Usability is the number one purchasing influencer when consumers are choosing a mobile phone, according to research from ActionEngine.
When asked which factor most influenced their purchasing decision, 59% of respondents cited ‘Ease of use/Positive user reviews’ as their most important buying criteria, exceeding ‘Value for Price.’ For respondents based in Europe, this percentage rose to 95%, demonstrating the strong impact that usability has on product sales.
34% of those surveyed indicated that they are not using mobile applications despite the availability of faster networks and new mobile data services. Of the people who had not used these services, 46% of respondents listed cost as their number one barrier to using data services and 28% listed complexity of use as the second reason they are avoiding new services. Assuming those barriers were reduced, 70% of respondents indicated that they would use mobile applications like news, weather, and sports scores at least 2-5 times a week.
Respondents ranked interest in News, Weather, Travel, Driving Directions, and Mapping applications above Communications applications, like Email and Instant Messenger.
85% of those surveyed indicated that having mobile applications remember their favourites and preferences was important.
Fewer trips to the network and ‘fast response times’ were listed as the most important features for respondents who use mobile applications. 76% of respondents indicated that two or fewer trips to the network would be all that was tolerable when using a mobile application. Respondents also indicated that they would not expect to spend more than five minutes online while using a mobile application.
Respondents indicated that the most popular place to purchase a mobile application is from a third-party mobile downloads Website rather than the mobile or PC Websites of their own service provider/mobile operator.
“The results of this study confirm that our company’s focus on delivering a superior mobile user experience is resonating with the mobile consumer,” said Scott Silk, president and CEO of Action Engine Corporation. “Applications running on our platform have noticeably reduced subscriber churn, promoting greater consumer loyalty for our mobile operator customers.”
