Mobile Marketing: Corp. Plans Don’t Make Sense

Last month, researchers at the International University of Japan released a report detailing surprising conclusions about consumer behavior and usage of mobile networks. “Business mouths are watering at the opportunity for location-based marketing,” says professor Philip Sidel of the International University of Japan. But it ain’t necessarily so, and Sidel states: “We believe that previous authors have adopted a much too simple framework for ‘contextual marketing’.” His exhaustive research offers surprising results to those who would sell via cell

Comments from Wireless Watch Japan Editor-in-Chief Daniel Scuka:

In the report, “The Emergence of Context: Consumer Behavior on the Mobile Internet,” Professor Philip Sidel, Dr. Glen Mayhew, and co-workers at IUJ’s Graduate School of International Management found that traditional assumptions concerning access of content and services via mobile phones may be incorrect.

Specifically, it has long been thought that consumers access the wireless Internet - to surf the Web, make mobile commerce transactions, or download for-fee content and services like ring tones, news, and mail - based on factors such as type of content, location, and time of day. Professor Sidel also points out that previous researchers have stressed the importance of customer demographics or psychographics - implying that mobile marketing should be segmented by, for example, age, as is non-mobile marketing.

For example, it has been assumed that when a cell phone user enters a particular part of a city, she would like to receive a coupon for restaurants, shops, or services available in that area.

To test these assumptions, the researchers conducted a large-scale survey in October 2002 in conjunction with Yokohama-based iShare, Inc., a subsidiary of anonymous email provider Club BBQ. The survey asked questions specifically targeted at understanding how time, location, and content interact to influence usage of the mobile Internet.

For example, it has been assumed that when a cell phone user enters a particular part of a city, she would like to receive a coupon for restaurants, shops, or services available in that area.

The survey appears to be one of the more comprehensive efforts to date, and sampled 250,000 mobile Internet users, with responses received from 47 prefectures and town wards across Japan; the 14,169 respondents (representing a 5.6 percent response rate) comprised all age brackets and professional categories.

Note that the survey did not necessarily comprise a complete subset of all Japanese mobile users. For example, only 28.4 percent of respondents were female, reflecting the ratio of females in Club BBQ’s membership. Nonetheless, the sample seems to have been sufficient to provide a good idea of usage trends, if not actual usage itself.

The survey found that differences in mobile Internet usage from the same locations over different parts of the day are common.

Also, the type of content accessed from specific locations often differs from expectations based on marginal location and content types. For example, when queried on “Mobile Content Access from the Work Bathroom,” more than twice as many respondents reported accessing banking and online trading services than expected, at 4.7 percent versus 1.5 percent. But overall, usage varied quite widely and differed based on time and other factors in addition to mere location.

In other words, it appears that it is not enough to merely assume the mobile user would, for example, always wish to receive a coupon for a particular department store upon entering that store. While this may be true at certain times (when the user intends to go shopping, for instance), at other times the user may not wish to receive the coupon - such as when entering the store merely to access a subway station in the basement while commuting to work. In this case, receipt of the coupon (and the corresponding data download fee) would, instead, be quite unwelcome. It appears that it is not enough to merely assume the mobile user would, for example, always wish to receive a coupon for a particular department store upon entering that store.

“While individual interactions are often [statistically] important, we find very few cases where the importance shows any clear pattern that could be used to develop a coherent strategic product or service offering,” said Sidel, speaking at the GLOCOM Platform Tokyo Forum on November 21, 2002.

Sidel says that previous authors have adopted a “much too simple” framework for contextual marketing. “Rather than content, location, and time of day being the primary descriptors of context, we propose a model that captures three key dimensions in the individual’s motivation for accessing the mobile Internet: location embrace, time usage, and information privacy,” he adds.

The survey report defines location embrace as the consumer’s desired degree of involvement with the current physical location, time usage as the consumer’s desired level of productivity for that moment in time, and information privacy as the consumer’s desired level of self-disclosure versus anonymity.

The academics state that these results merit additional study with a view to extending understanding of mobile usage.

“Location and time aren’t deep enough information,” says Sidel, adding “even if it’s the same time of day, they are a different person. I think providers of data-intensive 3G networks have to consider the customer and not the technology. We have to come back to how people behaviorally are approaching these types of devices and networks, and not get excited just because we have a big fat pipe.”"Location and time aren’t deep enough information,” says Sidel, adding “even if it’s the same time of day, they are a different person. I think providers of data-intensive 3G networks have to consider the customer and not the technology. We have to come back to how people behaviorally are approaching these types of devices and networks, and not get excited just because we have a big fat pipe.”