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Tap into the Biggest Trends of 2016

to Make It the Year of Mobile Success

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We’ve decided to gather all of our mobile masterminds to bring you this exclusive

list of trends for 2016. Recently, we’ve seen more and more brands realizing that in

order to reach their full brand potential they must invest more of their marketing

budget in mobile, for a few of reasons: mobile is conversion oriented, sparks calls-

to-action, enables hyper targeting, walks the customer through an intimate

experience, and much more.

Additionally, mobile technology is constantly evolving, and this year will be all about

creating a seamless, faster, more convenient experience for users. As a result, each

aspect of mobile marketing in 2016 will be much different than it was in the previous

year. Brands looking to establish a mobile presence that drives real results for their

business, must be familiar with these new advancements and adapt their strategy

accordingly.

This eBook doesn’t only sum up the latest trends in all areas of mobile marketing,

but also provides valuable tools for you to ensure that your mobile strategy is fully

up-to-date!

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Brands Will Have to Adapt to New Interfaces

3D Touch: With the recent launch of iOS 9, Apple also introduced its 3D touch

technology, which enables a new way for users to interact with their device based

on how much pressure they apply on the display. The new technology adds a whole

other facet to mobile user interface, and more and more users will expect their

favorite apps to begin supporting it.

Our team has come up with a cool example to help you better understand the

potential of this tool. A mobile banking app for example, could implement 3D touch

for making transactions - when users are requested to plug in the amount of money

they’d like to transfer, they can apply pressure to the screen to see the numbers

increase from zero all the way up to their desired amount. The harder they push, the

faster the numbers will switch up, and vice versa.

Permission Requests: Up until recently, when users installed an app on Android,

they automatically granted permissions for apps to access a plethora of information

such as location, contacts, etc. - it was a package deal. Now, however, developers

are required to request access to information within the app separately for each type

of data (similar to iOS). Since permission requests are such a touchy subject for

users who often sense overwhelmed and intruded by them, apps that fail to adapt

strategically, are sure to see a drop in their engagement and retention levels.

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Shrinking the Gap Between Web & Mobile Experiences

Mobile has grown to become primarily app focused - 85% of our time on mobile is

spent within apps. This user behavior is much different than the experience we were

used on desktop such as searching, browsing, reading, and so forth. If you think

about it, “browsing” doesn’t even exist in apps since you need to install an app in

order to experience it, as opposed to simply clicking a web link. Moreover, loading

content from mobile web and outside of apps is much slower than the immediate

click-and-load experience that exists on desktop. Companies such as Facebook and

Google have set out to solve this issue:

Fast Loading Mobile Pages: Google and Facebook recently launched solutions to

content consumption of mobile. Facebook’s Instant Articles and Google’s

Accelerated Mobile Pages turn the slow experience of rendering web pages on

mobile, into a seamless, rapid process. This is another step towards shrinking the

gap between mobile and desktop usage, and making the full transition into mobile.

App Previews: Just last month, Google announced that it will enable app previews

in the Play Store. Thanks to the new feature, users will be able to experience the

app before downloading it, and thus make a more educated decision on whether or

not they’d like to install it. This changes the industry entirely by making product

refinement much more critical for driving installs. Now, the first impression your app

gives to people will be a determining factor in their decision to become users.

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Mobile Advertising Will Be More Targeted

Ad Blocking: We couldn’t compile a 2016 mobile trends list without mentioning Apple

mobile ad blocking, which allows the company to force mobile marketers to place

advertisements through its own network. Before you freak out over this, a closer

look at the industry will assure you that it won’t influence it that muc h. First of all,

90% of today’s mobile activity takes place on mobile apps, leaving only a small

window of opportunity for mobile web ads. Additionally, mobile app advertising is

still a majority over mobile web advertising at a ratio of 3:1, so making the shift away

from web won’t be a dramatic change.

Cross Platform Retargeting: Until not too long ago, mobile advertising was not

exactly an integral part of cross platform campaigns because there’s still a lack of

data on mobile, which becomes a barrier between it and other platforms. Advertisers

and publishers are very aware of this gap, and therefore, many companies have

been working on developing technologies that would be able to compensate for it,

which means we’ll be seeing more and more cross platform campaigns that involve

mobile in 2016 (and by that we don’t just mean Facebook and Instagram who’ve

been doing a great job at this due to the abundance of data they have on their mobile

users).

More Precise Targeting: In 2016, more and more parties such as apps, social

networks, and ad networks, will be willing to share their information (for lots of

money, of course) about users with publishers. This will make for a more

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knowledgeable, educated, media buying process, as well as more precisely targeted

campaigns. A targeting mechanism that’s going to become more relevant this year

is context. The user’s location and what activity he or she are currently engaged in,

will become categories based on which publishers target their audience to run

contextually relevant campaigns.

