This year’s study validates that consumers are increasingly turning to smartphones and tablets for their shopping-related needs and marketers need to formulate their mobile strategies accordingly - xAd VP of Marketing Monica Ho
NEW YORK and TORONTO (PRWEB) April 30, 2013
Consumers are reaching for their mobile devices earlier and more often in their search for local products and services, according to the 2nd Annual U.S. Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study findings released by xAd, a leading mobile-location based advertising network, and Telmetrics, the top mobile call measurement provider. The study also found that local relevancy and promotions are a critical factor in influencing consumers’ purchase decisions and conversions.
Results of the 2nd Annual Mobile Path-to-Purchase study were compiled by Nielsen from an online survey of more than 2,000 U.S. smartphone and tablet users and focused on the Banking/Finance, Gas/Convenience, Insurance and Retail categories.
xAd-Telmetrics Mobile Path-to-Purchase Infographic
“This year’s Mobile Path-to-Purchase study validates that consumers are increasingly turning to smartphones and tablets for their shopping-related needs as adoption of mobile devices continues to surge, and brand marketers and their agency counterparts need to formulate their mobile strategies accordingly,” said Monica Ho, vice president of marketing, xAd Inc. “For the second year, the study demonstrates that consumers’ mobile behaviors vary by industry and category. As a result, marketers must understand and shape their campaigns based on users’ mobile purchase habits, including preferred research tools, activities and mobile purchase influences.”
Mobile Rivals Desktop As a Primary Media Resource
The 2013 study shows that of consumers searching for local products and services, 45 percent tap mobile devices first, while 49 percent use PC/Online as their primary media resource. Although 54 percent of all mobile users (including smartphone and tablet) indicated usage of additional media sources to aid in their purchase decision, 46 percent exclusively used mobile as their default/primary research tool. The study also demonstrated that 50 percent of all mobile users rely on their device at the beginning of the research process with 1 out of 3 users indicating they used their device throughout their entire purchasing process.
Location and Promotions Critical to Conversion
Local relevancy continues to be a key mobile influencer, as users cite location, local offers and promotions as the top reasons for purchase selection. In fact, nearly 1 out of 3 smartphone users and 1 out of 4 tablet users reference their device specifically for contact information such as a phone number, address or map and driving directions. The majority of consumers (60 percent) expected businesses to be within walking or local driving distance from their current location.
“As mobile device usage increases so does searchers’ expectations of local relevancy including comprehensive location details,” said Bill Dinan, president of Telmetrics, who addressed some of these findings on a mobile search ROI panel at the MediaPost Search Insider Summit yesterday in Amelia Island, Fla. “Marketers need to consider the importance of placing local identifiers prominently - especially in the beginning of the purchase cycle, as they attempt to reach highly motivated, ready-to-buy mobile users.”
Mobile Consumers Take Action with Strong Purchase Intent and Conversions
Overall mobile users across the categories studied had very high purchase intent with 60 percent of smartphone users and 53 percent of tablet users having completed purchases related to their mobile activity. While the study shows that timing of purchase selection depends on the category and device, more than half (53 percent) of mobile users are making their purchases offline or in-store. This is even more prevalent on smartphones with 74 percent completing their transactions offline.
Additional highlights from the study include:
- Although cross category device utilization in the purchase process was very similar, immediacy of need was extremely varied depending on the category:
o Gas & Convenience and Banking & Finance related needs seemed to be more immediate --- happening immediately or within a day
o Retail & Insurance needs were less urgent with one-third of needs happening within the month or longer
- For smartphones, most searchers go directly to the branded app or website (57 percent), however, on tablets the discovery methods vary by category
- Nearly 60 percent of mobile users (including nearly 80 percent of tablet users) indicated using their device at home, signaling that mobile usage is starting to cannibalize desktop/PC usage
About the Study
The xAd-Telmetrics Mobile Path to Purchase Study is the only comprehensive research report that measures what consumers report they are doing via mobile devices and captures actual preferences and behaviors. Results from the 2nd Annual U.S. Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study are based on data from an online survey of 2,000 U.S. smartphone and tablet users and actual observed consumer behaviors from Nielsen’s Smartphone Analytics Panel of 6,000 Apple and Android users. The study will also include four additional releases of specific market findings for the Banking/Finance, Gas/Convenience, Insurance and Retail categories.
More details are available at mobilepathtopurchase.com
About xAd
Founded in 2009, xAd is one of the largest mobile advertising networks in the U.S. and the leader in delivering targeted mobile ads based on accurate user location and search context. Across its network, the company aggregates and manages billions of monthly ad impressions from which it derives the largest supply of location-based advertising inventory in the market. xAd delivers targeted mobile location@scale for over a million national and local advertisers, including brands like Pinkberry, Home Depot and Wells Fargo. xAd is based in New York City with several satellite offices across the U.S. and internationally. For more information, visit http://www.xAd.com.
About Telmetrics, Inc.
For more than 20 years, Telmetrics has been the call measurement industry leader. Telmetrics’ call tracking solutions, which are available in North America and across Europe, track the lead generation quality of local search advertising and pay per call programs for the leading brands in local search. This includes both publishers and agencies that serve millions of SMBs and national franchise locations across North America and Europe. With greater visibility into advertising performance across all media channels—digital, mobile, print and more—media publishers, agencies and advertisers can optimize the media mix for higher quality lead generation, resulting in increased revenues and a more complete picture of ROI across converging media. For more information, visit Telmetrics.com.
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