Less affluent, lower income consumers more favorable towards mobile ads: report
Consumers have widely differing opinions when it comes to mobile advertising, based on affluence and income levels, with the wealthiest consumers among the most annoyed by these messages, according to new research from IXI Services.
The Equifax division took a look at the attitudes toward mobile advertising for different economic sectors and uncovered some interesting insights. Among consumers in major metropolitan areas, consumers worth less than $100K find mobile ads entertaining or informative while the more affluent find them irritating.
?Many marketers or data companies might intuit that consumers feel differently across generations and levels of affluence, but it was still surprising to see that borne out in the data,? said Jeff Sporn, senior vice president and general manager of digital solutions at IXI Services, a division of Equifax. ?As you might guess, the younger and less affluent consumers are more entertained and informed by mobile ads than their older counterparts.
?Meanwhile, more affluent consumers are more likely to be irritated than informed by mobile ads, which marketers might not necessarily guess,? he said.
?This proves the importance of segmentation as a means to craft, personify, and realistically implement a handful of creative executions, offers and messages that are tailored and engaging to the intended consumer.?
IXI Services provided the cohort segmentation and Gfk MRI the survey data for the report.
Prevailing attitudes
Consumers in a major metro region who are under 35 and worth less than $100K find mobile ads entertaining. Affluence here refers to how much a person has in assets.
Other consumers in this wealth bracket are apt to find mobile ads informative. This is true for consumers in a major metro area between 35 and 54 as well as those between 55 and 64. Consumers in this bracket who live in small cities or small towns and rural areas also find mobile ads informative.
The one exception in the under $100K bracket is consumers living a major metro area who are older than 65. This group?s prevailing attitude toward mobile ads is that they are not entertaining.
Consumers worth between $100K and $1 million are not as favorable towards mobile ads. In fact, mobile ads are viewed as irritating by consumers who live in a city and are under 35 or between 35 and 54. Older consumers and those in small cities and rural areas, find them not informative.
Interestingly, affluent consumers worth more than $1 million find mobile ads irritating across all age groups and geographic locations. The exception is affluent consumers in small towns and rural areas, who merely find mobile ads not informative.
?While mobile may be an increasingly popular way to send advertising to consumers, consumer groups at different levels of age and affluence have very different attitudes towards mobile ads,? Mr. Sporn said. ?If you don?t consider this, you may be potentially harming the efficacy of your advertising and ultimately negatively impacting your brand in key segments of your audience.
?Marketers serving ads to these audiences should consider these variations when building their campaigns,? he said.
Audience segmentation
Removing geography and simply looking at sentiment by income and age shows a slightly different picture.
Consumers in the lowest income bracket, under $50K, have the most favorable attitudes towards mobile ads while those in the $50K to $100K range are neutral towards mobile ads, except for those under 35, who find them entertaining and informative.
Higher earners between $100K and $200K are mostly neutral towards mobile ads. Those making more than $200K find the ads irritating, except for consumers under 35 in this income bracket, who find the ads entertaining.
?Marketers should use these insights to be mindful of the formats and content they use to advertise,? Mr. Sporn said. ?That doesn't mean they should avoid advertising to groups that have expressed higher levels of irritation ? it means they have to take several factors into account.
?For example, if you are aiming to reach Elite income consumers in the 35-45 'Working Years' group, be aware that a screen-wide ad experience may have comparatively great viewability potential, but may also be more likely to irritate this audience than it might other audiences,? he said. ?In this case, marketers might consider avoiding ad formats that interrupt the user experience and opt instead for a less intrusive format.?