A survey looking at the role played by digital media channels in European consumers buying decisions carries mixed results for text messaging.
The DoubleClick Touchpoints IV – Europe study, sought the views of over 1,000 online consumers in the UK, France and Germany about their purchases, made both offline and on, in seven product and service categories. Not surprisingly, the survey found that the Internet, embracing websites, search, email marketing, blogs etc, is highly influential at every stage of the shopping process, from first awareness to final decision making. Word-of-mouth is considered important by consumers in all three countries.
69% of UK consumers, and more than half of French and Germans, use a search engine to gather information about a product/service. Text messaging is also very popular in the in UK and Germany, with over 81% of consumers in each country saying they use this tool. In France this number drops to 40%. But pop-ups, telemarketing and email spam are the most reviled forms of marketing, followed not too distantly by floating web ads and SMS ads. This seems a somewhat curious finding, given the relative absence of SMS spam, and the fact that anyone receiving an SMS ad is likely to have opted in to it. Perhaps theres more Bluecasting going on than we realise.
The Internet is clearly the key element in the consumer purchase decision process says DoubleClick International President, Ben Regensburger. Mobile also occupies a large part of UK consumers time, with 80% saying they use text messaging often. This indicates a strong tendency that proves digital channels offer huge opportunities for advertisers.