Buying Buzz
Imagine walking into a shopping centre and instantly being notified of where the sales are via an SMS on your mobile phone. Mobile or m-marketing research by UQ Business School PhD student Lynda Andrews showed consumers formed three major clusters based on the way mobile phones fitted into their life.
Mobile Pragmatists viewed their phones as functional tools, as opposed to status symbols.
Mobile Connectors perceived their mobiles as a way to connect them to others and others to them.
Mobile Revellers saw their phones as highly integrated parts of their everyday lives.
Ms Andrews said SMS-based marketing approaches clearly needed to be tailored towards customer perceptions.
“The same marketing approaches appeal, but the strategies involved are different depending on the characteristics of the cluster,” she said.Ms Andrews’ research combined interviews and analysis requiring subjects to sort two groups of statements according to their opinion of their phone. The study formed the first in a three-study research program.
“In the second study I asked for information about the kinds of emotions respondents experienced,” she said. “This helped reinforce my findings that there is an emotional dimension to the way phones are used.”
