Internet Retailer: Smartphone owners like to scan and save, study finds

Originally published by Katie Deatsch in Internet Retailer.

Smartphone owners are realizing the power of the mobile app to both gather information about products and services and save, a new poll from Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies finds.

A poll of 1,491 U.S. adults finds of those who have used a smartphone app or mobile browser while shopping, 44% have used a bar code scanning app such as RedLaser or ShopSavvy that lets them compare prices and learn more about products and services in stores. 38% have used a discount or deal app such as those from Groupon or LivingSocial that offer deep discounts, typically on local goods.

Location-based shopping apps such as foursquare and shopkick came in last among the shopping-related apps mobile shoppers employed, with 13% reporting using them.

The research also finds nearly a quarter of smartphone owners use their devices to make a purchase. 23% of all adults polled who own smartphones say they have bought with the devices. Men buy more often from their smartphones than women at 27% and 19% respectively. By age, those under 35 buy via mobile the most at 28%, while 23% of those 35 to 49 do so and 10% of those 50 and over say they use their devices to make a purchase.

When it comes to the most popular device for purchasing, the iPhone ranks first with 41% of owners saying they buy with their iPhone. Android follows with 25%, while 11% of BlackBerry owners say they buy with their mobile device. More than 70% of iPhone owners use their device in some form while shopping, the highest percentage of any mobile device.

“Marketers, retailers and manufacturers need to stay ahead of the curve and proactively prepare and implement a mobile shopping plan,” the study says.

While it says marketers are just scratching the surface of mobile, it predicts a few trends for the future of mobile shopping. Some marketers may fight the ability to compare prices from smartphones in stores by offering store-branded goods that can’t be found anywhere else, by bundling products, or by having customers customize and build their own products, making it difficult to truly compare prices, the study states.

Others will embrace mobile apps and use them to improve the shopping experience by informing shoppers of pricing specials and key product benefits, by offering mobile shopping and wish lists, and by delivering rewards and broader and deeper product information via mobile.

“In all cases, retailers and manufacturers must prepare in-store associates to recognize mobile shoppers and empower them to address the inevitable questions about price, features and availability,” the study says.

 

Chief Marketer: Smartphones Get Heavy Use during Shopping: Study

Originally published by Brian Quinton in Chief Marketer.

More than half of smartphone users look to their phones for some kind of help while shopping, according to new research from market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey. And while the majority of those aren’t yet buying anything via smartphone, they are whipping out those phones closer than ever to the point of sale, giving marketers a new tool to use in converting to a purchase—and something new to worry about in fending off competition.

                             

The research, conducted in January among almost 1,500 U.S. consumers by CMB and iModerate Technologies, found that shoppers under 35 are much more likely than their older counterparts to use a smartphone while shopping. Among the under-35 crowds, 67% said they use their device while shopping, compared to 51% for those 35 to 49 and only 33% for those 50 and older.

Most often, two-thirds of respondents said, the take out those smartphones to do comparison sh0pping for products or services (66%), followed by finding the nearest store location (58%) and checking for available discounts (58%). Further down the list are reading online reviews (49%), studying up on a rival’s product or service (46%), checking stock availability (38%) or accessing a quick comparison of product/ service features (37%). Over the whole survey group, CMB found, only 23% have actually made a purchase via their smartphone.

These strategies vary somewhat by gender, with women much more likely to check for discounts (64% compared to 52% of men) and males more likely to read reviews than women (54% to 44%) and to compare features on a smartphone (42% to 32%).

The survey found that 41% of iPhone owners said they have made a purchase from their smartphone. That contrasts with 25% of Android users who said the same and only 11% for Blackberry users or those with other smartphone models.

Buying over a smartphone also varies by age and gender. Among those under 35, 28% have made a purchase over their phones. That rate drops to 23% for those 35 to 49 and to 10% for those 50 and over. More than a quarter of the men polled (27%) have bought via a smartphone, compared to under one-fifth (19%) of women.

