Consumer goods and services companies are always seeking new ways to promote and drive adoption of their brands through mobile data services and the mobile web. But are they asking the right questions and do they have the right insights? With all of the options available to mobile phone users today, usage patterns differ widely.
Bob may be a talker, consistently going over his minutes and never making use of his pricey data services, whereas Betty could be sending dozens of texts a day and surfing the web but never making a lengthy call. It's important to understand the differences because it distinguishes which users to target with which mobile campaigns.
Do you have a detailed understanding of your customers' needs and behaviors? Do you know what mobile data services they use in their daily lives? Without these insights, it's difficult to create and target the right services to the right customers. User personas offer a valuable tool to put customers front and center in your mobile marketing efforts.
What are user personas? Fictitious characters created to represent the different user types within a targeted demographic that might use a product. Personas typically include a detailed profile of the person's mobile activities and preferences, which will be beneficial to best understand how to market your brand using the mobile medium.
How do you develop personas? Through detailed, qualitative and quantitative studies of your current and potential customers (it's not effective to base personas purely on assumptions derived from demographic data). How can personas be used? To understand the goals, desires and limitations of different users to guide decisions about how to best reach your target audience through various mobile marketing efforts.
Research into mobile data users revealed five distinct user types that can be targeted for different types of mobile campaigns:
Up-to-date: Derek's primary goal is to keep himself informed with the latest information important to him. He satisfies this goal by repeatedly checking his regular information source to see what is new.
Busy and productive: Alison is most concerned with being efficient and getting things done. She mostly seeks information when needed to influence her next immediate course of action.
Social and curious: Mark is always looking for ways to fill his time and alleviate boredom. He spends a lot of time on his phone looking around for new information without any immediate goal.
Just the basics: Claire mainly wants to stay connected to her friends and family. She uses the basics on her phone primarily for communicating with others who are important to her.
Latest and greatest: Stu uses many different means and technologies to connect to other people. He's always trying out the latest products to interact with his friends and co-workers.
Claire and Stu will not find value in the same kind of mobile campaign. A brand that seeks to reach them by the same means will not be successful. Claire might not have the patience, interest, or even the means to take part in a cutting-edge campaign that utilizes new trends, whereas Stu would be a perfect candidate for such a promotion. Conversely, Stu might be bored with a simple texting campaign and not respond positively, while Claire would be appreciative of its effortlessness. By understanding what makes these customers tick you can design several different (but successful) plans of attack.
Carol A. Taylor is the director of user experience research and design for Motricity.