How to Maximize Your ROI With Mobile Marketing In 2016

Demonstrating ROI from mobile marketing is key to winning over decision-makers in your company and securing organizational investments for this channel.

But the mobile strategies your organization has in place may not yet be measurable or providing you with the necessary data to innovate in new ways.

Twelve months ago, Vibes (my employer) set out to not only uncover the numbers behind our clients’ mobile marketing ROI, but also to better understand how they were driving those results. This project evolved into our Business Outcomes case study series exclusively focused on tying provable financial outcomes to specific mobile marketing tactics.

In an effort to help marketers gear up for a new year and better understand the mobile opportunity, I’d like to take you through one of the Business Outcomes case studies we found most helpful. I’ll also discuss our key takeaways so that you can apply these best practices to your own mobile marketing strategy.

The Case Study

In this case study, we’ll see how a Fortune 500 retail brand, which we’ll call Retailer A, developed a recipe for success that strategically leveraged multiple aspects of mobile. Completely new to mobile marketing, Retailer A’s strategy led it to eight-figure ROI from mobile-attributed revenue in less than 12 months.

The Challenge: Building A Mobile Database

From the start, Retailer A needed to cultivate a mobile database of loyal followers and maximize value from these subscribers. As its next step, the brand wanted to not only build up its mobile messaging strategy, but also to complement that with the right messages and channels, the ones that would, in fact, drive mobile purchases and in-store traffic.

The Solution: Strategic Mobile Marketing Combinations

The key to solving Retailer A’s problem was in combining the power of SMS and the mobile wallet to build a loyal and responsive database of mobile subscribers. In its first three months, Retailer A drove $2.3 million in mobile-attributed revenue using this method.

Here’s how it worked: Upon opting in, each new subscriber received an auto-triggered text message containing a mobile wallet offer as a reward for joining the database.

These exclusive welcome offers converted new subscribers into in-store visitors and accounted for $10 in sales per opt-in, per subscriber for the brand. In all, this program generated $10+ million for the brand in 2014.

Outcome: Mobile Acquisition Program Delivers Eight-Figure Results

In the months since, Retailer A has steadily grown its mobile database. Its mobile wallet-enhanced welcome program has become a mainstay of its mobile strategy.

With its mobile acquisition program leading the way, this major retailer surpassed its fiscal year 2014 mobile-attributed revenue total eight months into the year. Its average revenue per opt-in skyrocketed from $10 to $20 per opt-in, per subscriber. The program’s success was projected to account for $11+ million in mobile-attributed revenue in 2015.

Next Steps: Mobile Innovation

As discussed earlier, it’s important to use real business outcomes to show decision-makers the return on their investment, but the next step is to innovate for future growth.

A committed innovator in the mobile space, Retailer A is now working to find better, smarter and more contextually relevant ways to interact with their mobile customers. For instance, it recently launched a message center in its mobile app, allowing users to set their push messaging preferences in-app.

Now, the retailer better understands what its customers want from its mobile strategies, and customers can better benefit from the brand in the way they prefer. From educational alerts to offers and promotional messaging, Retailer A laid down the foundation of a holistic mobile messaging strategy that allows subscribers to define exactly how they interact with the brand.

Key Takeaways

You don’t have to be a Fortune 500 retailer to see this level of success. Here are three best practices followed by Retailer A that any retailer can apply:

• Build a mobile database to drive an SMS-powered subscriber acquisition flow: Cultivating a subscriber base will allow you to market to consumers with a vested interest in receiving messages from your brand, resulting in greater effectiveness.
• Leverage age-old strategies methods like coupons and offers to drive mobile-attributed revenue: Retailer A’s mobile strategy leverages a combination of mobile messaging and coupons and offers for Apple Wallet and Android Pay to communicate with, and ultimately convert, their subscribers into in-store visitors. This drives the absolute most value out of their mobile marketing spend.
• Activate marketing touch points with mobile CTAs: Mobile wallets are important shopping companions that store valuable coupons and offers. Given the huge consumer shift to mobile, leveraging mobile wallets allows brands to capitalize on this traffic, arm these customers with mobile wallet content and drive them in-store to redeem it.

No matter if you’re starting from scratch or already have a mobile marketing program in place, there is a real opportunity to generate sizable revenue on mobile and measure its financial outcomes.