With the assortment of stylish smartphone covers available, it comes as no surprise that women are very attached to their devices. But just how attached? Time Inc. and Nuance Digital Marketing recently conducted a study to find out.
To start, 60% of women said that their phone is the most important device in their life whereas only 43% of men agree with that statement. Like a significant other, 78% say her phone is the first thing she looks at in the morning, and since 98% say that is it with her wherever she goes, she will continually check it throughout the day to get a hold of someone through social media, shop or text her friends.
With so much time spent on her phone, it would seem that this scenario is an ideal opportunity for mobile marketing. But, in fact, mobile marketing treads a fine line between profitable and annoying because 91% of women dislike ads and feel like they are disturbing to their lives. Irrelevant and intrusive ads are more of a nuisance, and they discourage women from interacting with the company.
However, should the ad prove relevant to the content a woman is consuming, she is much more receptive to it. And with the many ways she uses her phone, even more opportunities to integrate ads are possible. Women don’t just use their phones to connect and make purchases, they save wish lists, collect coupons, make shopping lists, read product reviews and share potential purchases with friends. This lends itself to the targeted ads women are more open to, ones in which they can control the experience, that are relevant to them, and potentially even offer location-based offers.
It used to be that nothing stood between a man and his toys, but the market’s progressed to show it’s now women who have become inseparable from their phones, and they’re changing the way advertisers have to reach them.
