The location-based realm is an emerging, exciting place to be for marketers. However, there's much work to be done and the way forward may be paved by text alerts and recommendations.
While smart phones are all the rage, all signs point to those good old “dumb” phones, or feature phones, still being held in the majority of U.S. consumers' hands. A recent ExactTarget study found that 58 percent of U.S. Internet users had a feature phone, while just 31 percent had a smart phone.
“That means a large swathe of mobile users cannot be reached by more sophisticated mobile marketing efforts like sponsored apps, in-app ads or campaigns on the mobile web,” according to eMarketer.
According to a Placecast survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, U.S. consumers are warmer to the idea of getting mobile marketing alerts today than they were last year.
One-third of consumers who are signed up for mobile marketing alerts say those services have impacted their decision to head to certain stores, while 27 percent say that such programs have impacted their purchase decisions in physical retail locations.
The survey found that 28 percent of cell phone owners said they were somewhat interested in location-based mobile marketing and advertising campaigns, up 2 percentage points from the summer of 2009.
Consumers under the age of 35 expressed the most interest, with 42 percent saying they are interested in receiving mobile text alerts from marketers. This interest wanted with older age groups.
Most of the respondents (68 percent) expressed interest in receiving such alerts from groceries, followed by national restaurant chains (46 percent) and fast-food items (50 percent).
Women expressed more interest in groceries and apparel, while men expressed more interest in electronics and sporting goods.
Thirty-seven percent of consumers who receive text alerts think location-based texts could be useful, while 29 percent thought the prospect was interesting and 24 percent said they thought these texts could be more relevant and innovative.
On the other hand, 35 percent said their attitude toward location-based alerts would depend on the offers, while 27 percent said they do not like the idea and 24 percent said they wouldn't want to receive these often (i.e., more than once a week).
“I think now that more data is becoming available to retailers, more exciting and valuable programs will be created now that the technology and market receptivity is there,” said Alistair Goodman, CEO of Placecast.
Mike Melanson, a writer for ReadWriteWeb, recently wrote a piece on where location-based services should head next. While services like Foursquare and Gowalla are fueled more by “ego rather than utility,” apps like Trapster and Camp & RV are showing how powerful and useful location-based ideas can be.
“The pairing of background location with real-time data and user preference is the next step for LBS services,” he writes. “While we're all busy worrying that the Internet is going to whittle our existence down into a series of 0s and 1s, it already has but we're missing out on the benefits. Apps that are careful to respect our privacy with appropriate settings could open the world of mobile technology up to the very real potential that's out there.”
Sources:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007782
http://www.vscconsulting.com/dev/clients/PressReleases/596/7.1.10_PlacecastHarris.pdf
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/lessons_from_mobile_blogging_the_future_of_lbs.php
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