NEW YORK and TORONTO / May 22, 2013 / With more than 1 out of 3 mobile retail shoppers exclusively tapping their device to research purchases, mobile is becoming a de facto retail shopping tool according to new retail insights released today from xAd, a leading mobile-location based advertising network, and Telmetrics, the top mobile call measurement provider. In addition, one-third of consumer’s online shopping time is now spent on smartphones and tablets. The ongoing xAd/Telmetrics U.S. Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study conducted by Nielsen also revealed that showrooming is not prevalent, with 77 percent of smartphone retail shoppers ultimately making their purchases in-store versus going online to try and find a cheaper price.

xAd-Telmetrics Mobile Path-to-Purchase Retail Infographic

“Showing the power of mobile, consumers are beginning to use their mobile devices exclusively for their retail shopping and research needs,” said Monica Ho, vice president of marketing, xAd. “As a result, both online and brick and mortar retailers must understand how to integrate this fast growing media into their overall marketing spend with the right message, at the right time to the right customer.”

Most Mobile Retail Searchers Convert; Many Within the Hour

More than half (55 percent) of mobile retail shoppers ultimately make a purchase, and immediacy is important with over 30 percent of smartphone users and 25 percent of tablet users intending to make a purchase within an hour. Tablet shoppers, however, generally have longer purchase cycles with deeper research intent as 41 percent take a month or longer to make a purchase.

Mobile Showrooming Overhyped

As only 6 percent of smartphone users conducted their most recent mobile retail search in-store and 77 percent complete their purchases in-store, the findings indicate the premise of mobile showrooming is overstated for the overall retail category. Select categories of shoppers slightly over-index on their in-store mobile retail research including Electronics (7.1%), Groceries (6.7%) and Home Goods (6.6%) while only 4.7 percent of Apparel, Drug and Beauty Goods shoppers search their devices in-store. Mobile shoppers are in fact using their devices for comparison-shopping before and after an in-store visit with 50 percent of mobile users beginning their retail shopping on mobile and 1 out of 4 mobile shoppers leveraging their device throughout the purchase process.

Location Paramount for Smartphone Shoppers While Tablet Shoppers Search for Promotions

Smartphone and tablet shoppers exhibit different research intent with smartphone users considering location most important while coupons/offers (21 percent) and reviews (18 percent) are top of mind for tablet users. The research also indicates:

• The majority of smartphone users expect retailers to be within five miles of their location (57 percent);
• 1 out of 4 smartphone users consider proximity of the retail business location the most important factor when looking for information via mobile device; and
• Contact information is a critical need for smartphone users with more than 1 out of 3 shoppers looking specifically for retailer details such as a phone number.

“Our retail findings confirm that shoppers are demanding locally relevant business information when making a retail purchase decision,” said Bill Dinan, president of Telmetrics. “With more mobile shoppers using mobile exclusively and throughout their online shopping experience, marketers must ensure campaigns include local info and timely promotions to help convert the nearly 60 percent of consumers that are undecided.”

About the Study

The behavioral data is part of a greater study, which is the first to measure what consumers report they are doing via mobile devices and capture their actual preferences and behaviors across the Retail, Gas/Convenience, Banking/Finance and Insurance categories. Results from the 2^nd Annual U.S. Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study are based on data from an online survey of 2,000 U.S. smartphone and tablet users and actual observed consumer behaviors from Nielsen’s Smartphone Analytics Panel of 6,000 Apple and Android users. The study will also include three additional releases of specific market findings for the Banking/Finance, Gas/Convenience and Insurance categories.

More details are available at mobilepathtopurchase.com

About xAd

Founded in 2009, xAd is one of the largest mobile advertising networks in the U.S. and the leader in delivering targeted mobile ads based on accurate user location and search context. Across its network, the company aggregates and manages billions of monthly ad impressions from which it derives the largest supply of location-based advertising inventory in the market. xAd delivers targeted mobile location@scale for over a million national and local advertisers, including brands like Pinkberry, Home Depot and Wells Fargo.

xAd is based in New York City with several satellite offices across the U.S. and internationally. For more information, visit www.xAd.com.

