More than half (57%) of executives either do not have a mobile strategy or are just beginning to define it, while 12% have no mobile strategy at all, according to a report from Forrester Research.
The organization conducted its “Global Mobile Maturity Online Survey” in June, interviewing 203 executives in charge of their company’s global marketing strategy. Forty percent of respondents were located in both the US and Europe, with the remaining fifth were located elsewhere throughout the world.
Many respondents see mobile as a way to increase customer engagement, satisfaction and loyalty, not as a means to acquire customers and generate revenue, according to the study. Thomas Husson, senior analyst at Forrester Research and the report’s head writer, said on his blog that only 2% of respondents expect to generate more than $10 million in mobile revenue in 2010.
Due to this, many companies have not committed substantial resources to mobile. Forty-six percent of companies have one or fewer employees working full time on their marketing strategy.
“I fully agree that mobile is an emerging platform and that, for example, mobile advertising and m-commerce revenues are still limited – and likely to remain insignificant for the majority of firms in the months to come,” Husson wrote in his blog. “However, I do believe that mobile is opening up plenty of new opportunities beyond direct revenues. I was surprised to see the lack of integration of mobile into companies’ broader corporate strategies.”
Although mobile is still very much an emerging technology, Husson says companies are adopting it quickly. He noted Facebook’s mobile monthly audience increased from 65 million users in September 2009 to 150 million in July 2010. He also said there has been a 62% increase in mobile Twitter users since April. Nearly one-quarter, (24%) of respondents planned to double or even triple the level of their mobile investment in 2011.
Forrester will soon use the report, “How Mature Is Your Mobile Strategy?” to produce a mobile maturity model to help companies integrate a mobile platform.
