Report: Most brands still aren't prepared for mobile needs

In the mobile space experience is everything but only a few retail brands are actually providing a consistent and effective mobile experience - primarily because most don't have a developed plan for the mobile space. That according to a new report out which shows that while brands have turned on mobile, they aren't necessarily making sure the mobile space is working properly.

"Many companies fall into the trap that they believe they need a consistent mobile presence, but fall short of taking the proper steps to ensure the experience is effective," said Jeff Tseng, CEO and co-founder of Kontagent. "Mobile adoption is outpacing any historical adoption trend. Businesses that will succeed on this next wave need to understand how to not only build outstanding experiences on mobile platforms, but also leverage user data rigorously in order to best measure and improve their mobile offerings."

According to the report:
• Gaming brands lead the pack for 'mobile first' - a group that strategically plans and tracks mobile offerings
• Retail and Travel brands are also scoring well in mobile
• 69% of mobile first brands are focused on creating a solid app experience
• Financial Services lead the 'mobile mainstream' pack - a grouping of brands in mobile that operate behind the curve of the mobile first crew

Customer intelligence, the report indicates, is the difference between mobile first and mobile mainstream - the First group is focused on understanding how and why mobile users are engaging while the Mainstream group is focused on simply 'being mobile'.

"Mobile customer intelligence is crucial. All of a sudden you have all these users in the wild with their phones, especially for us in location-based apps," said Hari Srinivasan, product marketing director at Telenav, a Kontagent customer. "You're trying to learn about them, and it's not an easy problem to solve--the way they're using it, the way they want to use it. The right mobile measurement platform is important to whether our users will keep selecting us."

Tags: Kontagent, mobile commerce trends, mobile engagement, mobile marketing, mobile trends