Emerging Mobile Elite Demands Personalisation And Convenience

Millennials and Generation Xers want to lead a mobile-first life, says the “2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report.” Brands can win them over with simple-to-use engaging mobile services.

The mobile elite expects brands to be personalised and convenient in their mobile-first lives. What’s more, they are blazing a trail for those who want to lead a mobile-first life and others will soon follow the trend.

With seven in eight mobile launches coming from a smartphone and more than nine in 10 users revealing it’s their primary mobile device, the smartphone is no longer a channel that can be viewed in isolation. The device is so pervasive in customers’ lives, it is, instead, the means through which marketers can improve customer journeys by concentrating on making interactions with their brands convenient, personalised, and quantifiable, through metrics which measure ROI.

That is the key message of the “2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report,” which sought opinion from 4,000 mobile consumers across the U.S, the U.K, France, and Germany. It details the emergence of a mobile elite, led by millennials and Generation Xers, who are calling out for more personalised mobile services offering a deeper level of functionality than that with which baby boomers and the over-70s currently appear comfortable. It also shows how U.S. and U.K. consumers are leaders, with France and Germany lagging slightly behind the adoption curve in trusting and enjoying mobile websites and applications.

The mobile elite forms 20% of the market, yet accounts for 80% of brand interactions on mobile, and so it is important marketers pay attention to its members and the millennial and Generation X demographics from which it is mostly drawn. Recognising these key users allows marketers to understand how they differ from older, more conservative consumers and, at the same time, shows the trends into which they need to be tapping.

Financial Services

The degree to which millennials and GenXers are more comfortable with mobile and expect to do more through the channel is underlined by how they want to interact with their banks and brokerage services.

While all generations are happy to do simple tasks, such as balance checks, on a mobile, 22% of millennials and 14% of Generation X want to be able to apply for new accounts and products through a mobile, compared to 2% of boomers and no one from the over-70s market.

Clearly, account generation for younger, more mobile-savvy customers should be a priority for financial services providers.

Travel

There are also geographical differences in markets, possibly due to maturity, which are best seen in travel.

Overall, four-fifths of consumers are comfortable with and committed to checking reviews and researching destinations on mobile. However, while two in three American and British consumers (68% and 65% respectively) will happily book travel and hotels online, that proportion drops significantly to just over one in three in France and Germany (38% and 39%).

The differences seen in travel are not just regional, but also reflect demographics. Millennials and Generation X members are far more likely to engage in deeper travel services, such as checking itineraries and accessing maps. They are also twice as likely to be guided by customer reviews and they rate personalisation of travel service to be three times more important than older mobile users.

Clearly, booking travel and accommodation is very important to U.S. and U.K. mobile users, and brands need to be aware that younger users across all four markets attach a lot of weight to user reviews and also expect a more personalised service.

Retail

With mcommerce, there is a clear distinction shown in the Adobe report between where consumers browse and where they purchase.

Two in three like to research on mobile websites but just over half (57%) prefer to make a purchase through an app. Clearly then, marketers need to ensure their mobile websites and apps make it convenient for customers to seamlessly transition from research to purchase.

In fact, convenience is the prime motivator for mobile shoppers and so brands are reminded to keep content minimal and simple. Hence shoppable hotspots—where pictures of products can be clicked on to add the item to a basket—is a new technology that comes highly recommended in the report; one retailer claims it led to a 100% leap in conversion rates.

Interestingly, more than four in five (83%) of consumers in the U.S. and U.K, 72% in Germany, and 69% in France believe mobile wallets are more convenient than traditional debit and credit cards. This represents a huge opportunity for brands to convert customers both in-store and on mobile, particularly younger consumers, who are more likely to research products in-store and order them via a smartphone while still inside the retailer’s building.

What Does It All Mean?

The overarching finding across the four markets and four key demographic targets is that if brands build engaging, simple-to-use, personalised mobile services, consumers will follow.

While some may be further along the adoption curve, the mobile elite, comprised of millennials and GenXers, is showing an appetite to deepen their engagement with brands that empower them to lead mobile-first lives. Where they lead, baby-boomers and then the over-70s are likely to follow.

This means brands must reimagine seamless customer journeys built around the mobile phone, in which convenience and personalisation are the guiding philosophies.

Click here to view details of the “2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report” on SlideShare. Download the full report here.