Study identifies three mobile behavioral profiles
March 14, 2008
The mobile trio
New research shows that mobile consumers can be bucketed into three behavioral profiles: Mobile pioneers, mobile wannabes and mobile traditionalists.
The study, from InsightExpress, is the third installment in its ongoing mobile research program. The two most important categories to watch are mobile pioneers and mobile wannabes.
“Right now we’re dealing with the majority of pioneers,” said Joy Liuzzo, director of mobile research at InsightExpress, Stamford, CT. “But the wannabes are the next wave. They’re looking for reasons right now to use these advanced features more – video, mobile Internet, even things sometimes as simple as email.”
Accounting for 15 percent, the mobile pioneer is the leader in the pack, using advanced features each week such as the Internet, video or unique applications. Most of them are under 35, one-third of them have a smartphone and they skew male, single and minority.
The mobile wannabe accounts for 25 percent of the market. He or she has tried some advanced features and would like to use them more. Fewer than half are under 35 and 5 percent own a smartphone.
At 60 percent, the mobile traditionalists are satisfied with using their mobile phones for calls and texting. Two-thirds of them are more than 35 years old.
In other behavioral differences, 62 percent of mobile pioneers had sent a text message to someone in the same room, vs. 39 percent of wannabes and 26 percent of traditionalists.
Also, 57 percent of mobile pioneers took a photo of a product with their phone and sent it to someone to get an opinion. By contrast, only 30 percent of mobile wannabes and 16 percent of mobile traditionalists did the same.
Though the pioneers set the trends, it is the wannabes that popularize them, according to the InsightExpress data. This makes wannabes a likely indicator of future usage trends that will be adopted on a wider scale.
To wit: 79 percent of mobile pioneers had taught someone else how to use their mobile phone features, with wannabes not far behind at 65 percent.
“It’s exciting to know that the next wave is coming,” Ms. Liuzzo said.
Marketers should focus on mobile pioneers and mobile wannabes, she said.
These groups are more likely to agree that most advertising is relevant to them. They believe that the products advertised are a lot better than ones that aren’t. Advertising keeps them informed on products they would like to have. And they have told someone about an ad they liked.
Still, marketers should exercise caution.
“There’s a lot of cool, new technology that mobile consumers can download – downloadable applications, video, rich media,” Ms. Liuzzo said. “The trick is, you need to say yes, it is cool, but you can’t set your expectations that everyone’s going to use these technologies right now. We aren’t there yet.”