Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2023.  Read them in this 15th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

MarTech Predictions: What to Expect in 2023

By Josh Wetzel, Chief Revenue Officer of OneSignal

This past year has brought a lot of changes in marketing technology and how marketers prioritize their campaigns. There have been tremendous iOS updates in 2022 that have caused marketers to shift their strategies to keep up with the changing technologies. But most prominently, 2022 brought an uncertain economic climate, causing marketers to shift their strategies to retain customers with reduced budgets. Here we will explore some of these topics further and what we expect to see in the MarTech industry in 2023. 

Move Over Widgets: Eschewing Invasiveness with Real-Time, Live Activities  

Apple recently rolled out its exciting new iOS feature: Live Activities. These interactive push notifications enable iOS app developers and marketers on the platform to provide real-time updates to users and customers directly on their lock screens for up to 8 hours. The intent? To deliver dynamic data and information in real-time for live events, including sports scores, delivery statuses, and other transactional updates. The more useful an app can be for a user; the more likely users can be convinced to grant brands additional permissions. 

Live Activities also allows developers and marketers to reimagine and reposition push notifications in a modern, innovative way, giving brands a running chance of being noticed. By opening up a prime piece of real estate - the iPhone lock screen - Apple brings a boost for brands to capitalize on visibility and ease of access. 

Marketers now have an even more direct line to consumers but in a way that is non-invasive and better suited to the modern mobile user. Over time, we will continue to see the decline of apps that inundate users with multiple notifications that disrupt and annoy. This evolution is in the best interest of the user with the potential to enhance customer satisfaction and the underlying outcome of reinforced brand loyalty.

Macro Economic Concerns, Inflation and Recessionary Issues will Result in Reduced User Acquisition Budgets

In a world facing economic uncertainty, inflation, and recessionary concerns, companies are reducing variable expenses. This is directly impacting companies' paid marketing budgets, which will be flat to down year over year in 2023. These combinations leave us in a position where it's harder and more expensive to acquire a new user, and far more prudent to retain and grow users you've acquired in the past. 

Developers and Marketers Align to Accelerate Customer-Driven Application Development 

The Conference Board Economic Forecast for the U.S. economy predicts that today's ongoing economic weakness will intensify over the next few months, with a recession beginning at the end of 2022. Marketers should prepare for pandemic-like tendencies, where consumers put the brakes on spending. There is much to be said about the value of retention during these times. For one, it's been shown to costs five times more to get a new customer than to keep an existing one. That in mind, with inflation driving similar consumer spending cutbacks, customer retention will be key to sustainable growth and profitability during down times, putting even greater pressure on marketers to perform. 

In 2023, marketing technology will need to find resourceful ways to not only stay afloat but to make sure they are making the correct choices that, at the end of the day, make the customer journey an attractive one. One idea? Become a part of the fabric of application development. 

In our app-centric economy, apps are the face of business. Competition for mindshare remains stiff in the app space, with 2.1 million apps available in the Apple app store and 3.3 million apps available in the Google Play store as of 2022. With the customer experience revolving largely around the way these apps are built and function, marketers should have a say in how these apps are developed, and what their features and capabilities are since it offers a direct line to customers. Customers want a rich, intuitive and easy experience, so what better to meet this need than having marketers get involved in the foundational tech of the app.   

If marketers can piggyback on developers who are learning to harness the power of marketing-centric applications there can be a significant value add when it comes to pumping out an omnichannel approach to consumers. Together, marketers and developers can, for example, input mechanisms in apps to capture leads, one of the major conduits for generating revenue. 

User Acquisition Value is Declining Due to Fewer New Mobile Users & Increased Privacy Changes 

Let's start off with the reality that 85% of Americans now have a smartphone, up from 59% in 2016. That leaves much fewer new consumers to acquire.  In addition consumers made huge behavioral adjustments as a result of the pandemic.  For example 66 million Americans bought food online in 2015, that number jumped to 111 million by 2020.  Some studies say more than 86% of American Households purchase food online for delivery at least 1x per month.  The pandemic resulted in the vast majority of human beings being forced to adopt digital means to live their lives - from digital banking, buying online food, entertainment and so much more. 

Then factor in the litany of changes the major tech platforms have implemented the past few years that have made user acquisition more difficult. Starting with iOS 3rd party app tracking changes, continued degradation of cookie adoption which has resulted in less effective digital marketing campaigns.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Josh Wetzel is Chief Revenue Officer of OneSignal, the market leader in customer engagement, powering mobile push, web push, email and in-app messages for over 1 million companies. He has a two-decade career building digital commerce and software businesses, with leadership stints at eBay, PubMatic and Bazaarvoice.