About Telmetrics, Inc.
For more than 20 years, Telmetrics has been the call measurement industry leader. Telmetrics’ call tracking solutions, which are available in North America and across Europe, track the lead generation quality of local search advertising and pay per call programs for the leading brands in local search. This includes both publishers and agencies that serve millions of SMBs and national franchise locations across North America and Europe. With greater visibility into advertising performance across all media channels—digital, mobile, print and more—media publishers, agencies and advertisers can optimize the media mix for higher quality lead generation, resulting in increased revenues and a more complete picture of ROI across converging media.

For more information, visit Telmetrics.com.

Media Contact:
Meggan Manson
Young & Associates
301-371-6995
megganm@yapr.com

LONDON / May 15, 2013 / With mobile advertising spend continuing to increase, leading call measurement provider Telmetrics announced that Bill Dinan, president of Telmetrics, is speaking tomorrow at SMX London on the “Paid Search Advertising in a Multi-Device World” panel. SMX London is a premiere U.K. event for search marketing and other online advertising professionals.

Dinan will address mobile search best practices including tailoring and localizing ads to incorporate mobile consumers’ category-specific usage patterns and preferences. The presentation will include insights from the recent xAd-Telmetrics U.K. Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study, which was based on an online survey of 1,500 U.K. smartphone and tablet users conducted by Nielsen.

“Mobile marketers in the U.K. and globally have a significant opportunity to influence mobile consumers’ purchase decisions as many are undecided and open to guidance,” said Dinan. “However, to effectively reach these mobile consumers, marketers must understand the nuances of mobile consumers’ preferences, timing and usage patterns in today’s multi-device, always-on environment.”

Dinan’s top four keys to tailoring mobile content and mobile search distribution strategies that reach the right audience with the right message include:

1. Know Your Mobile Customer – While mobile consumers have strong purchase activity and intent, specific purchase timing depends on the category.
2. Remember: Location, Location, Location – Directions, maps and phone numbers are important location identifiers for the 50 percent of mobile consumers in the U.K. who look for business locations within walking or driving distance.
3. Understand Device Nuances – Smartphone searchers are most interested in location and contact information while price and promotion research activities are more important to tablet searchers.
4. Measure & Monetize – Go beyond tracking clicks to measure secondary actions such as phone calls, reservations, and map downloads to better understand how many and which leads are ready to transact.

About Telmetrics, Inc.
For more than 20 years, Telmetrics has been the call measurement industry leader. Telmetrics’ call tracking solutions, which are available in North America and across Europe, track the lead generation quality of local search advertising and pay per call programs for the leading brands in local search. This includes both publishers and agencies that serve millions of SMBs and national franchise locations across North America and Europe. With greater visibility into advertising performance across all media channels—digital, mobile, print and more—media publishers, agencies and advertisers can optimize the media mix for higher quality lead generation, resulting in increased revenues and a more complete picture of ROI across converging media.

For more information, visit Telmetrics.com.

Media Contact:
Meggan Manson
Young & Associates
301-371-6995
megganm@yapr.com

Mobile as a Research and Purchase Device

Research from the study suggests more and more, consumers are using mobile devices to complete tasks from start to finish. Fifty percent of respondents said they use their mobile devices to start the search process; 46 percent use mobile exclusively when performing research online.
Read the complete article >>>

Nearly half of the adults involved in this study did not consult PCs as part of their pre-purchase research, search and discovery process. I was taken aback by that finding, so much so that I had to confirm and reconfirm it with xAd, one of the companies that co-sponsored the study.

