InsightExpress: You’re either a Mobile Pioneer, Wannabe or Traditionalist

A new research from InsightExpress suggests that mobile consumers can be segmented into three distinct behavioral profiles: Mobile Pioneers, Mobile Wannabes and Mobile Traditionalists. This research, which surveyed 1,516 mobile device owners age 18+ in January 2008, indicates that when it comes to usage, two ends of the mobile spectrum exist.

• The Mobile Pioneer (15% of the market) is ahead of his peers in terms of mobile behavior and uses advanced features weekly. The majority of this group are under 35 years old, one third of them have a smartphone, and they skew male, single and minority.
• The Mobile Wannabe (25% of the market) has tried some advanced features and would like to use them more. Less than half are under 35, and only 5% own a smartphone.
• The Mobile Traditionalists (60% of the market) use their mobiles for phone calls and texting, and two thirds of them are over 35 years old.

InsightExpress’ study goes even further suggesting that:

• 62% of Mobile Pioneers had sent a text message to someone in the same room, compared to 39% of Wannabes and 26% of Traditionalists.
• 57% of Pioneers had taken a picture of a product using their phone and sent it to someone to get an opinion, compared to 30% of Wannabes and 16% of Traditionalists.
• 79% of Pioneers had taught someone else how to use their mobile phone features, while Wannabes were not far behind with 65% having done so.
• All three groups stated that they had added ICE (In Case of Emergency) to their phone’s contact list (35% of Pioneers, 25% of Wannabes and 22% of Traditionalists).

So the new technology flow goes like this – Pioneers set the trends, while the Wannabes popularize them! Advertisers should be interested in individuals from these two groups because they are more likely to agree that:

• Most advertising is relevant to them
• They believe that products that are advertised are a lot better than ones that are not advertised at all
• Advertising keeps them up-to-date on products they would like to have
• They have told someone about an advertisement they liked

More information is available on InsightExpress’s website.