Biggest effect of age on consumers' channel preferences seen in mobile apps

15% of Millennials and Gen Xers say smartphone apps "doesn't apply to me"; 42% of the Silent Generation say the same

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MarketingSherpa

Mar 14, 2017, 11:57 ET

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., March 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MarketingSherpa asked 2,400 U.S. consumers, "How often to you disengage with marketing by doing the following?"

Of the six possible answers for the 11 channels satisfied and unsatisfied consumers were surveyed about, the biggest generational differences were seen in the "doesn't apply to me" response by satisfied customers to the option — "delete their app from your smartphone or tablet."

Frequency of branded app deleted by satisfied customers, showing generational differences
Frequency of branded app deleted by satisfied customers, showing generational differences
Frequency of branded app deleted by unsatisfied customers, showing generational differences
Frequency of branded app deleted by unsatisfied customers, showing generational differences
Frequency of branded app deleted by satisfied customers, showing generational differences Frequency of branded app deleted by unsatisfied customers, showing generational differences

There was a 14% standard deviation in how likely different generations were to respond that deleting mobile apps doesn't apply to them — 42% of the Silent Generation and 31% of baby boomers said that mobile apps do not apply to them, and even 15% of millennials and Gen Xers said the channel didn't apply to them.

Daniel Burstein, Senior Director of Editorial Content, MarketingSherpa, shared all of the data in the MarketingSherpa article, "Mobile Marketing Chart: How likely millennials, baby boomers and Gen Xers are to delete your app."

"If the above data gives you pause before developing an app (especially if your ideal customers are in an older demographic), there are a few ways you can decide whether pursuing an app is a wise investment for your company," Burstein said.

The suggestions he listed in the article are:

  • Take a close look at the traffic to your website to see how much is coming from mobile devices
  • Test mobile advertising to gauge how responsive your customers are on mobile
  • Make sure your mobile app has a unique value proposition compared to your mobile website
  • Make sure your mobile app has a unique value proposition against other apps (after all, there are 140 billion apps in the Apple App Store alone, according to Statista)
  • Talk to some of those customers to see if they use apps, want one from your company, and what features they would value

The data is from the MarketingSherpa Customer Satisfaction Research study of 2,400 consumers, sampled to reflect a close match to the U.S. population's demographics, and conducted in September and October 2016 during the planning of MarketingSherpa Summit 2017's content. Half of the respondents (1,200) were asked to reflect on their experiences with a brand with which they are highly satisfied, and the other half (1,200) were questioned about a brand with which they are not satisfied. Consumers were also asked about companies they were satisfied and unsatisfied with in general, and about general marketing topics like online ad blocking. The responses of these two groups were then compared and contrasted against each other. The respondents from each age group, the Silent Generation (71-93); baby boomers (52-70); Generation Xers (34-51); and millennials (18-35); were nearly evenly split between the paired surveys.

View the entire study at MarketingSherpa.com/ConsumerStudy. For questions regarding the survey or its methodology, please contact Erin Donker at [email protected]om.

About MarketingSherpa Summit 2017

MarketingSherpa Summit 2017 is a showcase of inspirational stories of customer-first marketing. Building off Email Summit's heritage, the four-day 2017 Summit, taking place at the ARIA Resort in Las Vegas from April 10-13, 2017, will highlight some of the most successful digital marketing campaigns using email, data, mobile, social media and content, including award-winning case studies presented by brand-side marketers. There will be breakout sessions that offer interactive roundtables for marketing technology and messaging tips and advice from industry experts and brand-side marketers, as well as networking opportunities to exchange experiences. MarketingSherpa is a publishing subsidiary of MECLABS Institute.

For more information about Marketing Sherpa Summit 2017, visit http://marketingsherpa.com/summit2017.

About MECLABS Institute

Founded in 1997 and based in Jacksonville, Florida, MECLABS Institute is the world's largest research institute dedicated to discovering how people make choices.

MECLABS has been involved in direct Research Partnerships with companies throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas since 2001. As an institute focused on offer-response optimization particularly in the field of value exchange, the Institute is dedicated to taking an academic approach to improving the discipline of marketing by teaching its discoveries through workshops, online learning and a graduate-level program in partnership with the University of Florida.

MECLABS' two publishing subsidiaries – MarketingExperiments and MarketingSherpa – publish experiments and provide insights to the marketing community.

For more information about MECLABS, visit https://meclabs.com/.

SOURCE MarketingSherpa

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