Chris Childs, managing director, UK at TabMo, argues that mobile advertising has earned its place at the retail table.

When I bought my first mobile phone, the ability to make a phone call without having to go home or return to my desk, as well as SMS my friends, was a revelation.

But I don’t think I could have predicted what lay ahead. Today, the smartphone is the most personal of personal computers, something from which most of us do not like to be separated from. Indeed, our personal and working lives revolve around our phones and the ability to be always on, always available, always informed, always entertained.

Proving our device devotion
Our device devotion is born out by the statistics. In 2015 according to Flurry Analytics, time spent on mobile devices increased by 117 per cent, while in the UK, 16 per cent of adults only access the internet using a smartphone or a tablet, according to Ofcom’s Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report 2016.

This trend has not been lost on advertisers. In the UK, the IAB UK’s recently-released Digital Ad Spend report, conducted by PwC, revealed that a record £8.61bn was spent on digital advertising last year, with mobile devices accounting for 30.5 per cent of this and driving the majority of this growth. And the focus on mobile seems to be generating positive results. In the UK, online sales grew by 11 per cent in March this year as smartphone transactions doubled, according to IMRG Capgemini’s eRetail Sales Index

A gift to retailers
It’s not hard to see why mobile devices are a gift to retailers. Always in our pocket or bag, they are an ‘all-day impulse aisle’, which enables the type of shopping that is often referred to as ‘snacking’, as people make several quick and cheap purchases throughout the day.

Even better, mobile advertising combines location-based data with context. Someone passing a shop window on their way home from work is likely to respond to different triggers to when they are shopping in the high street on a Saturday. Mobile gives retailers the ability to act on this.

The creative is key
To do so, they need to pay attention to the creative. The example above requires that the content is changed for the same user depending on the context in which they are viewing the ad. It’s also important to recognise that the creative should also differ depending on audience. A travel company can run different ads for golfing holidays, family holidays or business travel – each one prepared for the specific audience. Similarly, a clothing retailer can promote its multiple lines of clothing; men, women, occasion wear, sportwear, etc. Taking an even more dynamic approach, supermarkets can target customers to promote goods depending on the weather; no more ads about barbeques when the British weather has suddenly turned wet and cold!

Mobile means ‘me-time’
While mobile’s great advantage is that it’s personal, this also raises the stakes because mobile ads interrupt ‘me-time’. 37 per cent of consumers expect the ads received on their mobiles to be more relevant than those on other devices, while 40 per cent wish they were more creative, and 51 per cent see ads as more intrusive when they receive them on their mobiles rather than on desktop or tablet. More worryingly, almost half of the people surveyed by Quantcast for its report, Mobile & Me – The Remodelled Brand Opportunity, said that irrelevant mobile ads make them feel more negative about the brand responsible for them. In other words, mobile advertising can only be truly effective when the strategies that drive it are as smart as the technology that enables it. And that means there are many opportunities to be better.

Mobile needs money
Only 20 per cent of marketers feel their companies are investing enough in mobile, according to Forrester’s 2016 Mobile and App Marketing Trends report. Too often, mobile is seen as an optional add-on, rather than an integral part of the channel mix that can transform the customer experience. And as long as mobile advertising remains the outsider, it is difficult for it to realise its potential.

For example, there is a lot of talk about following consumers across screens, but the reality is different. A consumer seeing an ad on a PC or a laptop for an item of clothing while they are at work, probably won’t see an ad for the same product on their mobile while they are walking past the shop on their way home.

Curse of the last click
One reason for the difficulty in showing ROI for mobile is the reliance on ‘last click’ attribution (for good reason; there is currently no better way of measuring). Similarly, a retailer might spend £10,000 on a mobile advertising campaign, but do people then visit the shop because of a mobile ad, or because they’ve seen it on television?

If a retailer can’t easily see the effectiveness each of their advertising channels, it is difficult to justify significant spend on the newer media such as mobile. As a result, the tried and tested methods of TV and print still frequently pull rank when it comes to budgets.  That this is completely justifiable and understandable makes it no less frustrating for those of us that see first-hand the influence that a strong mobile campaign can have.

The fact is that mobile ads work. A campaign run by TabMo for a large music retailer bears this out. For a short period, the retailer used its advertising budget on a mobile-only campaign. The increased spend saw a lift in sales for the featured items, showing that purchasing had been directly influenced by the mobile advertising campaign.

The mobile road ahead
Mobile is still a relative newcomer in the digital marketing mix, but we need to stop viewing it as the problem child, or even sulky teenager. It is a fully-fledged adult that, allowed to flourish, drives significant rewards for retailers.
As the mobile market grows, marketers have a responsibility to make sure they are using the medium well. Mobile ads need to enhance the consumer’s experience, not interrupt it. That means good creatives, well-targeted and meaningful measurement.

Mobile advertising isn’t necessarily about a mobile-first strategy. It’s about understanding how each channel contributes to an advertising campaign and making an informed decision on budgets, based on that knowledge.

Chris Childs is UK managing director at Tabmo