The speed with which the marketing landscape is changing is dizzying. Technologies, trends and opportunities within the omnichannel universe have placed retail and brand marketers in a bit of a spin as they try to manage the cycle of change. One of the key challenges for marketers is to ensure their customers have a seamless brand experience, whether in-store or online, sitting at a desktop or engaging on-the-go with mobile devices.

With continuous advancements in consumer technology, it's no surprise that the consumer is increasingly less bound to a desktop … or a mobile device … or a tablet. On the contrary, they are using two or more devices in the same day, and in some cases, at the same time. As the use of multiple devices becomes more common, consumers now expect all digital engagements to support their distinct browsing behaviors. A Google survey conducted by Sterling Research and SmithGeiger in July 2012, found that “users are five times more likely to abandon the task they are trying to complete if the site isn’t optimized for mobile use, with 79 percent saying they will go back to search and try to find another site to meet their needs.” Not surprisingly, these consumer expectations make it critical for marketers to consider all device types and experiences when crafting digital campaigns.

With promotions in particular, a consumer may interact across a number of screens in a given day and expect each engagement to be fully optimized to support his or her preferred method of interaction. Yet, when it comes to print-at-home coupons, marketers are not optimizing for mobile or tablet to the fullest extent. Often times, promotions are run in silos with one channel or one desired consumer path in mind - an approach resulting in lost opportunity. Ultimately, when marketers adopt a "my way or the highway" attitude, mobile consumers are likely to hit the road. Adding a multi-device approach to promotions increases traffic and conversions among digital offers driving in-store.

To get a better feel for what happens when brands incorporate a multi-device approach to promotions, RevTrax took an initial look at client data from promotions run across email, search, affiliate and display campaigns. The campaigns that were analyzed incorporated a customer experience that was optimized for each device type. Here's what we discovered.

When a printable coupon promotion incorporated a mobile flow, on average there was a 56 percent lift in traffic to the promotion landing page. This lift in traffic can be attributed to mobile consumers who would have otherwise hit a dead end or received an error message, and in turn, blocked from the sales process. Incorporating a mobile and printable flow into campaigns allows marketers to increase the chances of hitting or exceeding campaign goals and objectives with the same budget. In addition to increased traffic, we also saw a 37 percent lift in the overall volume of transactions and a 27 percent lift in overall revenue.

Based on what we're seeing across clients, brands should consider some of the following best practices when creating digital promotions:

·        Live up to expectations.Optimize promotions for all devices, including mobile and tablet, so consumers have a seamless brand experience.

·        Don't leave the consumer hanging.Provide options for consumers to send and save the coupon to another device (i.e. "send this offer to my phone").

·        It's not all or nothing.If the brand does not support mobile coupons, include a mobile experience that allows the consumer to print at a later time.

·        NO shades of grey.Incorporate very clear redemption instructions for each device.

·        Don't send promotions into a black hole. Enable data tracking so you can refine targeting and campaign performance with detailed consumer insights.

With promotions designed around these best practices, marketers can increasingly rely on mobile devices and tablets to play a critical role in the commerce cycle. Consumers are already engaging across devices as they comparison shop, research product reviews, locate stores, etc. Multi-device promotions are even more essential since it is projected that “mobile coupon redemptions will grow more than 50 percent this year to 10 billion” according to U.K. basedJuniper Research.

Regardless of where brands engage within the path-to-purchase cycle, one thing is certain – mobile matters. And so, within the shifting mix of social media platforms, analytics, digital wallets, real-time marketing, content generation, personalization and the endless list of considerations, mobile takes its place as a lead component in a successful omnichannel outlook.