Adobe has added two new features its Adobe Campaign platform that could help brands drive transactional and promotional emails and improve their mobile performance. 

One is in-app messaging, a function that allows marketers to field contextually relevant messages in response to behavior. Of marketers surveyed by Adobe, 71% say in-app messaging is the most effective channel.

The other is the Adobe Experience Location Service, a tool that enables users to build geo-fences around strategic locations such as stores.   

These products reflect the buzz about “mobile marketing automation and bringing to life better personalized consumer engagement in the mobile space,” says Roger Woods, Adobe’s director, mobile product and strategy. 

For example, a sports franchise can have an app to enhance the live stadium experience, another for streaming games at home, and a fantasy app. The apps would work together, and the goal would be to move fans between them. 

The app could also drive contextual follow-ups and survey emails.

Or a hotel chain can “pop in an in-app message based on the person’s loyalty status,” Woods says.

Woods says “location is one of the most important contextual signals when it comes to mobile marketing.” Brands can upload their location with latitude and longitude and add metadata, he continues.

Among the retail use cases is application of location data to rescue abandoned carts. Users might click on an email while in the store and see an offer that will persuade them to convert. 

Will people opt in for these forms of data-gathering?

“When consumers download an app for first time, it asks them to opt to location and messaging. If they don’t know or trust the brand very well, the default reaction is typically to say no.”

However, familiarity with the brand and the app will drive higher opt-ins, he adds. One European retailer had a location opt-in rate of 17%, but drove it up to 54% with timely, relevant in-app messages.

Adobe recently surveyed 1,000 smartphone users and found that “one in five consumers can’t live without a mobile phone,” Woods says. “That’s pretty telling — it’s deeply entrenched in everything they do.” On the other hand, “only 19% are reporting that the offers are right for them,” he adds.

The survey also found that 55% of consumers will choose a mobile app over a web browsing experience.

In addition, there was a 49% increase in the use of apps to shop for electronics, 47% for banking, 46% for ordering food, 42% for researching a trip and 39% for browsing for clothes.

How difficult is it to launch app messaging?

“It’s an easy enough channel — brands can get started quickly,” Woods answers. “They could start with things like a quick experience survey or something operational, not as much a marketing offer.”