Brands Rush to Mobile Offerings but Two-Thirds are Not Prepared to Meet Customers' Mobile Needs

SAN FRANCISCO, March 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- While consumers continue to rely heavily on their mobile devices, businesses are still not prepared to put mobile first, according to a new study from Kontagent, a leader in providing mobile customer intelligence. The study, released today in conjunction with Econsultancy, found that more than two-thirds of companies did not have a defined way to determine if mobile experiences were truly effective and only a third actually track and report specific performance of their must-have apps.

Companies have responded to the growth in mobile with ad-hoc development instead of a considered strategy. In most cases, it is not a symptom of experimentation and failing fast but a rush to go live. Approximately 65 percent of respondents plan to increase spending in 2013, yet they also acknowledged that they are building apps without a plan or have any idea how to integrate the data they've collected into mobile app experiences that keep audiences coming back. The study also cites that only 25 percent of brands have a well-defined mobile strategy and less than half have thought beyond the calendar year.

The report also provided additional findings including:

• Mobile-First vs. Mobile Mainstream: Mobile-first vs. mobile mainstream businesses continues to widen as mobile-first companies are two to three times more likely to have a long-term well-defined strategies (64 percent for mobile-first vs. 25 percent for mobile mainstream), while 71 percent of mobile-first companies have current mobile tactics tied to a strategy versus 25 percent for mobile mainstream businesses. And 64 percent of mobile-first businesses track key performances as opposed to 28 percent for mobile mainstream businesses.
• Gaming and Retail Lead: In terms of mobile sophistication, gaming companies lead the pack. Game developers have mastered the free-to-play model by leveraging in-app user data to optimize user experiences. Retailers rank next. Travel companies are quickly catching up with the leaders while financial services firms, with some notable exceptions, are still behind the pack.
• Who's the Boss: For companies that are deemed mobile-first companies, senior management or product teams drive mobile strategies while mainstream companies still rely on marketing.
• Apps or Dot.com: 69 percent of mobile-first brands believe that their efforts need to focus on apps as opposed to mobile optimized Web sites, while only 32 percent of mainstream brands see apps as the future.

"Many companies fall into the trap that they believe they need a consistent mobile presence, but fall short of taking the proper steps to ensure the experience is effective," said Jeff Tseng, CEO and co-founder of Kontagent. "Mobile adoption is outpacing any historical adoption trend. Businesses that will succeed on this next wave need to understand how to not only build outstanding experiences on mobile platforms, but also leverage user data rigorously in order to best measure and improve their mobile offerings."

In response to the trend of companies spending blindly in mobile without the proper mobile strategy or data backbone, Kontagent also recently unveiled the Mobile Customer Intelligence (MCI) framework. MCI helps brands optimize mobile customer lifetime value through a comprehensive solution, comprised of its kSuite technology (platform), data science expertise (people), and a proven process that empowers its clients to be data-driven and agile enough to succeed in the fast-paced mobile domain.

"Mobile customer intelligence is crucial. All of a sudden you have all these users in the wild with their phones, especially for us in location-based apps," said Hari Srinivasan, product marketing director at Telenav, a Kontagent customer. "You're trying to learn about them, and it's not an easy problem to solve--the way they're using it, the way they want to use it. The right mobile measurement platform is important to whether our users will keep selecting us. Kontagent's people and process are extensions of that. We've been putting location-based technology in phones since 1999. Institutional knowledge has made us successful so far and building on that knowledge is what will make us successful in the future."

The 2013 Mobile Sophistication and Strategy study was conducted by EConsultancy in association with Kontagent. It includes more than 1,300 respondents from both product and marketing executives at brands, agency and key verticals like gaming, retail, financial services and travel companies. The executive brief is available for download here.

About Kontagent

Kontagent is the leading mobile customer intelligence (MCI) solutions provider for companies looking to generate the greatest amount of customer value in their multiscreen business.

The company's MCI approach empowers companies with the people, process and platform needed to translate customer behavioral data into accurate, actionable business decisions and create memorable experiences across mobile devices.  Our proprietary kSuite platform, built from the ground up specifically for mobile, has helped businesses such as Viacom, Electronic Arts and Turner Broadcasting gather, analyze and use their data to grow and dominate in the mobile marketplace. Founded in 2007, Kontagent is headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in Toronto, London, Seoul and Tokyo. For more information, visit www.kontagent.com or follow us on Twitter here: @Kontagent.

About Econsultancy

Econsultancy helps clients achieve digital marketing and ecommerce excellence through access to intelligence and capabilities development resources. These include premium subscriptions, research, training and elearning, consulting and events. Founded in 1999 and with over 190,000 registered users worldwide, Econsultancy is a leading authority in its field. Every day, it enables clients to make better decisions, find the best suppliers, look smart in meetings and accelerate the growth of their organizations through digital. Visit us here for more information.

SOURCE Kontagent