Read the entire article >>>

The second “U.S. Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study” found that 54 percent of mobile users consult additional media sources to aid in their purchase decision while 49 percent use a PC as their primary media resource. The results suggest that mobile users are searching earlier and more often for locally-relevant information.

Read the complete article >>>

The results found that 45% of consumers go to their mobile device first when starting a search. One-third said they used mobile throughout their purchasing process, two-thirds switched to another device or converted offline. This highlights the fact that while mobile is clearly important, it’s certainly not the only marketing tool local businesses need to utilize.

Read the entire article >>>

NEW YORK and TORONTO / APRIL 30, 2013 / Consumers are reaching for their mobile devices earlier and more often in their search for local products and services, according to the 2^nd Annual U.S. Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study findings released by xAd, a leading mobile-location based advertising network, and Telmetrics, the top mobile call measurement provider. The study also found that local relevancy and promotions are a critical factor in influencing consumers’ purchase decisions and conversions.

Results of the 2^nd Annual Mobile Path-to-Purchase study were compiled by Nielsen from an online survey of more than 2,000 U.S. smartphone and tablet users and focused on the Banking/Finance, Gas/Convenience, Insurance and Retail categories.

xAd-Telmetrics Mobile Path-to-Purchase Infographic

“This year’s Mobile Path-to-Purchase study validates that consumers are increasingly turning to smartphones and tablets for their shopping-related needs as adoption of mobile devices continues to surge, and brand marketers and their agency counterparts need to formulate their mobile strategies accordingly,” said Monica Ho, vice president of marketing, xAd Inc. “For the second year, the study demonstrates that consumers’ mobile behaviors vary by industry and category. As a result, marketers must understand and shape their campaigns based on users’ mobile purchase habits, including preferred research tools, activities and mobile purchase influences.”

Mobile Rivals Desktop As a Primary Media Resource

The 2013 study shows that of consumers searching for local products and services, 45 percent tap mobile devices first, while 49 percent use PC/Online as their primary media resource. Although 54 percent of all mobile users (including smartphone and tablet) indicated usage of additional media sources to aid in their purchase decision, 46 percent exclusively used mobile as their default/primary research tool. The study also demonstrated that 50 percent of all mobile users rely on their device at the beginning of the research process with 1 out of 3 users indicating they used their device throughout their entire purchasing process.

Location and Promotions Critical to Conversion

Local relevancy continues to be a key mobile influencer, as users cite location, local offers and promotions as the top reasons for purchase selection. In fact, nearly 1 out of 3 smartphone users and 1 out of 4 tablet users reference their device specifically for contact information such as a phone number, address or map and driving directions. The majority of consumers (60 percent) expected businesses to be within walking or local driving distance from their current location.

“As mobile device usage increases so does searchers’ expectations of local relevancy including comprehensive location details,” said Bill Dinan, president of Telmetrics, who addressed some of these findings on a mobile search ROI panel at the MediaPost Search Insider Summit yesterday in Amelia Island, Fla. “Marketers need to consider the importance of placing local identifiers prominently – especially in the beginning of the purchase cycle, as they attempt to reach highly motivated, ready-to-buy mobile users.”

Mobile Consumers Take Action with Strong Purchase Intent and Conversions

Overall mobile users across the categories studied had very high purchase intent with 60 percent of smartphone users and 53 percent of tablet users having completed purchases related to their mobile activity. While the study shows that timing of purchase selection depends on the category and device, more than half (53 percent) of mobile users are making their purchases offline or in-store. This is even more prevalent on smartphones with 74 percent completing their transactions offline.

