 for customer acquisition. Marketers viewed mobile as even less successful when it came to measuring the channel’s impact on financial outcomes — respondents rated mobile a 2.74 out of 7 for effectiveness on sales and a 2.64 on profits. Duke’s research is based on responses from 255 marketing executives collected by Aug. 2.
“This is a relatively new channel for many companies. They’re still getting their feet wet for how to use mobile effectively,” said Christine Moorman, a professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and director of the study.
Mobile traffic to publishers’ sites is increasing rapidly, but mobile ad revenue is trailing far behind, creating what some are calling a “mobile gap.” Mobile devices present unique challenges for advertisers compared to other channels. It’s difficult, for example, to show mobile users enough ads or to carry out sophisticated tracking and targeting of ads.
Still, marketers said they’re willing to put more money behind mobile advertising even if their mobile strategies are still evolving. Spending on mobile advertising is expected to jump 160% in the next three years, according to Duke’s research.
The study found that mobile currently accounts for 6% of marketing budgets and is expected to increase to 16% in three years. Marketing budgets, overall, are projected to rise 5.5% this year.