Consumer Attitudes and Gender

5.4 Consumer Attitudes and Gender

According to Haghirian and Madleberger (2008), male consumers show a more favorable attitude towards mobile ads than female consumers. As in the previous case, once I came upon this claim, my interest in the issue was spurred. As a result, I wanted to see whether there is a difference in attitude between the two genders. Yet again, the fact must be mentioned that it would have been preferred to have an equal number of both females and males to have a more sound comparison. Nonetheless, I believe that even in this situation (40 males and 74 females), we will be able to paint a picture of the issue and draw some conclusions.

Following the same pattern that was applied in the previous section, we will examine each step of the consumer’s decision-making process for the two groups. With regard to awareness, it is a well known fact by now that it is high, with the exception of three people which in this case have all been identified to be female. Although the number of the two groups is unbalanced, when it comes to the level of interest displayed towards mobile marketing, the percentage seems to be the same for their respective number. More exactly, slightly less than half of each group has actually taken an interest in mobile marketing.

Moreover, since we know from the general results that many of the respondents have experienced SMS marketing in particular without searching any information about it, it was natural for the number of females and males with experience to be slightly higher than the ones with. According to the statistics, 57% of the male group has experienced mobile marketing as opposed to 60% of the females. At a first glance, these may seem to be decent numbers but it must once again be mentioned that some of them have only dealt with spam messages and most of them have only dealt with SMS marketing.

Overall, the male group regards mobile marketing in the following way: 13 are adopters, 25 rejecters and 2 are neutralists while the female segment has 29 adopters, 35 rejecters and 10 neutralists. Furthermore, the general attitude of the former has been established to be 25% in favor of mobile marketing and 75% against as opposed to 35% for the females and 65% respectively. Thus, according to the results of this particular study, it can be concluded that males do not show a more favorable attitude towards mobile marketing since in both cases the majority of the group perceives it in a negative way. This means that the results do not confirm the claim that has started it all, Haghirian and Madleberger’s (2008) own conclusion regarding gender and mobile advertising.

We have seen that SMS marketing has been around the longest since at the beginning of the 2000’s studies were being carried out about it. However, most marketers’, journalists’ and pundits’ praise for it started after the smartphone introduction to the market precisely because with it, more interactive ways of marketing via a mobile device were now possible. And it is these interactive ways that those who have written on the issue think that it could make the consumer deem mobile marketing fresh and fun and consequently be more open to the concept of marketing. And being more open means wanting to collaborate with companies or organizations more. Thus it can be seen what potential for positive change (for the business world at least) mobile marketing has. But, having already discussed the low percentage of experience for the other types of mobile marketing (see figure 4.), it is clear that the two sides, the respondents and the business world have different views on it and different attitudes to it. Perhaps it is this interactivity of the service that caused many people to make those claims about the younger consumers and mobile marketing and males and mobile marketing. The reality of this questionnaire however is simple: mobile marketing has failed to appeal to most of the respondents.

The purpose of this research was to carry out an exploratory study on mobile marketing. The chosen topic has been investigated from the point of view of the consumer so as to gain an understanding of their perspectives on the issue. The investigation is not the first of its kind nor will it be the last. Ideally, every piece of research should complement and expand existing research. I believe this research study manages to do it by focusing on eight types of mobile marketing rather than one or a few as is usually the case. It combines the old aspects of the service with the new ones and the results of the questionnaire offer insight on the relation between each of them and the respondents. In the end, they all contribute to the painting of a general picture involving the issue under discussion.

6.1 Answering the Problem Formulation:

The problem formulation of this research study was “To what extent does the mobile phone provide a novel marketing channel and how do consumers react to a proposed change in the way they are marketed to?” With regard to the first part of this question, the theory selected and presented in the fourth chapter provided a solid answer. Firstly, it was reported that mobile marketing offers the consumer the fastest access to information. Since people have their mobile phones with them everywhere they go, the information can reach them in no time in two different ways. If there is Internet on the mobile device, then they can for instance, on a 2-hour bus ride, access the webpage of their favorite brand and find out the latest news. Or, they can choose to have relevant information sent directly to their mobile phone to which they have access immediately since they almost always carry it with them. This way, they no longer have to wait to receive catalogs for information or wait until they got home to access the Internet. If coupled with the idea of location, then information can reach them when they are in the vicinity of the nearest store of that specific brand and it can be easily reacted upon.

In addition, it was also specified that mobile marketing offers time-efficient solutions. If the right information reaches consumers via mobile and they have the means to respond to it, then such a benefit is truly satisfying because it saves them time. More exactly, mobile marketing can enable people to make a purchase in a five minute coffee break as a result of a discount notification received, purchase that will arrive to their home without them having to go there. Mobile marketing provides these benefits better than any other type of marketing and they can only be attained if consumers choose to respond to it.

Furthermore, with regard to the second part of the problem formulation, the question is simple: how do consumers react to a proposed change in the way they are marketed to? In order to answer this, the first thing to do was to assess the respondents’ awareness with regard to mobile marketing. The results of the questionnaire showed that 98% of them were aware of mobile marketing. However, when breaking the service down to different types, it was revealed that some of them are more familiar to the respondents than others, especially SMS, MMS and apps. Thus, more promotion for the other types was suggested.

Going back to the answer for the aforementioned question, a first reaction for some of the respondents was, although aware of it, not to pursue the issue of mobile marketing any longer. For others, it was to search for more information about it. In statistics, this idea failed to appeal to 45% of them. Also a first reaction for some of the respondents was to directly experience mobile marketing without taking the time to find out more about it first. This aspect became noticeable as a higher number of respondents experienced SMS-marketing than searching for information about it.

Furthermore, a second reaction for the remaining respondents involved once again two scenarios. For some of them it implied deciding to not experience mobile marketing after taking an interest and becoming more knowledgeable on the issue. For others, the second reaction translated into direct experience with mobile marketing. Specifically, approximately half of the respondents experienced mobile marketing. Of them however, 92% experienced SMS-marketing in particular (some only SMS, others more types). The experience of the respondents with the other types of mobile marketing was reportedly low to extremely low, depending on the type. The issue of more promotion and implicitly, consumer education with regard to them was brought forth once again.

Moreover, these respondents’ third reaction coincided with the second reaction of those who experienced it first. Irrespective of the timing, both of them implied making a choice or taking a stand: adoption or rejection. Based on all these reactions that stand behind their activities, the following perspectives on mobile marketing were identified: 9 loyalists, 18 hostages, 15 aspirants, 25 defectors, 12 newcomers and 25 avoiders. From this piece of information, the respondents’ attitudes were inferred and the conclusion reached was that 2% have a neutral attitude, 32% a positive one and 66% a negative one.

In addition, the respondents’ reaction to mobile marketing was also assessed based on what they said with regard to mobile marketing (benefits, cons), on their age and gender. The results showed a disparity in their attitudes based on their activities and on their words. With regard to age, the claim that younger consumers have a more favorable attitude towards mobile marketing was not confirmed in this research study, nor was the claim that males have a more positive attitude towards it than females. Although in statistics the reactions of each of these segments was obviously not exactly the same, neither differentiated itself from the other by a wide margin to suggest otherwise.

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