The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) recently published survey results indicating that a majority of consumers prefer location-based ads over other forms of mobile marketing- mainly SMS and mobile Web display ads.
The MMA surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. adult consumers in mid-March to gauge interaction with various forms of mobile marketing as part of its latest Mobile Consumer Briefing, which in this iteration centers around consumer willingness to location-based advertising (LBA).
91% of those surveyed owned a mobile phone of some kind, with 26% indicating they’ve used a “map, navigation or some other mobile phone service that automatically determines your current location.” 10% even said they used location-based services at least once per week, though with iPhone owners, 63% said they use location-based services once per week- proving that smartphone owners are much more apt to LBS.
What’s interesting is that nearly half of those who noticed any ads while using location-based services took at least some action, which is a significantly higher rate than for those who noticed advertisements while sending/receiving text messages (37%) and almost twice the rate of those who saw an ad while browsing the mobile Web (28%).
Two interesting tidbits that indicate the direction local mobile advertising is heading is that respondents said they use these services most frequently to “locate nearby points of interest, shops or services,” and that most are “interested in allowing their phone to automatically share their location in exchange for perks, such as free use of mobile applications and mobile coupons.
With this kind of consumer willingness, location-based advertising is poised for massive growth. Once we get past the hurdles of device limitations and find a happy medium in terms of consumer privacy and consent surrounding the use of location information, LBA will be the go-to concept in mobile marketing.