Retailers may be able to market more efficiently to their mobile customers with a new service from Nielsen. Called Mobile@Plan, the service extends Nielsen’s online audience profiling capability to the mobile Web.
The service benefits users — such as retailers and publishers — by delivering lifestyle and demographic information for leading mobile Web sites.
Nielsen expects the data to become an integral part of retailers’ marketing strategies, providing insight into the shopper’s lifestyle, habits, and preferences.“We’re tracking how consumers are interested in purchasing things on their phone, and how they consume media over their phone — anything related to the consumer experience,” says Nic Covey, director of insights for Nielsen Mobile.
Nielsen is banking on the fact that the number of mobile shoppers continues to grow rapidly. In the U.S there are 3.9 million mobile subscribers accessing shopping and auctioning sites via the mobile phone, the company reports. eBay is the most popular, with approximately 2.9 million visitors per month.
Data for @Plan is collected from consumers who have participated in other Nielsen surveys. Information includes behavior and purchasing habits and preferences, down to brand level.
Advertisement
This service is designed to benefit a variety of consumer marketers. Retailers can find out what types of consumers are shopping on their mobile Web page, and if the same shoppers are using the Web site from a personal computer. Then that retailer can define the unique aspects of the shopper demographics. .Also, a publisher running a mobile web site, can gain more detail about its audience.
Addressing consumer concerns
Nielsen has paid particular attention to the fact that consumers do not want to be bombarded with messaging. “We know from our previous mobile advertising studies that mobile consumers are more ‘okay’ with mobile advertising when it’s targeted towards them,” says Covey. “Much like any other advertising platform, consumers want relevant advertising.”
Nielsen also is sensitive to the industry’s privacy concerns. “There are certainly privacy concerns that are paramount to both the wireless carriers and to us as a research company,” says Covey. “Our methodology is opt-in surveys so we collect information from people about their behavior and where they shop, and then we ask other questions about their lifestyle. We track this information for 200 web sites — we can help a retailer determine, of those 200 mobile web sites, which one is most highly concentrated with their intended audience.”
Mobile @Plan is a product within Nielsen’s mobile Internet research portfolio, an extension of Mobile Internet Insights; Nielsen’s rating service for mobile web. Mobile @Plan is designed for advertisers and web site publishers who create and manage mobile web sites. The goal of mobile @Plan is to provide a greater understanding of the audiences surfing mobile web sites.
