Mobile: Brands not ready to meet consumer expectations

97 percent of brands believe that a good mobile experience impacts customer loyalty, yet 4 in 10 remain without a mobile strategy

Source: Sitecore

Sitecore has released the second half of a global study conducted in conjunction with Vanson Bourne, surveying 450 brand marketers in 11 countries about their attitudes and strategy for the consumer mobile experience.

The research shows that a majority of brands are unprepared when it comes to implementing a mobile strategy and are not allocating sufficient resources to maintain, adapt, and improve the mobile experience in a fashion that aligns with dynamic consumer expectations.

Chief among the findings is that although 97 percent of brands believe a good mobile experience impacts customer loyalty, 41 percent of respondents have either no mobile strategy in place at all, or have some form of mobile strategy that has yet to be implemented. Meanwhile, 70 percent of these brands believe that their organization will not deliver on a mobile experience strategy for at least another six months.

In addition, when it comes to describing how their organization currently interacts with consumers on mobile, only 51 percent of brands report that their company personalizes content for mobile web customers while just 61 percent have a mobile optimized website in place.

Alternatively, of the brands who are planning or have begun to implement a mobile experience strategy, 98 percent reported that the organization has been affected by the focus on mobile customer experience in some way. For 53 percent, mobile investment has led to structural reorganizations or altogether new teams and departments, while for 46 percent, it has led to budget reductions in other areas of the business to allow for additional investment.

"As mobile devices have overtaken PCs for Internet access, brands must include the mobile environment when defining the customer experiences they deliver," said Scott Anderson, CMO, Sitecore. "Consumers now expect a contextual experience inclusive of mobile and will reward brands with loyalty for doing so while punishing those that don't with decreased business. All consumers today should be considered the mobile consumer."

According to Simon Hacking, online marketing manager at Chester Zoo, "Mobile is absolutely fundamental to what we do and accounts for 70 percent of visits to our website, so it's very important that we get the experience right every time. By deploying Sitecore, our mobile app is able to deliver personalized content that matches the location of individuals in the zoo."