As for what respondents are buying from their smartphones, the majority of transactions (46%) have been entertainment content, including music, movies and TV shows. But 39% of those polled have conducted banking over their smartphones, and 29% said they have bought electronics. A quarter of respondents (25%) reported that they have taken part in online auctions via their handsets, and almost as many said they have used their smartphones to book travel reservations or buy travel services (25%) or to buy apparel (23%). Only 8% of those surveyed said they had bought personal care products on a smartphone, and only 7% cited app purchases. Five percent said they had bought restaurant gift certificates or made food or beverage purchases using their smartphones, and 1% of respondents said they had bought automobiles.

By a large proportion, men outpaced women in buying electronics over their smartphones (44% compared to only 5%), while women were much more likely than men to have shopped for clothing (38% compared to 14%).

Asked what apps they were most likely to open when using their smartphones to shop, respondents most often cited scanner apps for 2D barcodes or QR codes (44%), followed by discount apps such as Groupon or LivingSocial (38%). And customer review apps such as the one from Consumer Reports (31%). Branded store apps were name by 26% of those polled, and 22% pointed to product comparison apps. Only 13% said they were likely to open geo-location apps such as Foursquare, Gowalla or Shopkick.

The survey found that female smartphone users are more likely than men to use discount apps (43% to 33%), and that men are somewhat more prone to use review apps than women (34% to 28%).

Smartphone ownership has grown in the last year and is expected to increase as prices come down and more mobile users trade up. A recent study by comScore found that there were now 65.8 million smartphone users in the U.S. in the three months ending in January 2011, an increase of 8% from the previous three-month period. And marketing research firm eMarketer has projected that smartphones will make up 43% of the U.S. market by 2015.

That makes understanding how to attract and retain smartphone users all the more crucial for shopper marketing, concludes the CMB survey. “Given the strong growth in smartphone ownership, everyone dependent on the in-store experience—from retail to product manufacturers—must take advantage of opportunities these devices provide for generating sales and improving the customer experience,” CMB senior consultant Jeff McKenna said in a release. “Along with designs for packaging, displays and signage, we will see smartphone-based communication as a necessary element of retail planning.”

The survey concludes that marketers can pursue one of two strategies in integrating smartphone shopping use. Those who want to attract such mobile shoppers can roll out useful branded applications that integrate features like shopping and wish lists, link to shopper rewards programs, or offer better, more detailed product information. Or they can make comparison shopping difficult by relying more heavily on store-branded products or creating bundles of branded products that other retailers might not match.

“In all cases, retailers and manufacturers must prepare in-store associates to recognize the ‘mobile shopper’ and empower them to address the inevitable questions about price, features and availability,” the report concludes.

One interesting sidelight of the CMB survey is the extent to which smartphone users are ignorant of the degree of privacy their data enjoys when they use a mobile app.

For instance, the survey found that 68% of respondents believe that the companies creating mobile apps must have privacy policies to cover data transmitted over those apps. Fifty-one percent said that users can clear tracking cookies on a mobile phone just as they can cookies on PC browsers. And 33% believe smartphone apps can’t access a unique identified that will reveal such personal information as the user’s age, gender or location. And almost half of respondents (49%) said smartphone apps do not share personally identifiable information without their awareness or consent.

In fact, none of those beliefs are correct. 

 

eMarketer: Top Mobile Shopping Activities of US Smartphone Users: making a purchase is not one of them

Originally published in eMarketer.

There are 73.3 million US smartphone users in 2011, eMarketer estimates, and many are turning to their phones to help them shop. A study conducted in January by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies revealed that more than half of 1,400 consumers polled reported using their smartphones to assist them with shopping. The research found that more than 70% of iPhone owners report using applications or their smartphone’s web browser to help them while shopping in-store, and 41% are making purchases directly from their phones.

