App engagement looms large for APAC marketers

With the prevalence of the mobile use in APAC, it comes as no surprise that marketers in the region are more likely than their global peers to prioritise app engagement.

A new report, published by Econsultancy in association with Adobe, Digital Trends 2017, shows that 14 percent of APAC marketers cite mobile app engagement as top priority, compared to 12 percent in North America and 9 percent in Europe.

The findings are based on a survey of 14,163 respondents, 64 percent from the client side and the rest from the supply side. Seventeen percent of the respondents are based in Asia, while another 13 percent are in Australia and New Zealand. 

Besides app engagement, social marketing was of a higher importance last year to marketers in APAC: a priority for 31 percent of respondents from the region, in contrast to 27 percent of North American respondents and 28 percent of European respondents. 

Furthermore, 19 percent of APAC marketers cite social marketing as their biggest opportunity. Around a third of ecommerce transactions are estimated to have taken place on social media platforms in Southeast Asia. Facebook's attempts to increase advertising on Instagram and monetise Messenger and WhatsApp further highlight the importance of social media in the region. In China, Tencent's WeChat is catching up on Alibaba in the area of mobile payments through WeChatPay.

All that said, marketers in the region are restrained on the impact social media will have in the year ahead. Only 9 percent of APAC executives believe social marketing will provide their biggest successes this year. Still, more than half (56 percent) of client-side respondents indicate they are going to increase social media marketing investment in 2017.

Optimising customer experience has become the strategic goal for APAC marketers, as well as those from other regions. UX is now the top priority for 63 percent of respondents, and 40 percent of them rank it as their first choice. A point to note is that 94 percent of the marketers surveyed say increasing collaboration between teams is crucial to delivering great UX, while improving data analysis follows next.

Other highlights from the study:

• The 'internet of things' has not been looked on as a major opportunity in 2017. Nevertheless, marketers are more hopeful about it over the next three years. Companies need to be more innovative with their early-adopter customers to lead the way and provide proof of concept.
• Over half (51 percent) of respondents are intent on increasing spending on personalisation.