This month's assignment included surveying five individuals on how they felt about mobile marketing and the way they used their cell phones. I interviewed two middle aged parents (a mother and father) of two children from the Midwest, a 25 year old former rodeo athlete from Idaho, a 21 year old college student from Long Island, NY, and a 28 year old college student from southern Texas. I picked this varying group so even with the small sample size I could ensure that I received some greatly varying responses from the individuals. This was an exercise of market research, survey construction, and consumer interaction.
Given the differences in surveyed individuals, there were a surprising number of similarities between the group, and nearly as many differences between them. For example: it's pretty universal that people don't like receiving "advertising" on their phone (which they perceive as pushed upon them not at their request) but are accepting to "marketing" on their phone (which they perceive as something they requested and would like to have sent to them) even though in some cases the information might be identical - the key difference is why it ended up on their phone's; by request or forced upon them.
After surveying five various individuals from around the country research has shown that people are as particular about their cell phones as they are about their dinner choices. The sampling of five individuals included the following: one a former rodeo athlete aged 25 from Idaho who utilizes a cell phone primarily for personal communication, a father of two from Ohio aged 42 who uses both a personal and business cell phone and has for the last ten to twelve years, a mother of two from Ohio aged 41 who also uses a personal and business cell phone for a period of ten to twelve years, an undergraduate student aged 21 from Long Island, and a graduate student aged 28 from Texas. The respondents were asked 13 questions about their cell phone usage, expectations, and requirements. In addition to this basic information they were also asked how they felt about mobile marketing being directed at them.
When asked what features the individuals sought in a phone with no prompting given as to example features the answers were varied but similar as well. All respondents seemed to ignore the camera feature and simply take it for granted except the one who was a photographer. Ease of function, small size, and text messaging were emphasized however. Battery life was another issue that a few replies indicated are of importance. Two other features that were desired were reliability and ability to store music on the mobile device. These replies indicate that users are having some issues with device failure, but that certain features are becoming ubiquitous while others that one would think were are not yet. For example – by neglecting to mention a camera feature in almost all replies users either expect their phones to come with a camera, or do not use the camera enough to realize that they rely upon it, yet the stress on good sleek functionality and reliability indicate some growing pains adapting to the new world of mobile; whereas the indication for a desire to store music on the mobile phone indicates an adaptation and acceptation of the device and a realization of its potential.
Those surveyed were asked what the top three features used on their cell phones was. Almost all replies featured calling people/talking and texting as two of the three features they used the most. An interesting number (40%) of people indicated that they used their cell phone as their primary alarm clock. Music player was also mentioned. Cameras were mentioned twice, yet was not indicated by those individuals as a feature they sought when purchasing a new phone. The one individual who utilizes a smart phone mentioned the Internet as the primary feature they utilize. When asked what they primarily use their cell phones for almost all individuals said calling, texting or contacting people in some way. This indicates that consumers see the mobile device as an intimate way to contact other individuals and would be more open to marketing if it were tailored to them specifically instead of mass communication.
After having the individuals consider the features and why they used their cell phones they were asked to rank functionality, features, styling and user interface of a potential device by how important they felt they were out of a 1 to 10 scale. The two more technologically savvy individuals (the college students) indicated that functionality and features were the two most important factors in considering a new cellular device – ranking them both 10 and 9 respectfully while ranking styling and user interface lower (in the 5 to 8 range). The middle-aged mother of two considered the user interface to be the most important factor, with style and function being tied with a 7, and features given the least consideration. Interestingly enough the father of two had results similar to the college students, however, this is most likely due to the fact that his children are aged 16 and 22 and tend to force him to keep up on modern technology to an extent. The interesting result was the former rodeo athlete who rated styling and the user interface as the most important factors, and features and functionality the lowest.
When surveyed about the words mobile device what two companies first came to mind the only word that was unanimously mentioned was Verizon, even though two individual does not have Verizon service. Other companies mentioned were BlackBerry, Apple, Sprint, and LG. The 42-year-old male mentioned LG and Verizon presumably because he has an LG phone from Verizon. The 41-year-old female responded with Verizon Wireless and BlackBerry, most consumers would not differentiate between Verizon and Verizon Wireless however she is an employee of Verizon, the land line company offering business and residential services; the mention of BlackBerry is most likely because her husband and son both have different BlackBerry mobile devices. The two college students both mentioned Apple, presumably due to the over abundance of the iPhone in the college market.
In an effort to establish the primary means of communications being used in general by the consumers replying to the survey they were asked to name the communication devices used in order of frequency. They were given the examples of cell phone calls, texting, instant messaging, email, and social networking. The two college students replied that texting, social networking, and instant messaging were the three primary means of communication. The other three indicated cell phone calls, texting, email and minimal social networking to be the other means of communication with no instant messaging mentioned.
When asked as to how many hours a day the individuals were on their cell phones and what they used it for a great variety of times were given with similar usages. One individual replied on and off the phone with it in arms reach for approximately 15 hours a day while using it for texting and social networking (Facebook and twitter) while another individual claimed to only use the phone for around thirty minutes total primarily for talking or texting his friends. Both 40-something individuals indicated an average of two hours cell phone usage for calls and texting.
