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'Favorite' Brands Not Yet Hip to Mobile

Some 83% of US consumers say their favorite brand has yet to market to them via their mobile phone, even though 37% say they would be interested in participating in a mobile customer loyalty program from a brand they trust, according to (pdf) recent research by Hipcricket.

Despite this apparent lack of mobile marketing by ‘preferred’ brands, however, the firm’s second-annual mobile marketing study did find that mobile campaigns are becoming more prevalent and memorable.

HipCricket noted that 34% of survey respondents had received a mobile marketing offer via text message (up from 28% last year). Among them, 47%  have brand recall and 94% of those remember the specific call to action.

Text Messaging Has Strong Influence

The survey also revealed the continued influence of text messaging/SMS as both a communications and marketing tool. Aside from phone calls, 73% of respondents say they use their mobile device most for texting friends.

Mobile Web Important Info Source

At the same time, the mobile web continues to gain momentum as an increasingly important information resource for consumers. Key findings:

• 85% of respondents agree that the mobile web is a valuable source for information that
  interests them.
• 21% of respondents access the mobile Web at least once per day and 37 percent access it
  at least once per week
• 41% of respondents have visited a retailer’s website from their mobile phone.
• The most popular reasons for visits to retailer websites are to find store locations (70%), to find store hours (51%), to get directions (39%) and to look for coupons/promotions (29%).

Hipcricket believes that the research results indicate a growing consumer interest in mobile marketing and customer loyalty programs. This, in turn, is spawning significant, but largely untapped, opportunity for brands to connect with customers on mobile devices.

“With consumer interest in mobile marketing continuing to steadily increase, it’s clear that now is the time for brands to launch and execute their mobile strategy and programs,” said Scott Debson, HipCricket’s VP of brand solutions. of Brand Solutions. “Mobile initiatives are succeeding because they connect demand from the consumer with high levels of recall.”

About the study: The 2009 HipCricket Mobile Marketing Survey is a national survey designed to provide insight into consumer attitudes toward mobile marketing and mobile behavior. The survey was conducted in
September 2009 via email and is based on 511 respondents.