Customers are 'multi-screen'. Are you?
One quarter of marketing professionals said they have yet to deliver coordinated campaigns across multiple screens - such as the customer's desktop or laptop computer, smartphone, and tablet - at the same time, according to research conducted by digital advertising company Undertone.
As web consumption continues to fragment across screens and devices, the concept of delivering campaigns across PC, laptop, smartphone and tablet has moved closer to the heart of planning and buying decisions.
However, while cross-screen has become a hot topic, the study identified a number of challenges that are holding back marketers and agencies in delivering effective cross-screen campaigns in order to reach today's increasingly device agnostic consumer.
The research shows that 1 in 4 marketers surveyed are yet to execute campaigns across multiple screens. For 59% of marketers and 68% of agencies, difficulty with tracking audiences across multiple devices is what's holding them back. A lack of common performance metrics is also cited a key barrier to deployment, for 59% of both marketers and agencies.
Other challenges include targeting consumers and the complexity of creative production. While reaching consumers across multiple screens has a clear appeal, brands need to re-evaluate how they resource creative and technical production to ensure they have the assets required to run effective cross-screen campaigns.
The use of responsive design can provide a solution to the challenges faced by marketers and advertisers. Responsive design does for advertisers what responsive web design does for publishers: it delivers a seamless user experience regardless of the size of the ad slot or device. This aside, the research revealed a large knowledge gap of the technology. While 74% of marketers are aware of responsive design, less than half (48%) of agencies have ever heard of it.
However, after being educated on the benefits of responsive design, over 80% of marketers and agencies showed interest in it as a solution for delivering effective cross-screen campaigns, having recognised the rewards of increased buying efficiency, speed to market and the fact that it provides a more personalised experience for users.
"While the survey paints a picture of a market eager to deploy cross-screen campaigns, the challenges revealed are bound to slow the market's evolution," said Cameron Hulett, executive director for Undertone. "With the pace of fragmentation across multiple screens and devices increasing rapidly, marketers and agencies will need to embrace cross-screen advertising simply to keep up, so responsive design is what lies at the heart of reaching and engaging today's increasingly device-agnostic consumer."
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