Another question asked of the people was why they chose their cell provider and what reason they had for staying with them currently. The female college student uses Sprint because when she got her cell phone that was what her family plan was on and has stayed a customer for nearly ten years because they continue to give her a great rate and additional features every time she renews. The male college student uses Verizon customer for the same reason – family plan – and has stayed because it is also cheap and has a good phone selection with good customer service, he stay’s with Verizon because his family is on the plan with him. The rodeo athlete got a discount for his plan through a previous employer and has stayed with them because he continues to receive the discount. The father figure has stayed with Verizon for the service area and reliability of the network and has not changed due to his satisfaction with the service and fear of getting locked in on a plan with a different company that is less satisfactory than his current plan. The Mother of two was originally with AirTouch Cellular due to the fact that it was the only provider in her area at the time of signing up, but was since purchased by Verizon Wireless. She continues to stay with Verizon due to the fact that the majority of her contacts are on the Verizon network, and she works for Verizon landlines as well.
The individuals were then asked if they could change providers why would they. One individual stated they would change to AT&T for an iPhone. The 25-year-old from Idaho stated he would only change if they offered better coverage than his current provider does. The 41-year-old female stated she would not change unless she went to work for a different phone company, and would then do so only out of “company loyalty.” The 42-year-old male said he would not change unless his new contract contained a way for him to get out of the contract if it was not to his liking. The male college student stated he would not change providers, as he was happy with his current provider.
After evaluating their service provider individuals were asked what advantages and disadvantages they were experiencing with their current cell phones and this drew a variety of responses. The female college student claimed that her smartphone’s browser was fast enough and easy enough to use to be considered and advantage, but stated that the camera was lacking quality and the phone needed to be updated soon. The male college student said his phone had good reception, and a decent keypad for texting even though it was not a QWERTY keypad; his only two complaints with his current phone were the battery life and small screen size. The former athlete stated that he has had his current phone for almost four years now and when he was on the rodeo circuit he wished he had a phone to better help him schedule events and keep a more organized schedule, however since he has become semi-retired from the sport he does not feel any disadvantages with his mobile device. The father of two stated the largest advantages to his phone were that he was very familiar with the device (having owned two consecutive phones from the same manufacturer) and the good quality camera he has on his cell, the two disadvantages he felt he had were the lagging technology due to having an older phone, and the limited battery life his phone has. The mother of two however did not have any advantages relating to her currant phone, and has had great difficulty with it, she claims she “bought a cool looking phone that has a horrible touch screen with next to no functionality to it” and while the software seems to run better, the user interface is her biggest complaint about the phone.
The remaining questions focused on the impact of mobile devices upon future generations and on the individual’s feelings in regards to mobile advertising. When asked about how they felt about the impact of increasing mobile functionality and if it would harm future generations and why or why not users came up with responses on both polar ends of the possibilities. The female college student said that as texting increases the amount of real verbal conversations will decrease and thus decreasing communication skills in general; causing harm to future generations. While the male college student stated that the increasing functionality would both help and hinder future generations, “with great power comes great responsibility” was the way he described the situation. If the youth are indoctrinated to a world of isolation and hiding behind a screen intrapersonal communication would suffer, however if it was used properly and had a social balance between screen and real life the functionality would help. The athlete stated that he felt the increase in mobile devices would reduce the amount of physical exercise youth got and would harm future kids in that way. The father stated that it would not harm future generations, claiming progress is defined by efficiency and making life easier, and as technology makes it possible to add more and more features to phones the quality of life would improve. The mother however stated that while adding more “features” to phones would not harm future generations, the “always connected” mentality today’s and tomorrows youths are starting to possess would be harmful. She stated if people were always accessible there would be a loss of privacy or self worth and an increased level of stress in being constantly connected to the world that isn’t there when life is not as 24/7/365.
Nearly identical responses were given when asked about mobile marketing, and the responses seem to mirror how individuals feel about marketing in general. Consumers were asked how they felt about mobile advertising overall. The male college student claimed that it didn’t bother him IF it allowed for free applications or lower costs of services. The female college student acknowledged that if she signed up for the marketing it was ok, if not, she did not want to be bothered. The athlete said he felt ok with it and saw nothing wrong with the application of it. The father was “VERY anti-spam” however felt it would be ok to include marketing in with other features or mobile web services. The mother stated that advertising in traditional media was acceptable however did not want any ads sent to her phone, even saying she would sign up for the national do not call list.
Most consumers do not yet have a smart phone but are very familiar with texting on their mobile devices and consider it the primary means of communication after phone calls. As consumers adapt to faster and faster technology they will begin to adapt into other media means of communication such as picture, video and streaming messaging. Currently 3G services are the exception not the standard, however in the next year to two years as phones begin to catch up to the current standard of home Internet individuals will utilize more and more bandwidth intensive services. The expansion of the mobile medium will follow the expansion of home Internet in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The main difference being the location content is viewed in and the size of the screens it is viewed upon. The most important facts learned from this assignment are that if consumers have technology they feel they know how to use, and are comfortable using then the only step that the marketer has to overcome is getting the consumer to sign up for the marketing plan. Most consumers are ok with advertising on their mobile devices if they sign up for it – which isn’t only public sentiment but is also the law in America.
The way the industry seems to be going, the mobile device is as here to stay as the Dallas Cowboys and apple pie, out of the three if we could only have one, personally - I like football and my cell phone, but apple pie wins hands down every time.
