Study: Minutes, money attract mobile users

Marketers wanting to create a bigger buzz around their products might want to pay attention to a new study from Harris Interactive. According to the study, giving mobile users choices when it comes to advertising is the best way to encourage them to watch the ads.

by Kristina Knight

According to the study only about 35% of mobile users are at all interested in receiving ads through their PDAs or phones. However, giving users choices when it comes to ads increases the willingness to watch them. Researchers found that giving users the option to opt out of ads increased the willingness to receive them by 66%. Other considerations that improved ad watching include: choosing the type of ad (56%), choosing the number of ads in a specific time period (48%), targeting ads according to an interest list (43%), giving mobile plan discount for watching ads (42%), and choosing when ads would be received (40%).

Researchers also found that 78% of users would watch an ad for cash and 63% would watch for additional free cell minutes.

What this indicates is that relevance of an ad - targeting ads according to users past behavior or according to a questionnaire that users fill out - and the cost of the ad to the user are crucial parts of every mobile campaign. Since cell plans work on the minutes system, offering cash or additional minutes in exchange for watching an ad is a good way for marketers to convert new customers.