Background
The growth of Wi-Fi and mobile internet has created a culture of ‘always on’ consumers, whose expectations of constant access to the internet has encouraged the belief that we have finally reached the much heralded M-Age, a digital nirvana in which everything from social interaction to shopping and mobile payments, can be handled online and on the move. Mobile internet is set to reshape the way organisations communicate with customers and is becoming the biggest driver of consumer change in the next 5 to 10 years. This major new study analyses the evolving behaviour of mobile users in the
UK and how it is being affected by the exponential rise of mobile applications and services.
Two years ago mobile internet usage had grown to 24% of the UK adult population, with almost half of these using it daily. At that time, it was predicted that 48% of the population would be regular users of mobile internet by 2014, although adoption rates have continued to increase and these forecasts look like being met earlier. This project will explain how your brand can make the most from mobile internet: exploring emerging behaviours, explaining the impact of these changes and charting the future opportunities for your brand.
Objectives
All funding partners can input into the objectives and provide specific questions. All have the opportunity to input into the design of the research at every stage.
1. Current use and behaviour
• Explain current use of mobile internet, considering customers’ needs and expectations – what applications and content are people using and why?
• Explain who is using mobile internet and what their primary use of it is; create behavioural typologies to group consumers in a commercially realistic and understandable way:
- Based on learning and motivations to use
- Priorities and needs
- Styles of use
• What are the barriers to using mobile internet? How significant are they?
• How is mobile internet used to discover or share content such as video, films, trailers or music? How important is this source compared to others?
• Examine social networking across mobiles.
• Examine the level of importance, attachment and emotional connection that customers have with their mobile devices and why this makes them the most valuable ‘brand real estate’ of all.
• Examine the influence and use of mobiles in different contexts and situations – travel, home, social, work – explaining the implications for advertising, service and retail on organisations’ mobile strategies.
2. Commerce and m-commerce
• Explore the role of mobile internet during purchase decisions – at home, at the point of sale and on the move. Is the role primarily one of comparison, widening choice or actually making the purchase?
• How significant are the barriers and security concerns associated with purchasing via mobiles? How will this impact the growth of m-commerce?
• Explore the motivations and barriers to adoption of mobile wallets and mobile payment systems – are they likely to be adopted? If so, how fast and by who? How influential will mobile payments be in the future? What do customers expect from them?
3. Connectivity
• Now that mobile internet is central to customers’ lives, how important is connectivity to customers? How high are their expectations of brands that supply mobile-based services?
• Where connection fails, even for a short time, what impact does this frustration have on the customer experience and which brand is affected (device, operator, telco, service, etc.)?
• Which connection types do customers value most Wi-Fi or 3G? How do customers perceive each connection type and how does it influence their use of mobile internet?
• Explore the impact of cloud computing on consumer behaviour? Do people actively choose devices based on access to cloud storage? What is the consumer perception of cloud storage? Do they perceive it to be secure? What are the barriers to its adoption?
4. Pace of change
• Chart and predict the likely pace of change in the future:
- Compare use and behavioural changes over the last 2 years, since the last time this study was conducted.
- By creating behavioural typologies of consumers, explain the speed at which mobile internet is being adopted and how use will change in the next 2 years.
- Consider how new mobile devices such as tablets and mobile consoles impact consumption and use of internet on the move.
