In the first research study of its kind, we immersed ourselves in the mobile customer journeys of 30 companies across six industries to see how they incorporate mobile user behavior in their cross-channel campaigns. 

Looking at four key mobile marketing channels—push notifications, SMS, in-app and the mobile inbox—we have identified how these channels are utilized for a better customer experience and which trends are most common. 

Here’s what you’ll find inside:

• Data silos still exist. Mobile data is not being incorporated into email campaigns—and vice versa. Despite having downloaded the app, almost a quarter of companies studied (23%) included a “download the app” prompt in their email campaigns and only 20% of companies had a cart or browse abandonment campaign.
• Cross-channel balance is key. The overall messaging breakdown showed a balance between mobile and email messages, with 53% of all messages coming via mobile channels. However, over 50% of brands in the study sent fewer than ten emails, indicating mobile behavior is not integrated into email campaigns. 
• Push is the preferred mobile channel. Of the 30 brands in the study, 70% sent at least one push notification with an average of 8.4 push messages sent over the three weeks. One third (30%) of brands in the study did not send any push notifications at all, indicating a potential missed opportunity for brands to engage with mobile users.
• SMS is the most underutilized channel. Despite texting’s integral role in consumers’ daily mobile usage, only 8% of all mobile messages sent were SMS, and 80% of companies did not deploy SMS messages at all.