Email and Text Messages Are Most Popular Drivers of Purchases
A new study from ExactTarget shows that mobile email and text messages have played a part in a significant number of mobile purchases.
The study, titled “Mobile Independence Day,” finds that more than 89 percent of U.S. online consumers own a cellphone, with 40 percent owning a smartphone.
Of those owning a smartphone, 33 percent own an Android device, 25 percent own an iPhone, 19 percent own a BlackBerry, 5 percent own a Windows device and 18 percent own another type of smartphone.
Regarding smartphone activities, 31 percent of respondents said they use these devices for calls constantly throughout the day, while 38 percent said several times a day and 18 percent said about once a day.
Meanwhile, 38 percent said they use their smartphones for text messaging constantly throughout the day, while 28 percent said several times a day and 11 percent said about once a day.
Email, browsing the Internet and Facebook are also popular activities on smartphones, according to ExactTarget.
When posed the question, “Which of the following things have you done on your smartphone?” 34 percent said they checked the balance on a bank account, while 28 percent said they checked in using a location-based network like Facebook Places, Foursquare or Gowalla.
Twenty-seven percent said they liked a company on Facebook with their smartphone, 24 percent said they scanned a QR code or barcode, 23 percent said they paid a bill, 20 percent said they shopped for competitive prices while in a store and 20 percent said they shared an article via email.
ExactTarget also found that 56 percent of respondents said they’ve made a purchase based on an email marketing message received via their mobile device. Meanwhile, 41 percent said the same about text messages, 35 percent said the same about Facebook and 32 percent said the same about shopping-related applications.
Forty-three percent of respondents said they completed the purchase on their computer, 35 percent in person, 34 percent on a browser on their smartphone, 31 percent through an app on their smartphone, 19 percent through the app store on their smartphone and 18 percent called the company to place an order.
To highlight the importance of smartphones, ExactTarget shows that 72 percent of respondents would keep their smartphone over their game consoles, 69 percent said the same for tablet computers, 46 percent said the same for dishwashers and 40 percent said the same for laptop computers.
The lesson here for marketers, according to Tim Kopp, ExactTarget’s chief marketing officer, is to “look to optimize their messaging in ways that recognize the consumer’s mobility and control.”
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