Eight out of ten marketers marketers say mobile will be one of the most important ways to communicate with customers within the next three years, according to research released by Experian.

• Almost two-thirds (65%) of marketers in Hong Kong have successfully tested mobile channels.
• More than a third (39%) of respondents are already incorporating mobile as a regular marketing channel
• Over 50 per cent investing significantly more in mobile channels than they were 12 months ago

The research report entitled, ‘The digitised pocket: Embracing the mobile age' identified that mobile already figures significantly on marketers' agenda with 97 per cent of respondents indicating that mobile is part of their marketing plan.

Almost two-thirds (65%) of marketers in Hong Kong have successfully tested mobile channels, with 39% of this group incorporating mobile as a regular marketing channel.

However, while Hong Kong marketers keenly experiment in the mobile space the ways in which they implement mobile tactics and engage with consumers is confined to MMS and SMS marketing. The most common tactics in use are m-commerce (53%), MMS campaigns (52%) and SMS campaigns (50%). In most cases (98%), MMS and SMS are opened within 10 minutes of being sent.

Despite these limitations, the effects of these mobile marketing tactics are positively evident in the research findings. Of those marketers using mobile 48 per cent currently receive 11 to 25 per cent of their sales via mobile devices, and 23 per cent receive between 26 to 50 per cent of their sales via this channel. Although this does differ across different industries, with only 16 per cent of retailers receiving between 26 to 50 per cent of sales from mobile marketing.

The research indicates that for some marketers interacting with customers on a one-to-one basis is still very important in closing a sale. When asked to rate the top three most important marketing channels, 61% of marketers said face-to-face communication ranked top. This was followed by social media rated (50%) and email was favoured by 45% of marketers. Clearly it's a case of ‘in with the old and in with the new'.

"On trains, in malls and on the streets, it seems that everyone in Hong Kong has their heads buried in a mobile phone or mobile device, yet our experience tell us that the majority are not making purchases via their devices. What they are doing, however, is using them to research products and seek out store locations so they can get the product right away. The mobile channel is becoming the ‘glue' sticking the online and the offline worlds together. Clever companies will draw on this trend and integrate mobile with existing channels as a way to ensure that the customer experience is seamless," said John Merakovsky, managing director for Experian Marketing Services in Asia Pacific.

While the general sentiment about mobile is optimistic among marketers with over 50 per cent investing significantly more in mobile channels than they were 12 months ago, the research has revealed several barriers to mobile adoption.

Four out of ten respondents said that the biggest challenge for embracing mobile into their campaign is a lack of in-house expertise or resources to implement tactics, followed by a lack of multichannel marketing strategy (34 per cent) and lack of senior support (28%). Surprisingly, only 8.9 per cent of marketers think that returns-on-investment (ROI) gets in the way of mobile implementation.

"In the next five years Experian predicts more than 50 per cent of marketing budgets will be associated with mobile, and mobile will overtake all other digital channels as the most effective way to reach and engage with consumers. The mobile channel is an opportunity to start a new dialogue that opens the door to more sales, greater loyalty and broader business gains. It's imperative companies bring onboard the expertise they need to succeed in implementing multichannel campaigns." concluded Merakovsky.

www.Experian.com