SAN FRANCISCO/LONDON: Despite the flood of data now available to marketers from increased smartphone usage, a new survey has revealed that the majority of them are still not confident about how to tap into the way people use their mobiles.

Specifically, two-thirds (66%) say they aren't fully confident that they have identified the most important signals of digital engagement along the customer journey.

And because they don't capture, connect or analyse consumer signals themselves, more than 50% are not fully confident in their ability to acquire new customers and re-engage lost ones.

These are some of the key findings in The Impact of Mobile Signals on the Consumer Journey report, produced by the Mobile Marketing Association and RadiumOne, the marketing technology firm.

Based on a poll of more than 300 senior marketers in the US – although many of them would have global responsibilities – the study suggested that the wealth of data signals across devices is creating new marketing opportunities, but is also adding to the confusion.

For example, a full 61% of marketers say they still are not confident in their ability to find new profitable customers, while 58% are not fully confident in their re-engagement efforts to prevent customer churn.

And when it comes to using data to improve branding, more than a third (38%) cite "understanding where consumers are on their journey" as their biggest challenge.

Other challenges about branding include "knowing what the most important customer interaction points are" (24%) and "knowing the best ways to leverage signals to communicate with consumers" (21%).

Regarding the biggest challenge marketers face when trying to drive sales, another 38% cite "knowing what the most important customer interaction points are".

"The industry talks incessantly about the flood of new data being produced and this is certainly the case with mobile, as people do more things on them, but the simple truth is most marketers simply aren't confident of exploiting it adequately," said Craig Tuck, Managing Director at RadiumOne UK.

"Consequently, the industry needs to do more in helping them in three key areas: identifying the right consumer signals of interest, building accurate predictions and then activating these to increase ROI."

Data sourced from MMA, RadiumOne; additional content by Warc staff