According to the study released in March, 66% of respondents used their smartphones to conduct price comparisons on a product or service and 58% used them to find the closest store locations. While 41% of those polled said they had made purchases from their smartphones, just 17% said that making a purchase was their reason for using a smartphone.

 This data is in line with comScore findings, also from January, which identified the top three mobile shopping activities for US smartphone users: finding nearby stores (49%), comparing prices prior to shopping (46%) and researching product details (44%).

 

Research from Accenture on retail shopping apps found that consumers considered those that offer money-off coupons (42%) and the ability to view current in-store specials (36%) most useful. But somewhat in line with Chadwick Martin Bailey and comScore, driving directions to the store (33%) was the third most useful function according to those polled.

 

Business 2 Community: 4 Lessons Learned from a 6-Week Email Marketing Case Study

Originally published in Business 2 Community by David Huffman.

Email marketing.

Some folks will tell you it’s dead.  Others steer clear of it because they fear that it’s annoying to potential customers.

To the first point I say, it ain’t dead.  Sure, open rates hover around 15-30% depending on your industry, but according to research from Chadwick Martin and Bailey (September 2010), close to half (49%) of consumers share content online at least once a week, with the vast majority sharing through e-mail (86%). Facebook comes in second with 49% of adults sharing content on that platform.

To the second point:  well, “annoying” is subjective.  In other words – what’s annoying to you may be kind of awesome to me.  Right?

Right.

So in an attempt to not be so anecdotal about it, I set out on a six-week test of email marketing to see what would happen. Within that six-week test, we also ran an A/B split test of a headline.

Nothing really blew my mind, but the test did give me some nice data to show the boss.  And that’s always a good thing.  Especially, in light of some folks not really understanding this content marketing thing.

The easiest way to combat that misunderstanding is to test and just hand ‘em the data.

Here are the details from my six-week email marketing campaign.  Note the goals are fairly broad.  That’s because I did not have a benchmark to work from.  In the future, we’ll have more specific goals, such as generating six enrollments.

6-Week Email Marketing Campaign Overview

Goal:
Re-engage “cold leads”  by re-sparking their interest in our program using new content we had developed and give them the information they need to make a buying decision.  Ultimately, we wanted to generate enrollments in our program.

To provide some context, we defined cold leads as prospects who had:

• Reached out to us before
• Received our monthly “update” or nothing at all
• Not enrolled in our program
• Not opted out of our list

Metrics:

• Primary – number of re-converted leads, enrollments.
• Secondary – average open rate, click-through rate, unsubscribes.

Strategy:
Send one email a week for six weeks – alternating between non-gated (no form) content and gated content with a heavy call to action (e.g., click here to download eBook).

Results:

• 5% conversion on gated content, equaling  around 40 leads reconverted
• Seven enrollments (representing around $100,000 ROI)
• Open rates were consistent with industry benchmarks which are in the 15-20% range for the Education sector (MailChimp)
• Zero unsubscribes
• Click-through rate:  3.5%

Take aways:

Email frequency increase does not necessarily decrease open rates.
In other words, our list did not get tired of emails sent to them.  Open rates in weeks five and six were comparable to week one as well as our general open rates.

More direct headlines win.
In a simple A/B headline test, the more direct “tell not sell” headline performed close to 20% better than the sales­y one. In this example, “Schedule your campus tour” performed better than “Take a test drive of our campus.

Customers open emails with success stories.
Our most opened and highest clicked through emails were a couple of video customer success stories. If you haven’t already, you may want to start including these in your content plan.  Keep it simple and publish them on your blog or website. Rather than a link to a YouTube video, put a link in the email to the page on your site where the video is hosted.  That’ll give you some click-through data as well as bringing the prospect back to your site.

Bottom-line is YOU NEED MORE CONTENT.
In six weeks, we generated over $100,000 dollars in return merely by sending content-packed emails to our list of “cold leads.”  The content for this particular campaign was in the form of blog articles, two ebook offers,video success stories and invitations to events. The more you have, the fresher your approach.

