The Most Important Questions You're Not Asking About Beacons

This week is a little different from the others as it's not focused so much on what was written about as what was talked about, at least in my neck of the woods.  This week I attended an event focused on "The Rise of The Beacons" and the marketing opportunity they represent.  

There were many good questions posed to brands, agencies and technical solutions alike.  Questions like: What does a beacon strategy look like?  What will beacons do for marketing?  What does a good test look like?  It was a lively discussion with lots of focus and excitement on the possibilities.  However, I was quite surprised by all of the unvoiced questions.

The one on the minds of those that remember Bluetooth's first foray into marketing is the most obvious: How viable is this technology for marketers?  Will people actually use it?  Bluetooth has definitely grown in usage as the connected car market has developed and given it purpose.  Though many users are still aware of the battery drain and do not leave Bluetooth active at all times.  This may not be the detriment it seems to be, there may be enough traction now to make this technology viable for marketing purposes, but again why is this question not being asked more loudly?

Another question, one I could not leave unvoiced, is: Has there been any thought as to what support will be necessary to implement these solutions?  One point made during the event was what a great opportunity beacons represent because they are inexpensive to deploy (basic models).  However, when you think about technical support, customer service training, etc those costs become more substantial.  Additionally, most of the panelists discussed push notifications from their apps as the main method of deployment.  Many customers do not read through their Terms of Service before accepting agreement and may be unaware they're set up to receive these messages.  This then quickly becomes a privacy discussion, if not by law, then at least in terms of good customer service.  Though as the FTC cracks down on advertisements to children, this could become a real concern for marketers in instances where there's not a verified agreement by a guardian.

One of the last questions asked at the event was: "What do you think will be the coolest execution with beacons before the end of the year?"  While this is an exciting proposition, again there is an important question that is left unvoiced: What is the most effective execution you'd like to see?  This may be a result of my years in performance marketing, but there is a big difference between "cool" and "effective."

I am very excited to see the technical developments we're making as an industry in mobile, so please do no mistake the point of this post.  It is simply that, while it is exciting to think about what we could do, brands want to know what they should do to get the most from their investment.  If we want brands to run real, meaningful tests, we have a responsibility to not only help them understand the potential challenges of beacons & Bluetooth, but to then plan campaigns that will give them their best chance at success.

Weekly Wrap Up: Year of the Consumer

As smartphone penetration grows and customers become savvier, many retailers are investigating how they can use technology to their advantage.  Once a scary word, "showrooming" has become an opportunity for sales associates to improve the consumer's experience and win not only the sale, but some loyalty too.  Personalization is quickly becoming the customer's expectation.  And, after 10 years of "the year of mobile," isn't it time for a "Year of the Consumer?"

The IAB recently released a study that found 42% of consumers that use a mobile device in-store spend $1,000+.  Twice that of customers who do not use these devices.  Some retailers, like Ace Hardware, are launching mobile strategies that begin outside of the store and support the journey all the way to check out.  Others have are combating showrooming risks to the sale with price matching and offers.  More and more though are realizing it's about the experience they can provide and the potential these devices bring them to personalize that experience.

This can be something as simple as arming the sales associates with a device for quick access to product information to leave no question unanswered.  Even better, many enable access to consumer profiles and shopping history to inform suggestions from the associate and personalize the consumer experience.  My immediate concern here was while I'd love to deal with someone who knows what I like and frankly, speed up the process, could this hinder the connection of the associate to the consumer?

From that perspective, it looks like the airlines are doing this best.  Virgin has started equipping agents with Google Glass to allow access to the customer's information without breaking eye contact.  This improves the customer's experience by reducing time at check-in while still enjoying a personal element of travel.  Qantas is using social monitoring to understand customer sentiment while they're in VIP lounges or gate areas.  While still ramping up, the opportunity here to understand and remedy potentially bad experiences before they go too far is huge.  And American Airlines is improving the customer's experience with bluetooth, but through a medium their customers are already accustomed to: their app.  The opportunities I like best here are alerts/reminders for travelers moving slowly (or enjoying that last margarita) for boarding, upgrade & standby statuses, etc.

As consumers become more comfortable sharing feedback on social platforms and educating themselves wherever they are with smartphones and tablets, their expectations for how a brand manages their business will increase.  Whether it is by enhancing an existing experience, extending that experience or arming associates with tools to improve the experience, one thing is certain: it must be personal.  The consumer must be at the heart of any strategy.  Brands must consider more than just a short-term ROI, but rather how they can win long-term loyalty.

Weekly Wrap Up: The Future of Mobile Payments

A couple of years ago, mobile marketing experts like myself would have told you mobile payments would need 3-5 years to take off.  Fast-forward to the present and so far, we’re right on track.  A recent report from Bain & Co. finds that 50% of consumers surveyed are aware of mobile contactless payments, though only 25% are willing to make use of this functionality.  Only?  Considering that less than 10% had this option at all back in 2012, I’d call that a pretty impressive growth rate.  Another promising report, this one from Juniper, cites host card emulation technology and Apple’s mobile wallet as key drivers of continued growth.

Despite the optimistic numbers however, consumers and merchants alike remain wary of security risks.  From the merchants’ perspective, the recent credit card hacks at retailers like Target is a startling reminder of the vulnerability involved in processing transactions, be it in store or online.  To incorporate m-commerce to the mix then adds an extra layer of complexity.  However, if consumer adoption continues to grow as it has been and more come to expect mobile payments, merchants won’t have much choice but to take the added risk.  For consumer adoption to grow though, their own misgivings will have to be addressed.  Additionally, there will have to be added value in changing the way consumers have historically made purchases.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that brands must start giving away discounts.  Rather, they must leverage mobile payments in conjunction with other features that offer unique advantages to the shopping experience.

Starbucks has done this to date with their loyalty program.  Now, they’ve also announced plans to allow consumers to place an order ahead of arrival via their smartphone.  It’s simple, yet significant advantages such as these that encourage consumers to engage in new ways.

As this opportunity develops then, who stands to benefit the most?  The merchant who benefits from increased loyalty and incremental revenue?  The banks processing the additional transactions?  Or security solutions to protect those transactions?  My bet is on the latter.  More and more data is becoming cloud-based, a concept many consumers don’t yet understand or trust.  Two things are certain though.  For mobile payments to be the hero they’re projected to be 1) consumers must be educated about the risks and steps taken to reduce them and 2) merchants must prove their value.

Weekly Wrap Up: Mobile Video on the Rise

This week the spotlight was on mobile video consumption.  Nielsen announced their Q4 report which saw more than 100 million people watching videos on their smartphones.  Even more interesting, they compared the increase in time on smartphones and tablets to find not only a decline time on PCs, but also a peak in mobile video consumption during TV’s prime time.

We’ve heard a lot about mobile video over the years, but it looks like advertisers are really putting some investment behind these trends now.  Live-streaming for video game service Twitch has launched a smartphone SDK to extend their capabilities to games played on these devices.  While this will serve as a valuable differentiator for them, the technology offers intriguing possibilities itself.  The Millennial generation prides itself on individuality and having a voice.  This technology managed with integrity could give brands the ability to identify with this audience by providing a platform for personalization and expression.  From an optimization perspective, could we gain more insight as to how consumers engage with our properties on these devices?

Apple has also announced full-page video ads will be available soon via iAd.  While this will no doubt be enticing to advertisers, there are still some turn-offs mobile video ads.  For one, not much has been done to diversify these units.  For the most part, the same formats and skins that exist in desktop have been rolled over to tablet devices and even more barebones are those for smartphones.  Though the tablet device may create a more attractive display of video content, advertisers will need to be sure of promoting quality.

Potentially the most aggressive hypothesis I’ve read this week however, is that by 2020, TV & digital ads will be bought together.  Despite the obvious challenges (different objectives, varying metrics, tracking across devices), advertisers aren’t ready to unify, both internally and externally.  Look at mobile and desktop.  Most mobile plans suffer for lack of dedicated time as most planners focus on tracking-friendly desktop.  For desktop publishers that have tried to acquire mobile capabilities, some suffer from biases that they don’t know mobile well enough to be effective and worse, many prove that bias.  If we can’t converge just digital platforms, assuming TV will slide easily into the mix is far-fetched.  We can agree however, that users are consuming any content on any device and the need to leverage each of these effectively is imperative.

When it comes to mobile video then specifically, advertisers will need to be careful about the content they release.  Does it serve as a valuable extension of TV content?  Does it give the viewer an opportunity to become a part of the story?  That is how they will engage audiences from one device to another.

Weekly Wrap Up: The Power of Location

Last week was an interesting one for advocates of location targeting and tracking technology.  Some demonstrated a clear value for accuracy over inferred preferences, others identified valuable use cases and one highlighted the importance of anonymity as marketers work to cultivate this data set.  This last point will be the difference between applied data that takes us not much farther than what we’ve achieved on desktop in terms of location and truly crafting strategies that understand and impact a user’s journey to in-store purchases.

As a major advocate of location technology myself, I’ve vetted a lot of the big players.  I’ve been sold a lot of BS and even more generic capabilities described as major breakthroughs (if you still think geo-fencing is the coolest thing in location, find another way to differentiate yourself), so it is very refreshing when you see someone doing it right.  For instance, Foursquare announced they will only use data supplied directly by the user (check-ins, email address for matching, etc) and no “applied” data (predictive, look-a-like, etc).  This is massively important since physical behaviors (how we move, why we move, physical distractions) are unique to every person.  Sidenote: Israeli start-up Shopcloud whose product Inside tracks movements of individuals via smartphone camera & gyro technology highlights the specificity of movements between people.  Most ad networks have gotten away with selling applied data for way too long and mobile is highlighting the importance of accuracy.  It’s one thing to target based off of inferred data sets, but as tracking online to offline metrics becomes more plausible, advertisers will come to demand more attributable insights.

Take the vision of Mastercard as an example.  Last week they announced a partnership with Syniverse that will allow them to better understand the validity of purchases to improve customer experiences.  The idea is to link a customer’s real-time location to the time and place of a potentially fraudulent transaction to indicate if the transaction should be processed or declined.  The use case here is phenomenal and one I hope to see executed right away.  Accuracy however will be an imperative and of course privacy will remain a challenge as well.

Especially following the story regarding dating app Tinder that identified a huge hole in the security of their data and the lack of disclosure after it was found.  As data privacy continues to be in the spotlight given the rate of innovation we’re experiencing, incidents like this, and more the mismanagement of them, simply cannot happen if we hope to alleviate the fears of the public and prevent future legislation that disallows the use of this valuable data.

Overall, the week was a great reminder of the wild frontier that is still mobile marketing.  While there are more challenges to be overcome and risks to be taken, there are also innovations to be discovered and champions to emerge.  Stay informed, keep pushing and enjoy the ride!

Programmatic Geo-Fencing in an Omni-Channel Marketplace

Over the past 9 months, the industry has finally moved away from talking about the its-so-outdated-not-even-funny-as-a-joke "Year of Mobile" (thank GOODNESS) and has concentrated on promoting "Mobile-First."  While I applaud the importance this places on including mobile tactics to brands' marketing strategies, I can't help but wonder if this phrase actually means anything.  Or is just another concept marketers can toss around to make it sound like they really "get it?"

My greater point for today's post is how marketing jargon dilutes conversations to either make up for lack of real substance or to confuse the audience so that they buy into the message.  However, I'll first clarify my contention with the idea of "Mobile First."  In my experience, mobile is not a primary discovery engine.  Most of the time we're engaging with mobile content after we've begun research elsewhere or with a specific intent in mind, such as finding a coffee shop for a mid-morning meeting.  This may not be the only intention of the phrase "Mobile First," rather that you design with a mobile experience in mind to be sure you're prepared for this audience as well.  However, the challenge remains that I want different things from you on different devices, so this may neglect some of those other wants.  In that case, "Mobile First" isn't the best strategy.  Rather, all of your experiences should be designed to compliment one another while providing the optimal experience for each.  So again, does "Mobile First" really mean anything or is it just another phrase to toss around to validate the speaker?

Specialized jargon can be found in many occupations, though I have to imagine none exploit it so much as in marketing.  If you've ever attended a conference, you've probably noticed how many of the speakers tend to remark on the same phrases you hadn't ever heard before that day.  But did you actually understand the point they were making?  Was there one?  At least once a week I have conversations with brands and other media partners where they ask me what some new acronym means or how it differs from another phrase they've heard.  If there's value in the strategies media partners are advocating, what is the benefit of confusing the client with jargon?

As more brands are coming to understand the power of mobile as part of their marketing strategy, we need to do even more to break down the complexities to increase testing and innovation.  That means speaking clearly about capabilities and limitations to identify existing challenges.  The sooner we're able to do that, the faster we can identify solutions that push us all forward.

Main Take-Away: If a media partner or agency can't explain a concept without jargon, it's probably a bust.

Weekly Wrap Up

The mobile landscape is a crazy place these days as the rate of mergers and acquisitions seems to accelerate every day.  We are literally in a living version of Monopoly where the major players are scrambling to buy up properties so they can start laying down [advertising] real estate to really make the big bucks.

The biggest news this week was undoubtedly Facebook's $19 billion purchase of messaging service WhatsApp.  A less publicized purchase for PhiSix (3D virtual try-on technology) also came from eBay this week.  Though almost all of the major players (Apple, Google, Facebook, eBay) are gobbling up properties at lightening speed, their reasons for doing so seem to be very different.  Some have likened Facebook's acquisition strategy to that of P&G, in which the company is hoping to have a hand in various properties, competitive or not, to make sure they have a hand in the revenues long-term.  eBay's acquisition history however reflects more synergy to grow the related benefits of each of its properties (the company has presented advertisers with multiple scenarios via an NYC pop-up store to show how their technology stack works together to improve customer experiences).  Google on the other hand has been very clear about their objective to unify products to connect user experiences across devices and use cases to improve tracking attribution and targeting.

Regardless of the varying strategies behind these acquisitions, the thing that is most clear is we are no where close to seeing them end.  Many technology platforms are already planning their exit strategies and even the most niche partners are open to buying vs building (media networks, creative shops, you name it).  Mobile may be a very fragmented ecosystem today, but we are starting to see the varying sides emerge and the potential impact they may have on consumers and advertisers alike in the future.  So I guess the question is, are you betting on the value of Park Place & Broadway or do you favor the diversity of quantity in your properties?