Mobile Marketing Consumer Response is Heavily Influenced by Incentives, According to Survey

While most consumers� initial reactions to marketing and advertising messages on their mobile phone can often be negative, a recent survey from ABI Research finds that their level of responsiveness can often be improved through incentives. In fact, approximately 37% of those who have received text message-based advertising have indicated they are more likely to respond to advertising in a text-based marketing message if they are offered an incentive such as a retail coupon or free song or ringtone, compared with only 11% who indicated that such incentives would not have any impact.

�We think that in general, advertisers and operators must tread carefully when delivering marketing messages to a consumer�s mobile handset, especially given that many subscribers believe they are paying a significant amount of money for their mobile services,� says research director Michael Wolf. �However, we believe that marketing and advertising messaging that is properly crafted and that utilizes incentives could enjoy more acceptance on the part of the consumer.�

Incentives that received the most positive response in an ABI Research study were real-world discounts and coupons for retail storefronts. In fact, over 60% of those who were either neutral or open to potential text message marketing nominated a discount coupon at a local retailer as the incentive they would most likely respond to. The next most popular incentives were free ringtones and songs.

�As more content and applications move through both messaging systems and browsers, advertisers are going to need to consider how best to package advertising,� said Wolf. �We believe that most consumers will ultimately be amenable to limited marketing on their mobile phones, particularly that which is non-intrusive, targeted, and that can bring them some kind of value in the form of both real-world and digital media-based incentives.�

ABI Research�s recent study Mobile Marketing and Advertising presents in-depth analysis of the major areas of mobile marketing, including mobile messaging-based marketing, mobile web (including both text and banner), mobile search, mobile game advertising, and mobile video advertising.