Making sense of the mobile analytics landscape

Businesses have gotten the memo: Mobile is an essential part of the marketing strategy. So why is it that so many companies continue to struggle with incorporating mobile into their existing marketing strategy?

According to Forrester Research Inc., there is not only a lack of knowledge and best practices to guide mobile professionals’ strategy, but navigating the mobile analytics vendor space is challenging. The vendor landscape is fragmented and diverse, leaving marketers, business intelligence and customer insights professionals confused about their options. 

Mobile analytics is a broad category

The category “mobile analytics” represents a broad set of technologies, and isn’t often well understood by buyers. Most buyers know that mobile needs to be part of the marketing mix, but often don’t know where to start. Other times, they may not have a clear understanding of their business goals or a business case, further complicating the buying decision.

To help address this knowledge gap, Forrester outlined in its new report the business case for mobile analytics, provided recommendations for buyers, and established a framework for feature sets across all vendors. The technology and market research company said in its report that feature sets can be classified within three core layers: data management, analytics, and engagement optimization layers, and that these core functions need to work together for a complete mobile analytics solution, or what is often called “the complete stack.”

See how mobile analytics vendors (including TUNE) “stack up” by downloading the report. If you’re looking for a mobile analytics solution, it will surely help you ferret out the right one(s) for you. Forrester argues that there are a handful of common practices among vendors that compound buyer confusion.

4 reasons you struggle to find the right vendor

“Mobile customer engagement is complex, and different stakeholders — including marketers, e-commerce professionals, app developers, infrastructure professionals, and customer experience pros — have different needs to measure and understand different aspects of that engagement. That means any mature mobile analytics practice needs multiple mobile analytics technologies,” Forrester reports.

[bctt tweet=”Mature mobile analytics practices demand an expansive toolkit to stitch together and act on insights…” username=”tune”]

“Mature mobile analytics practices demand an expansive toolkit to stitch together and act on insights from mobile interactions occurring at every stage in the customer life cycle,” Forrester continues. “Vendors have responded and built out an extensive array of technologies to meet these needs. However, the available choice of technologies can confuse buyers.”

The most common practices confusing buyers include:

• Analytics are bundled rather than sold as standalone solutions. Rather than selling standalone solutions, some providers bundle tools, which complicates the buying decision. (Contact us to talk to a representative about TUNE‘s solutions and partners.)
• Mobile analytics vendors have a broad remit. There are many uses for mobile analytics, and prioritizing which analytics solutions meet a buyer’s core business needs demands a deep understanding of the product and vendor landscape.
  
• No one vendor technology does it all. Forrester says that “no technology vendor currently offers an all-in-one, fully integrated analytics solution that can meet the expansive needs of a mobile practice.” However, TUNE offers the most complete mobile analytics stack available in the market and partners with all other vendors in the space to create a seamless experience for marketers to work with other vendors across the other categories, and is continuously innovating to provide best-in-class solutions.
• Vendors are at different stages of building out analytics capabilities. Capabilities vary widely, and vendors continue to consolidate, add features and expand their offerings. Some vendors started with in-app analytics and added engagement; others began with mobile experience optimization and added analytics later. This can make it difficult for buyers to determine core areas of expertise.

Shop and compare

Importantly, this report is not intended to compare or evaluate vendor capabilities, but only to mention example vendors within each category. Do your homework by visiting the websites of relevant vendors, engaging their representatives, and requesting product demonstrations and trials to determine the right solutions for your business needs.