Google for instance, already has technologies that can tell whether a user is driving

a car, riding a bike, or walking, without him or her even using their mobile device.

Google NOW is another example. The feature, a default on all Android devices,

pops relevant information on the user’s screen without them requesting for it. The

natural next step is for that information to be branded ads.

Better data and transparency: As the mobile media industry matures, more

standards are applied and mobile app tracking platforms (such as AppsFlyer) are

pushing towards unbiased data through deeper integration with the networks.

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The App Store Will Be Uber-Competitive

Sponsored Search Results: Google recently started to enable sponsored search

results on the Play Store. What this means for ASO is that nabbing the coveted first

spots in each keyword will be that much more competitive. What gives sponsored

apps such a competitive edge is that they can be listed with a description or call to

action, which means that 2016 will be uber competitive within the Play Store.

ASO is Merging with SEO: ASO is merging with SEO due to Google App Indexing

which allows users to click links in Search and be redirected into mobile apps, and

Apple’s Web Markup which indexes web content in app store search results. Apple

and Google have recognized that more people are using browsers to discover apps,

and have therefore turned the web into a dominant component in their app store

algorithms.

Apple and Google are Crossing Paths: With the introductions of the Apple app store

and Google Play, both giants have taken distinct stances, but we’re starting to see

these two cross paths and begin to compensate for things they’ve been “neglecting”

and the other has mastered. Google Play which has always been very complex will

work towards becoming more user friendly, interactive, and offer easy hooks to

social. Whereas on the other hand, Apple, which has always been the simpler

platform, will issue more algorithms such as these we’ve been seeing with iOS 9,

that will make its app store more complex and technical, much like the algorithm

change it announced on November 3.

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Rich Media Will Be Influenced by All the Latest Design Trends

Mobile is often referred to as “the small screen” or “the secondary screen” which

establishes a general opinion that creativity is limited on the platform. This however,

could not be further from the truth. Mobile is still a relatively new advertising platform

and therefore, new forms of design are yet to be implemented into mobile ads.

Brands that utilize new designs and tap into this year’s video trends are sure to

stand out from the crowd. In this aspect, Mobile has an advantage over any other

form of advertising since viewers are already numb and indifferent towards ads, and

the only way to get their attention is utilizing dynamic new technologies.

BPG GIF Format: This new GIF format shrinks video down into BPG which enables

elaborate storytelling in a lighter format. It is now easier to engage users and expose

them to a wide range of messages in a single ad.

360 Video: Already used by some of the largest brands out there, 360 video has

taken the world by storm and will continue to explode over 2016 (if you don’t know

what 360 video is, check out this one). This new way of displaying content is

something that’s still very new to audiences and will therefore be more attractive

than other, more “traditional” ways of displaying content.

Gamified Ads: Thanks to motion sensors and creative design, mobile campaigns

can incorporate amazing interactive features and gamification elements. These can

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pull users in and engage them more than any other radio commercial or magazine

editorial ever could. The major benefit of interactive ads is that they encourage the

audience to take action, rather than just consume the message and forget about it

moments later.

There’s a common benefit to all the creative design trends we’ll be seeing in the

upcoming year, and it’s that they all include intriguing elements that users haven’t

seen before in ads such as “blending mode”, and “grid breaking”. Implementing new

trends ensures that your campaign stands out among others since people are

already numb to the current style of design, whereas new designs will immediately

disrupt and draw them in.

Be sure to keep up with our eBooks to stay up-to-date on all the latest trends all

year long. Here’s to a year of mobile success!

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Moburst is a full service, global mobile marketing agency that helps companies

grow their mobile business. After redefining hundreds of apps and A/B testing

every possible feature in every vertical, our team knows what works for each

product, and how to deliver the most relevant experiences for each user. We love

solving clients’ tough mobile challenges and believe that the combination of

creative thinking, advanced technology, and data drives success at scale.

Hundreds of companies, from local startups to large global brands such as:

Microsoft Accelerator, Gett, Conduit, Sony Music and Nielsen Innovation, have

leveraged our product refinement, app store optimization (ASO), user acquisition,

and mobile consulting services to enhance their product and maximize their KPIs.

Every day, our team’s mission is to innovate creative solutions that connect brands

with highly targeted audiences that convert into loyal users.

Moburst has offices in New York City and Israel.

To learn more and keep in touch, visit www.moburst.com or contact us at

hello@moburst.com