Global mobile research on the smartphone user and the mobile marketer from the MMA and Google

(6/17/2011) This post has been updated with the link to the full presentation given at the MMA Forum on Thursday

Today, in collaboration with the Mobile Marketing Association, we shared the initial findings from an exciting global research initiative at the MMA Forum in New York City. The research, “Global Mobile Research: The Smartphone User & The Mobile Marketer”, was conducted by Ipsos GmbH and TNS Infratest and sought to better understand mobile usage trends and business’ readiness for mobile marketing strategies.  The study was comprised of two surveys: an online survey of thousands of mobile consumers in 30 countries, and the other, a telephone survey of 1,000 marketing decision makers, 200 in five key markets. Today we presented a subset of the data which focused on five countries: US, UK, France, Germany and Japan.  Here are just a few of the key findings.

We gained some new insights about global smartphone user behavior:

Smartphones are a frequently used gateway to the web:

• A significant number of smartphone users accessed the internet via their smartphone every day of the past seven days: US-58%, UK-55%, France-59%, Germany-45%, Japan-78%
• And many users go online via their smartphones multiple times a day: US-53%, UK-49%, France-47%, Germany-42%, Japan-68%

Smartphone users are engaging in a variety of activities on their phone:

• Smartphone users have looked for local information on their mobile devices: US-90%, UK-81%, France-83%, Germany-85%, Japan-90%
• And these local information seekers have taken action after looking up local content: US-87%, UK-80%, France-83%, Germany-79%, Japan-80%

The smartphone is playing a critical role in shopping:

• Across the board, consumers are using their smartphone while in a store: US-82%, UK-68%, France-82%, Germany-65%, Japan-75%
• Not only are smartphone users using their mobile phones while shopping, they are also making purchases on their mobile device: US-29%, UK-28%, France-17%, Germany-28%, Japan-45%

We also gained some directional visibility into the mobile activities of marketing decision makers:

• Only a fraction of businesses in the five countries report having mobile optimized sites: US-33%, UK-17%, France-12%, Germany-37%, Japan-43%

• Fewer than a third of businesses surveyed have an app: US-19%, UK-15%, France-18%, Germany-26%, Japan-10%
• Mobile commerce strategies of the businesses we spoke with primarily target upper funnel activities: 65% reported that their mobile strategy targets the research phase of the shopping process

While the mobile revolution is moving at different speeds across the globe, it is evident everywhere.  This research underscored how consumers are using their mobile devices to access the web, look for local information, and purchase products and services.  Businesses seem to be lagging behind the consumer in terms of use and support of mobile marketing which represents a significant opportunity.

The full presentation is available here. In the coming months we will be releasing additional data and insights from other countries surveyed as part of this project.

Posted by: Natalie Rojowsky, Google Mobile Ads Research

Global mobile research on the smartphone user and the mobile marketer from the MMA and Google
Rating: 100% based on 975 ratings. 91 user reviews.