Final Words

Email marketing is important.  If you are collecting information from folks and that info includes an email address – use it.  Armed with nothing more than a little time and content, you can still turn un-engaged old leads into real dollars for the company.

 

AsksPrice: Health Care Administration Consumes Nearly One-Third of Health Care Costs, Say Hospitals and Insurance Companies

Originally published in AsksPrice by Michelle Meredith.

Administration associated with health care claims and billing accounts for nearly one out of every three dollars that patients spend, according to a nationwide survey of executives from hospitals and insurance companies.

In contrast, more than three-quarters (76 percent) of the U.S. consumers surveyed said they think that health care administration should account for just 10 percent or less of total health care costs, with a large majority indicating they would be 'highly upset' if those administrative costs were as high as 30 percent. Approximately eight in 10 consumers (79 percent) said they would like to see an itemization of the portion of their health care bills that goes to administration versus clinical care.

The health care industry survey of 200 hospital and insurance company executives and 1,000 U.S. consumers was commissioned by The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., (NYSE: PNC) and conducted by the independent research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey.

"While it is possible that consumers do not fully appreciate the cost and complexity of health care administration, hospital and health plan executives identified significant inefficiencies in the business office, describing a medical claims, billing and payment process that is error prone, redundant and costly," said Paula Fryland, executive vice president and manager of PNC's national health care group (See Press Kit).

Additional survey results include:

Hospital executives reported that one in five claims submitted, on average, is delayed or denied and 96 percent of all claims must be submitted more than once.

Hospitals that do not use electronic billing or claims submission processes reported, on average, resubmitting a claim 11 times or more, or nearly four times more than those hospitals using electronic processes.

Insurance executives surveyed said they go back to hospitals two times, on average, to get all the information needed to pay a claim.

Nearly a quarter of consumers reported having had a legitimate claim denied by their health plan; one in five ultimately paid the claim out of their own pocket.

Improving Efficiencies Impacts Costs and Patient Care

Nearly three-quarters of executives from hospitals and two-thirds of executives from insurance companies indicated that making the claims, billing and payment process more efficient throughout the health care system would help slow the rising cost of health care in the U.S. Similarly, nearly three-quarters of consumers (72 percent) agreed. Additional findings include:

When asked how much could be saved annually if they had a more efficient claims, billing and payment process, one-third of hospital and health plan executives both said their organizations could save at least $1 million a year.

The benefit of automated processes most often cited by insurance executives was that claims processing time significantly reduced, and 63 percent said that customer satisfaction had improved.

When asked where the cost savings would be applied, the area most often cited by hospital executives was 'reinvested in improving patient care.'

Health Care Consumerism and Transparency

"Health care consumerism is an emerging trend that transfers more decisions regarding health care choices, as well as responsibility for payments, back to the patient," said Fryland. "The survey supports that this growing trend will result in consumers seeking more information about their health care costs. And, both hospital and insurance executives agreed that the demand for transparency will focus on administrative overhead costs that will ultimately root out inefficiencies."

In addition, the survey findings include:

Nearly three-quarters of hospital executives surveyed (72 percent) expect high deductible health plans, which require consumers to pay more upfront costs for care out of their own pockets, to add another layer of complexity to the claims, billing and payment process.

More than half (58 percent) of consumers said that knowing what hospitals or doctors charge for treatment and what insurers are paying for their services would influence where they seek care.

A majority of consumers (83 percent), hospitals (77 percent) and insurance executives (60 percent) responded that insurance companies should disclose what they reimburse for medical services.

Survey Methodology

The PNC e-Health Study was conducted by the independent research firm, Chadwick Martin Bailey, based in Boston, Massachusetts. The study was based on telephone interviews conducted with 150 executives from U.S. hospitals or health systems, 50 executives from insurance organizations and an online survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers. The survey was completed in February 2007. A PNC e-Health Study media kit containing survey highlights and background information is available through PNC's website.

