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As UAE marketers start planning their strategies and budgets for 2022, a new mobile marketing report, conducted by 451 Research and commissioned by AppsFlyer, provides invaluable insight to guide their decision making.
With COVID-19 accelerating the shift to mobile and contactless experiences, 84% of UAE businesses say that mobile apps are now a ‘must’ to stay relevant to their customers.
A research titled “State of Mobile App Strategies in the Middle East” -- conducted by 451 Research, a part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, and commissioned by AppsFlyer --explored evolving consumer behaviours, and identified how UAE businesses are correspondingly advancing their mobile application and marketing strategies.
With the growing demand for digital services, and the UAE now ranking 8th on the global list of cashless economies, it is not surprising to see that more than 9 in 10 organisations (91%) already offer their customers a mobile app, resulting in significant financial benefit. Based on a survey of 250 marketers from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, AppsFlyer’s report highlighted the growing role of mobile apps as a primary interface between consumers and regional businesses. It showed that 40% of UAE respondents believe there has been at least a 26% increase in mobile-driven revenues for their organisation in the last 12 months, with just over one in six (17%) reporting this figure to be more than 50%.
As a result, UAE marketers are doubling down on their marketing spend.
AppsFlyer’s research shows that nearly all (96%) of respondents intend to increase their spending on mobile marketing as a result of growing customer demand for customer experiences. A quarter of these organisations (25%) intend this increase to be “very large”.
Meeting customer demands for seamless experiences (62%), uncovering best-performing channels to optimize engagement and ROI across web and app touchpoints (58%) and identifying individual customers/microaudiences with targeted messaging and services (57%) were cited by respondents as the top three drivers of mobile marketing initiatives.
“For companies, some of the most sought-after real-estate in the region is on customers’ smartphone screens. This of course makes it a hotly contested arena. Just having an app is no longer sufficient, as for a business to have any hope of growing their mobile market share with loyal, long-term customers, they need to capture consumers’ attention. Mobile marketing is key to this objective, offering consumers the personalised experiences they love, while enabling businesses to differentiate themselves from the pack,” says Samer Saad, Regional Manager, Middle East, at AppsFlyer.
The report showed clear signs of intent from marketers looking to adopt more sophisticated measurement capabilities. Two thirds (66%) are either piloting or have plans to implement multi-touch attribution technology within the next 12 months.
