Mobile association releases US research findings

The study provides insights into overall consumer mobile usage by demographic group, awareness and usage of mobile phone features and services, and interest in and concerns about specific applications. The study focuses on the US market. The MMA also conducted similar studies in Asia-Pacific and Western Europe; results will be released later in 2007.

Key findings

The study's key findings include:

• Interest in mobile marketing remains as high as it was in the previous two surveys. One in four respondents in the 2007 survey expressed interest in mobile marketing. Although some respondents had difficulty readily associating benefits with mobile marketing, those who do say that they value the ability to receive highly relevant information, the coupons and rewards received and the convenience of accessing the desired applications quickly and easily.

• The number of consumers who have experienced mobile marketing continues to grow. One out of 20 respondents had participated in mobile marketing. The highest participation is among respondents age 25 – 44.

• Sweepstakes and voting campaigns are the most widely used types of mobile marketing. The second most common type is receiving alerts about products, services, accounts. Ten percent of respondents have used their mobile phones to receive and redeem coupons.

• Ethnic groups are key audiences for mobile marketing. For example, African-Americans and English-dominant Hispanics indicate stronger interest in mobile marketing than Caucasians. These findings suggest that the mobile channel can be highly effective for reaching specific ethnic groups.

• Teens and young adults use text messaging more than any other demographic. People ages 13 – 24 send and receive the most – more than 50 messages per week – while half of all survey respondents use text messaging at least once a week. This usage shows that most mobile users are at least familiar with text messaging, if not regular users, making it an effective tool for mobile marketing campaigns.

“The 2007 Mobile Attitude and Usage Study reinforces that the mobile channel remains one of the most powerful tools available for brands and companies,” is the opinion of Laura Marriott, president of the MMA. “US consumers continue to use more of their phones' features, creating additional opportunities for marketers to reach them with coupons and other relevant, exclusive to mobile information.”

“Continued escalation”

“What's exciting about this year's study is the continued escalation in adoption of the camera phone with 58% (up from 35% in 2006) of all consumers now saying they use this feature,” said Gene Keenan, vice president mobile strategies for Isobar. “This dovetails perfectly with the coming cross-carrier interoperability of picture messaging via a short code. We expect to see some very innovative campaigns this coming year using picture phoning.”

Keenan also noted, “The really exciting news is the importance that mobile plays in the daily lives of consumers, as we're experienced through the use of text messaging for social interactions.”

Also noteworthy is that 54% of 13 – 34 year olds use SMS for social networking, while 44% of 13 – 34 year olds said they use text messaging for flirting or dating, and 10% of 13 – 34 year olds said they have broken up with a boy or girl friend using text messaging.

The 2007 study, conducted by Synovate, consisted of 1405 online interviews using a nationally representative consumer online panel of over 1.5 million households. The sampling plan for the main study sample was identical to the 2005 and 2006 survey waves, in order to ensure maximum compatibility between studies and allow for accurate trending. In addition to the main study sample, the 2006 and 2007 surveys included a booster sample of African-American and Hispanic interviews (18+ years of age).

The study is available immediately, free of charge, to all current MMA Global members.