For over a decade, PNC has been helping health care providers and insurers re-engineer workflows and reduce the costs associated with handling massive volumes of monthly transactions. PNC currently processes about 3.5 million health care transactions per month for more than 500 hospitals through established connectivity between hospitals, physician groups, pharmacies and their respective payers nationwide.

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services organizations providing consumer and business banking; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management; asset management and global fund services.

 

SPECIAL REPORT: Tips For Finding Love Online

Originally published for News Channel 6 WJBF by Merissa Lynn.

Augusta, GA: It's no question...more and more people are finding love online.

Meet Lisa and Dale Sturgill. They met in a chatroom in 1999, and now they have been married for over 10 years.

Lisa Sturgill: "I mean who would have thought that I would have met and married...Washington state all my life practically...Southern man..."

Dale Sturgill: "Born and raised here."

Lisa: "3,000 miles away."

It's more common than you might think. A survey by Match.com and Chadwick Martin Bailey says 1 out of 5 people have dated someone they met online. Seventeen percent of couples married in the last 3 years...met on an online dating site.

Dale: "It kind of breaks the ice. It gets you over the initial 'Hello', which is always an awkward moment."

That it does...

Lisa: "He didn't look anything like his profile pic."

Right...

Robert Reeves, Ph.D. Augusta State University professor of Psychology: "Certainly, the social media gives people a chance put forth a really good image if you can post a picture...I mean, in some cases it might not even be the same person."

And, when that happens...psychologists say you should stop and think a bit.

Dr. Reeves: "I think they need to take a step back once and a while and sort of think about their expectations."

Alright...online dating, rule number one...expect the unexpected. So, why date online?

Tadd Patton, Ph.D. Augusta State University professor of Psychology: "People are just busy these days. And, so, they want to think of it as a quick way to weed people out."

Dr. Reeves: "A person can be more selective, like you can put forth certain criteria you're looking for. It helps screen out lots of people that would save you some time, and of course add to the convenience."

So, if you're thinking about finding the man or woman of your dreams in cyberspace...listen up...here are some tips for doing it right:

• Think about what you want.
• After meeting a potential partner...
• Try to establish mutual interests and similarities.
• Keep expectations reasonable.
• Be a good listener.
• Look out for red flags.

And, if you really want to make it work here are some things you should not do.

• Do not meet in a private place.
• Don't talk about yourself too much.
• Don't worry about the "awkward" silences.
• Don't move too fast.
• And, don't feel something has to come of the "date."

Hey, it could happen. Just trust your gut and use some common sense. It worked for Lisa and Dale.

Dale: "I wouldn't want to be with anybody else... She completes me."

Lisa: "Oh, you had me at hello!"

 

Consumers Using Smartphones to Shop, Study Finds

Originally published in JCK.

More than half of smartphone-owning consumers use now use devices to enhance their shopping experience, according to a new study from Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies.

The study found that 23 percent of smartphone owners have made a purchase on their device, with the majority taking place on an iPhone. In addition, over 70 percent of iPhone users reported they use applications or the phone’s Web browser to assist them while shopping in-store.

The study found key differences by gender: Women are more likely to use their smartphones to find discounts, while men are more likely to check online reviews.

 

Scan This: Smartphone Shopping On The Rise

Originally published by Aaron Baar in MarketingDaily.

The smartphone is changing the retail experience. More than half of smartphone owners use their handsets to assist them while shopping in-store, according to a report from Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies.

"As someone who uses [a smartphone for shopping], I'm not surprised by the results," Jeff McKenna, a senior consultant for Chadwick Martin Bailey, tells Marketing Daily. "What's surprising is that it reaffirms what I had expected so strongly."

The most-used apps on smartphones while shopping are barcode scanners, which are used by 44% of consumers, while 38% use a discount app (like Groupon or LivingSocial) and 31% use the Web browser to access review sites.

