Aberdeen mobile analyst Jeff Zabin recently published a game-changing whitepaper called “The ROI on Mobile Marketing: Why it Pays to Reach Consumers on the Go.”

Simply put, this study is the best effort I’ve seen yet to quantify return on marketing investment, or ROMI, as it relates to mobile. And I’m not surprised that in a comprehensive survey like this, mobile emerges as the clear winner in terms of marketing expenditure vs. return.

“By extending marketing communications directly through the mobile channel and with the mobile enhancement of traditional media,” Zabin writes, “mobile marketing can deliver a broad range of benefits that ultimately translate into increased revenues and profitability.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

The Aberdeen study examined over 200 companies of various sizes with either existing mobile marketing programs or plans for future deployment.  The top 20% “Best-in-Class” companies, which include Coca-Cola, are those with the highest levels of customer acquisition, retention, and profitability.

Not coincidentally, Best-in-Class companies have taken many of the steps I’ve been advocating here at Mobile Demystified, including:

• Integrating mobile activities with other media buys and marketing tactics (71%)
• Usage of data mining and analytics solutions (65%)
• Linking mobile marketing results to financial outcomes (32%)

Ultimately, though, this study – and mobile marketing in general – is about ROI. And the results speak for themselves.

According to Aberdeen, 65% of Best-in-Class companies are satisfied with their mobile ROMI, but only 40% are satisfied with the ROMI from traditional media like print, television, and radio.

In other words, Best-in-Class companies – the profitable and successful ones – are 1.6 times happier with the mobile marketing experience than they are with other media.

Last but not least, Aberdeen reports that the Best-in-Class companies in this study have experienced a 100% year-to-year performance in customer profitability.

100%! It doesn’t get any better than that.