One in six smartphone owners use them for purchasing
One in six smartphone owners use it at some stage when buying goods, while people in general use some form of internet-connected device 34 times a day, according to a new report from the Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB).
The findings, which reveal how wedded British consumers are to connected technology, are based on studies carried out by independent research agency Firefish, involving over 1,350 interviews amongst smartphone owners and 700 hours of video footage from people wearing FishEye cameras.
Taking a picture every five seconds over a three day period revealed that people on average pick up/use a connected device 34 times each day.
The respondents averaged a total of two hours 12 minutes per day using a connected device, while for 46% of this time (one hour and one minutes) they used at least two devices, sometimes three, simultaneously.
“One thing that stood out in the study was how surprised respondents were when told how frequently they’d looked at their phone, tablet or computer,” said Tim Elkington, director of research & strategy at the IAB. “It reinforces how normal ‘omni-screening’ – being just an arms-length away from some device that gets us online – has become.
People’s inability to leave their phones alone is the newest addition to common ‘displacement’ behaviours such as smoking”
“We also saw a broad pattern in how people use their devices; the morning is about getting information such as weather and travel, the afternoon for undertaking specific tasks such as banking or paying bills, while the evening is focused on entertainment, including shopping.”
The research also revealed how reliant people have become on technology, with 56% of UK smartphone owners saying that they use their smartphone for day-to-day tasks – rising to 70% among 18-30 year olds. Over one-third (34%) say their smartphone is a ‘lifesaver’ – again rising to over half of 18-30 year olds.
52% said they prefer to check their smartphone if they have any ‘downtime’ rather than just sit and think, while 37% said they check their smartphone if there’s a lull in conversation with friends.
“People’s inability to leave their phones alone is the newest addition to common ‘displacement’ behaviours such as smoking, doodling, fiddling with objects and picking at food. It’s also an extension of ‘nomophobia’ – the fear of being without your mobile,” said Dr Simon Hampton, Psychology lecturer at the University of East Anglia.
“What’s exciting for marketers is that, unlike most of the examples above, this mildly compulsive behaviour might be exploited to encourage purchasing, particularly as digital increasingly blurs the line between shopping and entertainment.”
In terms of actual purchase intent, 17% of UK smartphone owners said that their phone had played some role – either browsing, researching or buying – in a purchase made in the last fortnight.
41% of respondents said they often shop online when they’re bored, rising to 58% of 18-30s.
“As people are becoming more adept at using these devices, they’re hopping between them – a more parallel use than the sequential method we’ve seen in recent years,” said Elkington.
“However, smartphones are increasingly the entry point into the digital world so advertisers should consider it as the ‘first date’ – enticing people to find out more at a convenient time without coming on too strong in terms of information or call-to-action.”