Additional highlights from the study include:

• Although cross category device utilization in the purchase process was very similar, immediacy of need was extremely varied depending on the category:
  • Gas & Convenience and Banking & Finance related needs seemed to be more immediate  — happening immediately or within a day
  • Retail & Insurance needs were less urgent with one-third of needs happening within the month or longer
• For smartphones, most searchers go directly to the branded app or website (57 percent), however, on tablets the discovery methods vary by category
• Nearly 60 percent of mobile users (including nearly 80 percent of tablet users) indicated using their device at home, signaling that mobile usage is starting to cannibalize desktop/PC usage

About the Study

The xAd-Telmetrics Mobile Path to Purchase Study is the only comprehensive research report that measures what consumers report they are doing via mobile devices and captures actual preferences and behaviors. Results from the 2^nd Annual U.S. Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study are based on data from an online survey of 2,000 U.S. smartphone and tablet users and actual observed consumer behaviors from Nielsen’s Smartphone Analytics Panel of 6,000 Apple and Android users. The study will also include four additional releases of specific market findings for the Banking/Finance, Gas/Convenience, Insurance and Retail categories.

More details are available at mobilepathtopurchase.com

About xAd
Founded in 2009, xAd is one of the largest mobile advertising networks in the U.S. and the leader in delivering targeted mobile ads based on accurate user location and search context. Across its network, the company aggregates and manages billions of monthly ad impressions from which it derives the largest supply of location-based advertising inventory in the market. xAd delivers targeted mobile location@scale for over a million national and local advertisers, including brands like Pinkberry, Home Depot and Wells Fargo.

xAd is based in New York City with several satellite offices across the U.S. and internationally. For more information, visit xAd.com.

About Telmetrics, Inc.
For more than 20 years, Telmetrics has been the call measurement industry leader. Telmetrics’ call tracking solutions, which are available in North America and across Europe, track the lead generation quality of local search advertising and pay per call programs for the leading brands in local search. This includes both publishers and agencies that serve millions of SMBs and national franchise locations across North America and Europe. With greater visibility into advertising performance across all media channels—digital, mobile, print and more—media publishers, agencies and advertisers can optimize the media mix for higher quality lead generation, resulting in increased revenues and a more complete picture of ROI across converging media.

For more information, visit Telmetrics.com.

Media Contact:
Meggan Manson
Young & Associates
301-371-6995
megganm@yapr.com

Mobile advertisers spend more per UK mobile consumer than anywhere else in the world, eMarketer reported.

Tailoring mobile ad strategies to reflect each country’s distinct mobile user populations is more important than ever. This includes considering varying search patterns, timing, and device usage – many of which are impacted by lifestyle differences.

The recent xAd-Telmetrics UK Mobile Path-to-Purchase research study – a complement to the annual U.S. study – noted relevant findings in comparing both countries’ results. These included strong purchase intent among UK and U.S. mobile users and the significant role that location, research, and lifestyle play in mobile purchase decisions.

Location High Priority, but for Different Reasons

Location greatly influences both U.S. and UK mobile searchers’ purchase behaviors, according to both studies. For example, up to 47 percent of UK searchers and up to 73 percent of U.S. mobile users look for a business’ phone number, which indicates high interest in location. However, close proximity is more important in the UK, as 12 percent of mobile UK searchers (vs. 8 percent in the U.S.) expect search locations to be within walking distance.

Additionally, almost 15 percent of UK mobile users search outside and nearly 10 percent from public transit – this is up to three times higher than in the U.S. population where the most popular on-the-go location is in the car. This echoes common lifestyle differences between the countries including heavier reliance on cars in the U.S.

Since local relevance is a high priority for mobile users in both geographies, advertisers that include local cues like location information and phone numbers in mobile ad campaigns can positively influence purchase decisions on both sides of the pond.

Research focus areas also differ between the two countries’ mobile users – UK mobile searchers cite price comparisons and reviews as their top two mobile research activities, while driving directions and contact information are more important to U.S. mobile searchers.

UK advertisers looking to maximize the impact of their ad dollars must incorporate these usage differences and research activity preferences into their mobile ad campaigns.

Longer Purchase Cycle for UK Mobile Searchers

In looking at mobile purchase-related behaviors, UK mobile searchers generally take longer to make a purchase decision than their U.S. counterparts.

