The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and research partner Lightspeed Research have released the results of their latest UK, French and German Mobile Consumer Briefing study investigating exposure and response to mobile advertising.
The study asked respondents about their awareness, response and purchasing habits as a result of seeing advertising delivered on mobile devices. The research shows that, on average, 45 per cent of consumers noticed mobile advertising and of these, 29 per cent responded to it.
The research also showed that once people have responded to a mobile ad, over a third (39 per cent ), went on to make a purchase. German consumers who responded to mobile ads emerged as the most likely to go on to make a purchase, at 49 per cent , compared to 47 per cent of UK and 22 per cent of French consumers. Of the consumers that bought products or services, 39 per cent (47 per cent UK, 49 per cent Germany and 30 per cent France) spent between €5 and €20 or British Pounds.
The research also found that in the UK and France, opted-in SMS advertising proved most effective at soliciting consumer response, at 40 per cent and 21 per cent respectively. In Germany, an ad delivered on a website accessed on a mobile device proved to be the most effective, with 27 per cent of respondents stating a preference for banner ads.
Mobile advertising that included time-sensitive special offers or discounts was cited as the most important factor leading to a purchase (35 per cent UK, 31 per cent Germany and 27 per cent France). Mobile coupons accessible from phones also proved to be highly popular (34 per cent UK, 29 per cent Germany and 24 per cent France). 
In terms of the types of products or services likely to lead to a purchase, content for mobile devices such as apps, music and games emerged as the most popular (23 per cent UK, 28 per cent France and 19 per cent Germany). Younger people emerged as the most likely to notice, respond and buy content or products as a result of mobile advertising.
“The findings are extremely significant, as they indicate a high awareness and efficacy of mobile advertising among European consumers,” says Peter A. Johnson, vice president of market intelligence at the MMA, and author of the study. “This latest research demonstrates that Europe’s mobile consumers have transformed mobile advertising from last year’s marketing prophecy into this year’s required marketing practice. But getting mobile advertising right requires researching the unique opportunity offered by the different mobile media. For example, an advert delivered via the under-hyped opted-in SMS turns out to be the most likely to open a consumer’s wallet.”
There’s more information about the MMA’s research activities here.
