The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) released the results of its first-ever quantitative research effort in the area of mobile marketing. The online survey indicated that text messaging is by far the most often cited mobile marketing method — accounting for 70% of consumer mobile marketing responses – compared to a 41% response rate to surveys and a 30% response rate for e-mail offers.
“The direct marketing community will find this research useful as it continues to explore ways to offer more relevant and useful information to mobile consumers on-the-go,” said Edward T. Manzitti, Ph.D. and vice-president Research & Market Intelligence at the Direct Marketing Association. “These findings suggest that mobile marketing will continue growing into a multi-billion dollar industry as more mobile phone users are enticed by falling prices to purchase data plans and broadband enabled devices.”
Additionally, the survey revealed:
· 24% of those surveyed have responded to a mobile offer;
· One-third of the group that did not respond to any mobile marketing reported that they had never received an offer;
· 71% of people who respond to mobile offers have data plans with lack of interest and cost of airtime cited as the leading reasons by those who haven’t responded to mobile offers;
· 21% of mobile marketing responders indicated that they responded to three or more offers per month;
· Respondents that used AT&T (Cingular) Wireless and T-Mobile were more interested in mobile marketing incentives than respondents who used Verizon Wireless;
· Teens between 15-17 years old (19%) and young adults between 21-30 years old (19%) are twice as likely to respond to offers on their mobile devices as individuals between 18-20 years old (7%);
· Single (never married) respondents were the most likely of all groups to respond to mobile
marketing appeals;
· Overall, higher-income respondents making more than $60,000 per year were more likely to respond to mobile offers;
· Responders to mobile marketing were typically more tech savvy — for example, responders were twice as likely than non-responders to subscribe to Internet-based music subscription services;
· Buyers of entertainment/music/video products were the most likely to respond to mobile offers; and,
· Categories of mobile offers were dominated by entertainment/music/video (44%), followed by: Food/beverage (21%) and Telecommunications/Mobile (21%); Beauty/personal care (15%),
Automotive/transportation, business services, consumer electronics, financial services, and vacation/travel each accounted for 12%; and, Healthcare/pharmaceutical and real estate each accounted for 7% of mobile offers.
