Meet the Average Smartphone User

By Rieva Lesonsky

Who has a smartphone and what are they doing with it? A new study from The Online Publishers Association, conducted with Frank N. Magid Associates, has the latest on American consumers, their smartphones and how they’re using the devices. Here’s a snapshot:

Nearly half (44  percent ) of the U.S. online population own smartphones (that’s 107 million people). That’s an increase from 31  percent  last year, and the figure is projected to hit 57  percent  by the second quarter of next year.

Smartphone users are passionate about the devices: Two-thirds of them say they “cannot live without” their smartphones. The most common smartphone activities (besides making calls) are accessing the Internet (59%) and checking email (58%).

Weather, video, local news and national news are the top types of information smartphone users access with the devices. More than half access content on a daily basis, and nearly one-fourth (24  percent ) have bought content to view on the device.

Smartphone users who view content are fairly engaged with advertising and marketing on their phones:

• 15  percent have clicked on an advertisement
• 12  percent have used a special offer or coupon
• 12  percent have made a purchase either on a PC or at a store after viewing content on their smartphone

But those who have purchased content for their phones are even more active:

• 79  percent have taken action after seeing an ad
• 31  percent have clicked through an ad
• 30  percent have used a special offer or coupon
• 51  percent have made a purchase on a PC or in-store as a result of content or an ad on a smartphone
• 24  percent have made a purchase at a store as a direct result of an ad

Finally, 96  percent  of smartphone content consumers have purchased an app. They have an average of 36 apps, 14  percent  of them paid.

What do these figures mean to you?

• If your business lends itself to an app, consider creating one for your customers , but make sure it serves a worthwhile function.
• Customers who use your app will likely be more receptive to other smartphone content from you, so consider sending special offers or coupons.
• With email one of the top uses for smartphones, make sure your email newsletters are optimized so they display well on smartphones and that buttons, links or other calls to action are easy to see and interact with.
• Consider creating videos about your business or asking customers to share their videos and posting them on your site or YouTube channel. More than half of consumers who use smartphones to watch video say they regularly watch user-generated content.

Image by Flickr user (Creative Commons)

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2012 at 6:00 am and is filed under Marketing, Small Business, small business, Technology, Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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