Last week, I had the honor of sharing the stage with Alexis Caldwell, Senior Director of Global Network Development at rewardStyle, at Affiliate Summit East in New York City. We talked about how the mobile evolution has changed the consumer journey and what it means for brands and publishers looking to set themselves up for success.

Welcome to the post-web era

Consumers are spending more time on their mobile devices than ever before. The average US adult will spend 2 hours, 55 minutes on a smartphone in 2019, a 9-minute increase from 2018. And for the first time, consumers in the US will spend more time in front of their mobile devices than their TVs this year. This shift in consumer attention is evident in the way people consume content. They have gone from watching their favorite shows on TV and flipping through the glossy pages of Vogue to now following their favorite digital influencers to see what they're doing, thinking, and feeling 24/7 on social media.

rewardStyle saw the opportunity to offer influencers a platform-agnostic channel to reach their audiences and monetize their content, regardless of which social media platform they choose to post on, through a partnership with Button to drive better performance, tracking, and insights.

Three-sided marketplace: Influencers, brands, and consumers

With the launch of LIKEtoKNOW.it, rewardStyle's consumer-facing, ready-to-shop content platform, the company can now approach its customers carefully and holistically. rewardStyle helps its influencers access their audiences wherever they are and track completed sales, it helps its brand partners understand the value of influencer marketing in this last-click attribution world, and it helps consumers make it easier to discover and shop between mobile web (mWeb) and app in as few taps as possible.

Advice for brands: Influencers and brands need end-to-end tracking to win

Influencers are investing substantial resources to create content. If the end-to-end tracking doesn't work and they don't see results from specific brands, they'll be less likely to create that content for those brands moving forward.

On the brand side, teams are accustomed to looking at affiliate siloed from mobile— they're investing money in mobile content but not seeing the ROI when they don't have end-to-end app tracking in place. Secondly, there's an opportunity to bring together insight from the different functions of the marketing organization— PR, content, performance, social, events, and more— to create a clearer picture of how audiences are engaging and what's working.

Advice for publishers: App tracking is key to understanding your conversion rates

Today, many publishers lose tracking when traffic enters a brand's app, and because of that, they choose to have users stay on mobile web to get an offer. This is like using a bandaid where stitches are the long term solution. This hurts you in the long run as apps convert 157% higher than mWeb experiences, according to Button Marketplace data.

And if you lack access to data and analytics, you might not realize how much money you're leaving on the table. With the right technology in place to have a holistic view of app installs, average order value, and email signups, on top of conversion rates, you'll be sure to be there from the beginning of a consumer's journey to the very end.

"The conversion rate that we were seeing for brands that have activated with Button side by side for LIKEtoKNOW.it app to a brand app vs. LIKEtoKNOW.it app to a brand's mobile website was over 160% higher through Button's technology, and 16% higher for average order value."

- Alexis Caldwell

Want to learn more about mobile commerce trends from rewardStyle and Button? Check out this recap from our conversation with Baxter Box, co-founder and CEO of rewardStyle.