By Chuck Martin
Many mobile shoppers don’t want to be tracked while in stores though some seem to be ready to trade a bit of personal information if the price is right.
Half of consumers would be willing to provide personal information such as age, gender, email address and clothing size in trade for a reward, based on a new survey.
When asked how desirable it was to give retailers personal information for a reward, 50% said they would happily provide it. The survey, by PriceGrabber, comprised responses from 3.499 shopping consumers in the U.S.
While in a store, almost half (48%) said they would share personal information for a deal, compared to more than half (56%) who would be willing to share it online.
As in many other surveys, this one found that shoppers can be swayed by deals and discounts.
Interestingly, this survey found that how a deal is portrayed can have a different effect.
When asked what percentage discount compared to what dollar amount, more shoppers chose the percentage over the dollar amount, even though both discounts were equal.
Shoppers were asked how many dollars off and what percentage off a $100 product they would need to provide personal information.
While more than a third (34%) of shoppers preferred a 50% coupon, a quarter (25%) preferred $50-off gift cards.
While a relatively large discount can provide enough incentive for a mobile shopper to share information, a much smaller deal elsewhere can also lead a shopper to leave the store, as other studies have shown.
We know from countless surveys that mobile shoppers are motivated by coupons and discounts.
The real value over time will me matching the right coupon or deal with the right person at the right time. After all, giving the same coupon to everyone doesn’t necessarily provide the same value to each person.
Location-based contextual targeting is the promise of mobile commerce. Creating a value exchange with the mobile shoppers is a start.
Chuck Martin is Editor of the mCommerce Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily MobileShopTalk column. He is the author of “Mobile Influence,” “The Third Screen,” and “The Smartphone Handbook.” He is CEO of Mobile Future Institute. Chuck Martin is a frequent Mobile Keynote Speaker and Mobile Marketing Speaker internationally. He also addresses Social Media in Mobile.
