Survey Says: These Are The Ads That Consumers Want On Their Mobile Devices

BY: 

Dave Forde
August 10, 2011

Mobile technology provider Upstream announced some new data today that was conducted by Luth Research which reveals some consumer habits or preferences when it comes to mobile advertising. According to their survey, respondents indicated that mobile advertisements that are tailored to their “tastes and interests” far out-perform other offers that are based on time, lifestyle or location.

After surveying 2,000 Americans, they have found that feature phone users ranked personalized offers at 59 percent over those focused on timing (18 percent), lifestyle (16 percent) or location (8 percent). Smartphone users responded in similar fashion, with 60 percent preferring personalized offers over promotions based on timing (17 percent), lifestyle (10 percent) or location (14 percent).

“Comparing the importance of personalization versus location in receiving mobile ads is especially interesting, given the hype around location-based players such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, Facebook Places or even Google+ with its Latitude check-ins,” said Assaf Baciu, Senior Vice President, Product Management, Upstream. “While location remains an important factor in delivering mobile ads, tailoring interactions via mobile to consumers’ ‘tastes and interests’ clearly presents much greater potential for driving higher response and conversion rates.”

Regarding other consumer advertising preferences, research indicated that smartphone users are strongly interested in viewing ads for content for their mobile device, followed by movies/entertainment, including tickets; offers from their mobile service provider; and consumer goods. Feature phone users indicated that they wanted offers from their mobile service provider as a top choice, followed by movies/entertainment, including tickets; content for their mobile device and consumer goods, which were tied; and offers from retail stores.

Much like most other forms of advertising, having a channel focus is important to users which leads them to take action.  Smartphone users indicated that mobile coupons were their top “channel of influence,” followed closely by an opt-in text alert or message; an email received on a mobile phone; an ad on a mobile website; and an ad that appears during an internet search of a product or service.
For feature phone users, their first preference is an opt-in text alert or message, followed by mobile coupons; a notification from their service provider; text-based messages that flash on the screen of their mobile phone; and an email received on a mobile phone.

“Interestingly, despite more sophisticated forms of mobile marketing out there, opt-in text alerts or messages still score very highly with regard to consumer responsiveness,” said Baciu. “This data reinforces the very intimate, personal nature of consumers’ mobile devices, and the singular priority for mobile marketers to carefully manage and optimize their engagement and number of interactions with customers.”

While the survey results are based on US-consumers, it will still give a pretty accurate indication of the habits of Canadian consumers as well.

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Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 20 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses. He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.


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