The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has completed a Mobile Attitude and Usage Study to identify key market trends, mobile subscriber usage patterns, and success metrics for mobile marketing. The research is designed to provide a profile of mobile usage and early indicators of receptiveness to mobile marketing efforts

Conducted in partnership with Synovate, this is the second year that selected Western European markets have been studied. Over 2500 mobile phone users were surveyed with an online survey in the following countries: UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Ireland. Within each country, there were at least 100 interviews in each of the following age segments: 13 to 17, 18 to 34, 35 to 54, 55 and older.

The survey reveals a lot about the usage of advance phone features, and the differences between countries and age groups.

Feature Usage Varies By Age

Looking at the main phone features that people use shows a strong variation by age, although the camera is consistently the most used ‘feature’ (clearly this is not including basic voice functions).

Ireland Most Active for SMS and Mobile Web

As expected, SMS usage is very common, with over 50% using it on a daily or weekly basis. The country numbers varied greatly, from 39% in France up to 71% in Ireland.

Mobile web usage is much lower, with only about 20% having used it, and 9% using it on a daily or weekly basis. Once again, users in Ireland were much more active, with 42% users and 21% using on a daily or weekly basis.

Many users are receptive to mobile marketing

Overall, about 1/3 of users are at least moderately receptive to mobile marketing, although the number that said they are highly interested is only about 7%. The interest was greatest in Spain, Italy, and Ireland, and lowest in the UK.

The study also looked at what type of mobile marketing activity was most attractive to people. As the chart below shows, those types of mobile marketing that directly benefited the consumer were most popular – with mobile coupons and receiving status alerts at the top of the list. The least favorite – simply receiving an ad for a product or service.

Conclusions

The study wraps up with these 4 conclusions:

• Strong opportunity exists to grow mobile marketing efforts in Western Europe.
• Ireland, Italy and Spain represent strong target markets for mobile marketing.
• The success of mobile marketing campaigns would be enhanced by targeting the Youth Market.
• Marketers should concentrate on messages that have a clear answer to “what’s in it for me?”

The full study is available to members of the MMA.