Consumers gain confidence in mobile purchases and they are moving beyond micropayments on iTunes, study suggests

New research carried out by performance marketing specialists Intela has found that consumer willingness to purchase goods and services over their mobile devices has increased in the past year, with a half of UK smartphone owners now happy to spend more than £10 on their mobile. Similarly, 56% of American smartphone owners are happy to spend $10 on their mobile.

The ‘Intela Mobile Consumer Report 2013’, which polled 1,000 UK and 1,000 US smartphone owners, shows the positive impact of the ‘iTunes effect’ , which has encouraged consumers to make regular micropayments for music or apps over mobile builds. Not only this, but the research also finds they are now ready to move beyond these minimal payments and are prepared to make more significant and larger mobile purchases. Businesses invested in the M-commerce space will be encouraged to learn that almost one in two US consumers (44%) and 40% of Brits are now more likely to make a purchase over their mobile device compared to a year ago.

Despite the recent attention mobile display ad formats have attracted, thanks to innovations such as real-time bidding, the findings found that M-commerce promotions which make use of mobile display, fail to influence to consumer purchasing decisions. In fact, the research identified that e-mail optimised for mobile is the key trigger for one in three Americans (36%) and one in four UK consumers (27%) – driving them to action and to make a mobile purchase. In contrast banner ads on mobile sites proved to resonate just one per cent UK smartphone owners, however no US smartphone owners highlighted these as effective in eliciting responses from them.

Guénolé Le Gall, Head of Mobile, Intela said, “Waves of innovation in smartphone technology has meant mobile commerce is finally becoming a tangible reality for consumer facing businesses. In line with this, we can expect the mobile channel to be the subject of increased performance for advertisers and marketers. As people get more dependent on their devices, mobile commerce’s prominence will grow – just as E-commerce did as online technologies improved.”

The ‘Intela Mobile Consumer Report 2013’ also reveals that the most popular purchases smartphone owners make on their mobile are for retail goods, with 40 per cent of UK and 47% of smartphone owners most likely to purchase these over anything else. Over one in five (22%) UK smartphone owners and 39% of US smartphone owners would redeem offers or make purchases relating to lifestyle and entertainment products and services. Offers relating to travel would prompt 17% of British and 23% of US smartphone owners to make a purchase over their mobile device.

Le Gall continued, “Generally people decide to make purchases for two reasons, the first being urgent need and the second, irrational passion. Mobile performance marketing responds particularly well to the ‘irrational passion’ mind-set, tapping into people’s aspirations, such as wanting a holiday or the latest gadget. For businesses wishing capitalise on the rising tide of M-commerce but still remain cautious about investing in the space, mobile performance marketing represents a win-win situation. Firstly, mobile performance marketing solutions have proved to be effective at garnering responses from consumers and more importantly, businesses only have to pay for secured leads or tangible results that are generated on the back of mobile performance campaigns.”