Youth Demo Has Highest Adoption to Mobile Marketing

Consumer interest in mobile marketing campaigns continues to increase, according to the “MMA Annual Mobile Marketing Effectiveness” research released by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). The highest interest in messaging on the channel comes from the youth segment.

Awareness and interest in marketing on mobile devices has increased overall as consumers become more comfortable with their mobile devices’ features and functionality. Consumers use an average of 4.8 features on their handsets. An overall increase in wireless phone usage over the past year was reported by 48 percent of respondents.

“I think what we’re beginning to see is that the older demographic is learning to communicate better through their mobile devices,” Laura Marriott, executive director of the MMA and ClickZ columnist told ClickZ Stats.

Text messaging is used by 69 percent of respondents, and 44 percent use it to communicate on a daily basis. Daily texting is up from 41 percent of respondents in 2005. Mobile marketing services preferred by respondents include downloads, coupons, and alert-based services.

“It is definitely the promotions-type initiatives, promotional sweepstakes and voting, that help consumers understand the device and gain greater usage,” Marriott said.

Voting campaign participation increased from 8 percent in the 2005 study to 29 percent in 2006 among respondents who have participated in mobile marketing campaigns.

“From ’05 to ’06 we saw a larger number of campaigns deployed,” said Marriott. “We saw a lot more campaigns engage consumers in voting, which did incredibly well.”

The MMA partnered with research firm Synovate to conduct its annual survey. Over 1,800 consumers aged 13 to 65 took part. The research measures perceptions and usage for wireless and text messaging and overall receptiveness and participation in mobile marketing initiatives.