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BuyVia, an app/website that claims to be the first all-in-one smart shopping experience across devices (whatever that means), conducted a consumer survey which found:
“The majority (56%) of shoppers want to be notified of deals via push notifications on their mobile devices when in an area with local deals.”
My take: Oh really?
As a wannabe legitimate market researcher, I would never publish research results based on an insufficient sample, but from time to time I use my wife and/or daughters as sanity checks (which is ironic, since I usually blame them for my insanity).
I asked my wife “Do you want to be notified of deals via push notifications on your Blackberry when you’re in an area with local deals?”
The look on her face said “What are you talking about?” but her mouth said “What’s a push notification, and how would I know if I was in an area with a local deal? What does that mean?”
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I could ask 1,000 consumers the same question I asked my wife to get their responses and see if the answers differ from my wife’s.
But I’ve already asked consumers about their interest in receiving offers, and the results I got don’t jive with BuyVia’s.
In Q2 2012, Aite Group asked 1,115 US consumers “how important is it to you to receive special offers from merchants on your mobile device when shopping?” Just 14% said “very important,” 27% said “somewhat important,” and 60% said “not very important.”
By generation, how many responded “very important”? A not-so-whopping 23% of Gen Yers, 17% of Gen Xers, 8% of Boomers, and 0.6% of Seniors.
From this, I’d find it hard to conclude that “the majority of shoppers want to be notified of deals via push notifications on their mobile devices when in an area with local deals.” But maybe BuyVia was only considering younger consumers to be “shoppers.” After all, us old people (Boomers, Seniors) don’t really matter any more, do we?
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Why don’t consumers want offers pushed to them?
IF you’re thinking it’s because consumers see advertising as a nuisance and a disruption, I would agree. But I think that there is another reason: Data privacy.
Aite Group also asked consumers about their willingness to share various types of personal data with merchants and retailers in order for that data to be used to personalize offers. For the various types of sources, we asked them to tell us:
- I have no reservations with this information being accessed
- I have no reservations as long as I have given the provider permission
- I am willing to allow access to this data but only if I am asked for permission each time
- I am willing to allow access to this data but only if it is done anonymously
- I am not willing to let merchants and retailers access this information under any circumstances
The differences between generations are, again, significant:
Percentage that say that merchants and retailers should not access
this information under any circumstances
Source Gen Y Gen X Boomer Senior
Current searches 28% 40% 51% 65%
Purchase history (from retailer) 28% 44% 55% 66%
Search history 29% 44% 55% 70%
Purchase history (from FI) 32% 48% 56% 71%
Location information 33% 44% 56% 73%
Payment information (i e credit cards) 35% 47% 60% 73%
Social networking profiles and posts 35% 46% 62% 74%
Web browsing history 35% 47% 56% 74%
Checking/savings account balances 40% 56% 67% 85%
Source: Aite Group survey of 1,115 US consumers, Q2 2012
Still want to try and convince me that the “majority” of consumers want offers pushed to them?
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The truth (like I can claim to know the “truth”) is not as simple as “consumers want mobile offers” or “consumers don’t want mobile offers.”
We want offers to magically appear when we want them to, which can be at any point in the purchase decision process. That point differs across people, and differs for even a particular consumer based on product, mood, and a million other factors.
We say we don’t want merchants/retailers to use our personal data, but then complain when they don’t “know” us.
We’re OK with our favorite merchant or vendor pushing offers at us, but G*d forbid that a big evil bank pushes an offer at us. That’s grounds for regulatory reform. (If you get an unwanted offer from a big bank, tell Dick Durbin. He’ll enact legislation to outlaw the practice).
The reality is that some subset of your customers and prospects will be OK with your pushing offers to their mobile device, and using some subset of their personal data to personalize that offer, and provide some rationale for why the offer is relevant.
The best you can do is figure out which customers/prospects are in that subset, and what you can do to grow the segment.
In the meantime, don’t believe claims like “the majority of consumers want to be notified of deals via push notifications on their mobile devices when in an area with local deals.”