While 56 percent of UK mobile consumers ultimately make a purchase, U.S. mobile searchers show more immediacy with the studies indicating that 17 percent of U.S. searchers versus 9 percent of UK searchers intend to make a purchase immediately.

Ultimately, 40 percent of UK mobile users make a purchase within the day, as compared with 56 percent of US mobile searchers. Lifestyle differences in the UK vs. the U.S. likely play a role in this immediacy difference, as more UK users (62 percent vs. 52 percent in the U.S.) are searching while at home, which demonstrates their commitment to research and can lead to a longer-term purchase.

Summary

On the whole, mobile marketers targeting both U.S. and UK audiences should evaluate and tailor their mobile ad programs to reflect the needs and lifestyles of the mobile users in those countries.

By including location information and considering the research patterns and purchase timing of both geographic groups, they will be better prepared to optimize their mobile ad programs for greater traction and ROI across the globe.

TORONTO / APRIL 23, 2013 / Telmetrics, the top mobile call measurement provider, today announced that the Local Search Association awarded them a 2013 Industry Excellence Award – in the Search Marketing Value Story category – for the company’s next generation Web2Tel 2.0, the first solution to provide search marketers a way to cost-effectively scale online-offline attribution via Dynamic Number Insertion (DNI) without sacrificing attribution accuracy.

Telmetrics’ Web2Tel 2.0 includes new built-in quality measures and enables marketers to accurately tie offline leads to originating search campaigns and optimize accordingly. With DNI, phone numbers on web pages are dynamically replaced with call tracking numbers based on how users arrived at the site – via search engine and/or keyword combination, etc. Through Web2Tel 2.0, publishers and marketers can now utilize DNI across hundreds of thousands of search and keyword campaigns without requiring similar volumes of tracking numbers, while still providing accurate lead attribution to support local search program growth.

“Web2Tel 2.0 takes the guesswork out of session-based DNI solutions and provides search marketers a more complete picture of lead attribution including the ability to track calls at a more granular level, validate distribution partners and present a holistic search value story to advertisers,” said Bill Dinan, president of Telmetrics. “We’re committed to quality advertising performance measurement and developed Web2Tel 2.0 to enable increased local search attribution accuracy and transparency.”

The annual Local Search Association awards recognize local search publishers, marketers and suppliers for outstanding achievements in advancing local search strategies and programs. Winners were named during the association’s 2013 conference in Las Vegas where members gathered to discuss the state of the local search industry including trends, challenges and best practices. Telmetrics also won a Community Service Award for a company-wide campaign to raise money for men’s health awareness.

About Telmetrics, Inc.

For more than 20 years, Telmetrics has been the call measurement industry leader. Telmetrics’ call tracking solutions, which are available in North America and across Europe, track the lead generation quality of local search advertising and pay per call programs for the leading brands in local search. This includes both publishers and agencies that serve millions of SMBs and national franchise locations across North America and Europe. With greater visibility into advertising performance across all media channels—digital, mobile, print and more—media publishers, agencies and advertisers can optimize the media mix for higher quality lead generation, resulting in increased revenues and a more complete picture of ROI across converging media. For more information, visit Telmetrics.com.

Media Contact:
Meggan Manson
Young & Associates
301-371-6995
megganm@yapr.com

New independent research – in fact, the first ever xAd-Telmetrics UK Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study — reveals critical insights about mobile purchase behaviors in the UK, including preferred research tools, activities and mobile purchase influences. For example, two-thirds of UK mobile searchers don’t have a specific brand in mind when they conduct searches on mobile devices; however, they do cite the importance of local relevancy. This means that advertisers have an opportunity to positively influence mobile purchase decisions by including local cues such as location info and phone numbers in their ads.

Insights from the Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study can improve UK mobile advertisers’ ad relevancy and performance and ensure mobile ads are hitting the right audience with the right message. Take a look at some more interesting findings: