Urban Airship Reveals Industry’s Current State of Mobile Maturity

While most companies have adopted apps as essential engagement channels, the majority are in early stages of personalizing app experiences and messaging

PORTLAND, Ore., – February 13, 2014 – Urban Airship, the global leader in Mobile Relationship Management, today published its inaugural Mobile Maturity Benchmarks Report showcasing the industry’s progress in moving towards more personalized, sustained audience engagement strategies versus more traditional, one-size-fits-all messaging and marketing tactics. Top-level findings indicate that 85 percent of companies have gone beyond mobile web sites, mobile search and traditional reach-and-frequency marketing to drive sustained engagement strategies through mobile apps. However, the majority of those companies (56 percent) deliver the same messages and app experience to all users—not yet unlocking mobile’s unique benefits of intimacy, immediacy and context. Other findings uncovered that nearly one-third of companies that collect user-specific data don’t yet use it to tailor content and messaging.

The complete Mobile Maturity Benchmarks Report sheds light on the characteristics of more mature organizations, the mobile channels they view as essential, how different job roles perceive this shift and which vertical industries are leading or lagging.

A few of the key findings include:

• The presence of a dedicated mobile product team correlates significantly with higher maturity rankings, whereas size of company does not (see Figure 1)
• Apps, responsive design and push messaging were the top three tactics ranked as “essential channels” for engagement, ahead of mobile advertising, SMS and mobile wallet (see Figure 2)
  • More than 70 percent of companies with apps use push messaging, with the finance industry being the one exception where 43 percent of apps use push
• More than half of respondents identified budget as the factor that “strongly challenges” or “somewhat challenges” their mobile strategy and development followed by a lack of expertise in mobile at 36 percent
• Sixty-two percent of respondents segment their mobile audiences, with the most popular method being user-defined preferences, followed by user behaviors, current location and location history
• The largest gaps in respondents having user-specific data but not using it to personalize experiences/messages are:
  • User behavior, where 42 percent of those collecting it don’t yet use it
  • User location data, where 39 percent of those collecting it don’t yet use it
  • User-defined preferences, where 34 percent of those collecting it don’t yet use it

“We are still very early as an industry with a massive opportunity ahead. Most companies have built a mobile foundation necessary for more sustained and valuable relationships with their key audiences yet there are dramatic differences between those leading and lagging,” said Scott Kveton, CEO and co-founder, Urban Airship. “We look forward to helping companies evolve their mobile maturity and create more responsive, personalized, real-time customer relationships proven to drive greater value.”

Figure 1: How is mobile part of your organization structure?

Figure 2: Which mobile tactics are considered “essential channels” for engagement?

Methodology
More than 500 people completed Urban Airship’s Mobile Maturity Self-Assessment in the fourth quarter of 2013, which considered their organizational structure and leadership for mobile, current mobile tactics, business objectives influenced by mobile as well as their results, challenges and vision for the future.

For more details and complete findings please download the Mobile Maturity Benchmarks Report.

About Urban Airship
Urban Airship enables brands to build relationships with their constantly connected customers through Mobile Relationship Management. Its solutions streamline the creation, delivery and management of highly targeted cross-platform mobile push messages, in-app messages, rich app pages, Apple Passbook passes and Google Wallet cards. With billions of messages and tens of thousands of passes delivered each month, Urban Airship’s technology sparks exceptional consumer experiences, drives app engagement and increases customer loyalty and lifetime value for leading brands such as CBS Interactive, Cinemagram, ESPN, Groupon, Walgreens and Warner Bros. For more information, visit www.urbanairship.com and follow us on Twitter @urbanairship.