#CONNECTsummit14: Using Big Data to give customers what they want

By Valerie Killifer

The big message from this year's CONNECT Mobile Innovation Summit was not about retailers and restaurants deciding if mobile should be part of their digital efforts. Rather, it was about how brands should layer mobile into everything else they are doing.

"Mobile is not a standalone; it really is a layer," said Mike Desai, business development manager for mobile app trend tracker App Annie. "Apps help customers at different points during the engagement cycle. It's important to have a customer experience that interacts with guests."

Desai was a panelist on the summit session, "Mobile Analytics: Harnessing Big Data to Give Customers What They Want," held Aug. 19 in Chicago.

For brands looking to develop a mobile platform, Desai encouraged summit attendees to look at the top apps in the retail and restaurant marketplace. That means apps that have been deployed by chains such as Starbucks, Home Depot, Walgreens and Wal-Mart.

"Research within your vertical what other apps are doing and how they are performing," he said.

For example, the top retail apps by U.S. downloads in Q1 2014 were:

1. Amazon

2. Groupon

3. Walgreens

4. Cartwheel

5. Etsy

The top apps succeed at driving shoppers back in-store and drive up to 5 times further engagement with shoppers, which is leading to increased loyalty and sales. Gamification also is playing a similar role with apps created by PINK Nation, Macy's and American Airlines driving engagement.

According to App Annie data, there are nearly 12 million Starbucks mobile app users in the US and Canada, which accounts for 15 percent of all U.S. company-operated store transactions.

In the restaurant space, app adoption is being led by Domino's, Pizza Hut and Papa John's. Meanwhile, restaurant operators such as Chipotle, Panera Bread and Five Guys, who encourage guests to "cut the line," are having startling success. The TGI Friday's app also features the ability to start and split tabs and showcases promotions on food and drinks.

To do an app well, Desai said retailers and restaurant operators should not be afraid to experiment and should think outside the box.

Why mobile

If restaurant and retail operators are still trying to make a case for the implementation of a mobile strategy, just look at the numbers.

According to data presented by Matthew Cava of digital marketing agency Razorfish, consumers now spend 55 percent of their online time on a mobile device. Additionally, 65 percent of the time spent on social media happens through a mobile device.

"Mobile impacts everything," Cava said. "Time spent on mobile devices is now the majority of how people are accessing the Internet."

Marketers are increasingly using and tracking mobile campaigns to measure success and the data gleaned from user preferences is the end product. Location-based tracking also is now both a targeting input and a metric of success.

Cava said Century Theaters is using data from mobile campaigns to track the habits of movie-goers so they can re-target campaign messages to drive movie showtime searches. Additionally, smart mobile ads showing the season's hottest products, and directing consumers to the closest store where they are available, further boosts engagement and sales dollars.

Integrating Big Data

Mobile commerce via smartphones and tablets will grow 80 percent in 2014 to $83.78 billion, and will account for 21 percent of total web sales for those merchants, according to the study Internet Retailer 2015 Mobile 500.

"Mixing mobile marketing efforts with big data can create the perfect personalization," said Hari Nidamanuri with Sears Holdings Corporation. "Identify your audience first and then develop your content around your audience."

From that content, restaurant and retail operators can collect valuable information about their customers, find micro segments from within their customer base, create predictive analytics, and then pass that value onto customers.

"Each customer goes through buying cycles and there are cellular and physical touchpoints throughout the experience. And at each of the touchpoints we have data," Nidamanuri said. "Once you bring all of your data together, clean it, mine it and discover which customers are your real customers. Then personalize the data that customers want."

While it may seem that easy, harnessing big data to give customers what they want can create challenges. However, those challenges can be overcome. He recommended these five best practices for future success:

1. Centralize your data

2. Start with small data for big insights

3. Drive Consistent Content

4. Test, Target, Measure, Learn and Iterate

5. Build a personalization strategy