Study: Consumers favor 'mobile-first' experience from businesses

Brief:

More than half of U.S. consumers would opt to do business with a company based on the mobile experience it offers compared with competitors, per a survey by tech consulting firm Metova. Seventy percent of the more than 1,000 consumers surveyed said it is very important that a company offer a great mobile experience.
Food delivery is the most requested "mobile first" service, the survey found. Industries that traditionally relied on web, call centers or direct mail to reach customers are seeing them turn elsewhere based on a company's mobile experience, Jonathan Sasse, CMO at Metova, said in a statement.
The survey also found that nearly one-third of people are interested in voting by smartphone.

Insight:

U.S. adults spend more than three hours a day on mobile devices, which next year will surpass TV as the most used media platform, according to researcher eMarketer. That means companies need to provide a robust app and mobile web experience to appeal to consumers who are more likely to engage with businesses while using a smartphone or tablet.

Companies have tried to find new ways to personalize apps or create experiences that engage their fans, from Dos Toros' simple burrito giveaway to Kayak's trip planner app, to name just two recent examples. The aim is to integrate into a customer's life, making it easier and more fun for them to go about their daily tasks, whether it's ordering food, purchasing items online or paying in-store. The growth and implementation of mobile pay could also be key for many businesses, as more and more people seek frictionless shopping.

In addition, the difficulty of app discovery makes it all the more important that marketers find a way to improve interactions with users on their mobile devices. Apps are responsible for more than 90% of internet time on smartphones and 77% on tablets, but about half of that time is spent on a single top app, eMarketer reports.

The app market is still growing strongly worldwide even as smartphone shipments slow down. Consumer spending on apps grew 20% to $18.5 billion in Q2 2018 from a year earlier, per researcher App Annie’s analysis of Apple’s App Store and Google Play. App downloads grew 15% to 28.4 billion in the period from a year earlier, per App Annie.