Dive Brief:
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Most Americans are on their smartphones a lot: 97% click on news, weather, or sports and 87% engage on social media and use geolocation at least weekly, according to a report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, “Mobile advertising: What do U.S. consumers want?”. A majority also use GPS, play games, and conduct financial transactions.
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Despite this heavy use, 73% of those surveyed were somewhat or extremely unwilling to share personal info on their phones. Even young folk — 50% of 18-to-24 year olds and 61% of 25-to-34 year olds — don’t want to be targeted and find mobile ads frustrating and annoying.
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The study included 1,003 smartphone users ages 21 through 49 and was conducted Oct. 15 to Nov. 15, 2013.
Dive Insight:
This survey has a strong takeaway: Mobile is not the web. Most likely, we'll be seeing more findings along these lines. As mobile marketing advances, retailers will have all kinds of systems and products to target consumers, but great care must be taken. We're learning that Americans see their phones existing within a sphere of quite personal space, making mobile marketing a more touchy area than either the web nor even e-mail. Consumers believe that paid apps should be ad-free, they need mobile marketing to be highly relevant to them, and over-saturation gets annoying. Even younger people have expectations of privacy, respect, relevance, and control. In order for mobile marketing to be successful, retailers will have to exercise much more discipline than they have on the web, and launch m-commerce campaigns with a high regard for consumers’ sense of space.