The holiday season is fast approaching, and marketers everywhere are rubbing their hands together, contemplating the rich vein of frenzied consumer spend on offer.
But a report released today by YouAppi — the mobile growth marketing company — shows that the same marketers are missing critical opportunities in the run-up to the holiday season, especially when it comes to mobile.
The first issue? Timing.
The study, which took in data from over 530 smartphone-savvy consumers and more than 210 marketers in the U.S., showed that businesses are getting started way too early when it comes to their holiday outreach. Over half of consumers said that they are only interested in holiday themes and offers after Thanksgiving. However, 68 percent of marketers start their awareness campaigns well before that — some as early as August and September.
Marketers and advertisers are also having issues aligning with consumers when it comes to in-app offers. Sixty percent of businesses surveyed prefer in-app purchases as a driver for holiday season revenue, while only five percent of consumers do.
“I was surprised to see just how much mobile marketers are missing the mark when it comes to planning and pushing out their digital holiday campaigns,” Jennifer Shambroom, chief marketing officer at YouAppi, told me. “It became clear that marketers and advertisers approach mobile purchasing differently. Without a doubt, consumer preference is driving mobile engagement, so it is critical that brands react with the holiday experiences that user wants most.”
There are missed opportunities in rewarded videos too, which is one of the most lucrative ad formats of recent years. Fifty-four percent of consumers say they will watch rewarded video for added holiday perks, yet only 20 percent of marketers are choosing to include it in their holiday campaigns.
That’s a huge mismatch.
“There are tremendous opportunities with rewarded video,” Shambroom said. “Although the survey highlights that only 20 percent of marketers plan to take advantage of this channel in their 2017 holiday campaigns, these numbers are changing. Rewarded video is turning a curve in adoption, and we see the numbers climb significantly across all categories of apps.”
So while rewarded video is on an upward trend, it seems that — once again — lack of internal resources and time are at fault when it comes to mobile marketing. But it doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming, according to Shambroom.
“The survey indicates that 76 percent of marketers say they struggle with a lack of time to prepare for the holidays or they wonder how to compete with the competition,” Shambroom said. “A rewarded video campaign shouldn’t be daunting or lead to more holiday stress. Most consumers agree 15 seconds or less is optimal, so marketers can consider a short, native video to deliver customized holiday offers that will keep their user base engaged.”
The full study is available from YouAppi from today.
