As we begin 2018 and reflect on 2017, it’s clear that the mobile marketplace has grown rapidly, transforming the way we work, rest and play.
As Britain now has more than 80m active mobile phones in circulation for the first time, we thought we’d look ahead at what 2018 is likely to have in store for the mobile marketing marketplace.
The Mobile Society Advances
In 2017 more than 7bn text messages were sent, 90% of those were read within 3 minutes of receipt – proving that Great Britain is becoming a “mobile-first society”. Coupled with the growth in technology and the number of devices in circulation, the ability to target and engage with consumers via mobile has increased dramatically. As well as reminders and links to mobile sites, we predict that more businesses will make use of SMS tickets, vouchers and loyalty cards as it’s the next logical extension to mobile use.
Develop Cross Channel Cohesion
Marketing and communications are more integrated than ever before whether it’s user-friendly, dynamic SMS vouchers, tickets or promotions through to mobile websites, social platforms or QR codes in physical outlets. Effective campaigns will increasingly need to be multichannel and integrated to suit customer habits and meet their demands.
Social Media Slowdown
Although there’s been an explosion of marketing spend on social channels, we believe the rate of growth will slow down in 2018. This may come in part as Facebook recently announced their decision to trial split newsfeeds, with friend connections on one and business pages on another which is likely to be less attractive to advertisers. Our own State of SMS report also found that the SMS universe for marketers is growing and already boasts 7 million more people opted in to receive SMS communications than Facebook, providing an unrivalled and more affordable communications channel.
Smartphone Wars
Last year, we found that Android dominated the smartphone market in the UK with a 54% market share (compared to Apple’s 34.7%). However, with the new iPhone X launched, offering users wireless charging, facial recognition security and far more in-depth and engaging multimedia messaging in the form of Animojis – could the world’s largest tech firm further close the gap on Android in market share? Maybe slightly, but we don’t think they’ll overtake Android next year…
Get Ready for GDPR
Finally, we couldn’t talk about what 2018 might have in store without mentioning GDPR. Coming into force May, GDPR will impose stricter guidelines on how customer data can be collected and processed. Despite the internet being bombarded with articles highlighting the dangers of the non-compliance and under-preparedness, we see it as a golden opportunity for businesses to truly connect with their customers. Our research shows that three-quarters of consumers are likely to read a message from a business they have opted to give their details to compared to just 22% if the customer is unfamiliar with the business.
Send SMS Online
If you think 2018 might be your year to take advantage of mobile marketing, why not get in touch with our team to learn more about how we can help create a unique campaign for your business?