Not surprisingly, the use of smartphones while shopping is highest among the youngest demographic. Among those under 35, 28% have made purchases with a smartphone, compared with 23% of 35- to-49-year-olds and 10% of those 50 and over. Women are also more likely to use their phones to find discounts, while men are more likely to use them to check online reviews.

Nearly a quarter of consumers have purchased an item through their smartphone (a figure that increases to 41% among iPhone owners). The top smartphone purchases are entertainment choices such as music, movies and TV shows (46%), followed by banking (39%), electronics (29%) and online auctions (25%).

"Given how people are using these smartphones so close to the shopping experience, and how close it is to the transactional experience, [retailers] need to be paying attention to it," McKenna says. "Similar to the social media phenomenon, and how companies are working out how to handle it, this is a similar area."

The two options for retailers, McKenna says, are to either combat the smartphone shopping by creating exclusive deals and products (or by offering more house brands, which can't be compared to other retailers) or embrace it by empowering employees and stores with more information to close sales in the aisles. "At this point, retailers may be actually fighting it, because it's not very easy to do," McKenna says.

Either way, retailers are running the risk of falling too far behind consumers when it comes to smartphone shopping. "I can't say they're in denial, but the fact that we haven't seen much exploration into [smartphone shopping], tells me retailers have not been proactive about it," McKenna says. "Developers are quickly responding to unmet and underlying needs ... and retailers and brands are not necessarily thinking about those needs and being proactive about them."

How Our Wi-Fi Addiction Feeds Our Retail Habit

Originally published in Gigaom.

Much like the multiple doses of caffeine I take daily in a coffee mug, our collective addiction to Wi-Fi is only growing stronger as the need for inexpensive, near-constant connectivity is rising. According to the most recent survey due out later this week from Devicescape, a Wi-Fi software solutions provider, 80 percent of respondents say that full-time connectivity has improved their lives and a full 90 percent like the feeling that being connected provides. There will always be some who prefer to cut the cord — and go with de-caf — but for most: it’s a online world and we just live in it. Or perhaps that should read: we just shop in it.

According to the 1,088 respondents in the Devicescape report, 80.5 percent prefer to shop at a retail store that offers Wi-Fi vs a location without. And 65 percent would take advantage of the wireless connection to sign up for club cards, store memberships and coupons. Why else is there a need for Wi-Fi in such places? A report out today from Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies shows 67 percent of consumers are using the phone to supplement their shopping experience for price comparison, product reviews, and seeking out discounts.

Store owners should take note because providing free wireless access to potential customers could easily turn such activities into actual sales. Of course, there’s always the risk that a Wi-Fi totin’ shopper will find a better deal a few miles away, but there’s a convenience factor involved. Consumers will decide if it’s simply easier to make the purchase now as opposed to potentially saving a few bucks by driving down the road. Some will take the trip, but stores that arm consumers with Wi-Fi have an advantage: the customer is already in the store, which means half of the brick-and-mortar battle is won.

As the number of smartphones purchased continues to rise, it’s reasonable to assume that nearly all are combined with a mobile broadband plan, so is there really a need to supplement that with Wi-Fi everywhere? I think there is, and ironically, part of the reason comes in the form of a prior Devicescape survey. The company’s report from last October provides the clue:

Respondents to the survey are adamant about their data needs, with 61.2 percent indicating they wouldn’t pay for an unlimited data plan. If plans are capped, loyalty to a provider plummets, as 77.9 percent of those polled would consider switching mobile operators.

The best days of unlimited mobile broadband are behind us as carriers move away from the all-you-can-surf buffet in favor of tiered data plans for smartphones. AT&T made that move last June and Verizon has already signaled intentions to follow suit this summer. As a shopper, I don’t want to have to count the bytes I’m using in the aisle while doing price comparisons, reading reviews or watching YouTube product overviews.

Free and open Wi-Fi in a store eliminates that hassle and won’t use up the precious bits I’ll need when leaving the comfort of a free wireless network. Well, at least until I need that next cup of java at the local coffee shop with its free Wi-Fi.