The smartphone has had a profound impact on consumer behaviour, and marketers need to keep aware of how patterns and habits are shifting in order to stay effective. Of the back of the firms new research study, the Mobile Consumer Behaviour Report, Jason Palgrave-Jones, managing director at TextLocal, explores some of the findings, and what they mean for marketers.

When it comes to technology adoption, would you class yourself as a late adopter or more of a tech-savvy aficionado? This is just one of the questions we put to 1,200 UK adults during the research for our recently published Mobile Consumer Behaviour Report and we were more than a little surprised by the results.

The North West and South East of England declared 26 per cent of themselves as entirely clued up on the latest tech, with the North West perhaps influenced by the hub of the north and relocation of Media City to Manchester.

Comparatively, 20 per cent of people in London are a little later in adopting the newest technologies, preferring to adapt and upgrade only when needed.

Interestingly, England has an even split with 17 per cent who don’t keep up with the latest tech and 17 per cent of those who are completely tech savvy. Scotland takes the prize for being most clued up about mobile technologies at 27 per cent compared to just 24 per cent of Northern Ireland and 23 per cent of Wales.

The Report also revealed that 85 per cent of people now own a smartphone yet the tech adoption research shows that despite this, not all consumers are using the full functionality their devices have to offer. Raising the question of how businesses can successfully engage with all demographics, enter SMS.

SMS is not only inclusive of both smartphones and featurephones but is also an inbuilt feature of both devices, meaning all users will be familiar with the channel without the need to download anything or create additional accounts.

With a 98 per cent read rate SMS is the channel of choice for business-consumer communications, brands don’t need to intrude on the more personal social and chat apps that are normally reserved for family and friends but can still utilise the opportunities of real-time, personalised mobile messaging.

Jason Palgrave-Jones is managing director of TextLocal. To discover more about the mobile-first mindset, the Mobile Consumer Behaviour Report is available to download for free now.