Harris Interactive conducted an online survey, commissioned by Placecast, in May of this year to research consumer receptivity to opt-in mobile marketing. Here are the highlights:
- One-third of Americans who currently have signed up for mobile marketing alerts indicate that such services impact their decision to go into stores and 27% report that such programs have impacted their decision to buy products in physical retail locations.
- Compared with the results of the previous survey in the summer of 2009, overall consumer interest in such programs increased with “somewhat interested” consumers growing by 2% to 28% of all mobile phone owners.
- Interest is most pronounced among the youngest mobile phone owners: 42% of those ages 18 – 34 are at least somewhat interested. Interest grew 6 points to 40% among women ages 18 – 34 from the survey conducted in 2009. Both men and women have about equal interest levels.
- Groceries (68%), national restaurant chains (64%) and fast food items (50%) took three of the top four most popular segments. Women skewed higher than men when it came to interest in offers/promotions for groceries and apparel, while men skewed higher in interest for electronics and sporting goods products.
- As for the inclusion of location to the mix, 37% of those who have opted to receive text alerts thought location-based texts could be useful, 29% thought they would be interesting and 24% thought they could be more relevant and innovative.
Finally, if you wonder, the survey was conducted online within the United States from May 17-19, among 2,046 U.S. adults ages 18+ of whom 1,710 own a mobile phone.