Mobile phone consumer research is both an art and science, especially among smartphone users who are totally immersed and engaged with the growing number of sophisticated handsets on the market. Phones are an intimate part of their lives.
In September, 2009, Joy Liuzzo with InsightExpress, a digital marketing research firm, appeared on MobileBeyond to discuss her ongoing studies of consumer mobile behavior. She returns to update us on three different types of mobile phone users: Intensives, casuals and restrained.
InsightExpress
InsightExpress is a leading provider of high-quality, digital marketing research and plays a preeminent role in the measurement of advertising effectiveness across online, mobile and other media.
Through its patented technologies, proprietary solutions, world-class expertise and time-tested research principles, InsightExpress transforms the way advertisers, agencies, publishers and researchers optimize their marketing activities.
InsightExpress is headquartered in Stamford, CT, with offices in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles.
Joy Liuzzo
As Senior Director of Marketing & Mobile Research at InsightExpress. Joy is responsible for the strategic development and management of mobile ad measurement and custom mobile research efforts across the organization.
She works closely with Product Development in the creation of all mobile research solutions, and oversees the company’s mobile position and all external partnerships and affiliations.
She is also responsible for the company’s digital media measurement marketing initiatives. Joy has extensive strategy and research experience in new media and telecommunications.

She joined InsightExpress from AOL where she held a high level role involving mobile marketing and product development and worked closely with clients at every phase of the research process.
Joy holds a B.A. from Hollins College and an M.S. from Old Dominion University.
In her second podcast interview on MobileBeyond, Joy touches on a number of consumer research topics not covered in her first interview, including:
- While mobile penetration in the U.S. is still around 85% of the population, mobile devices are rapidly growing
- Three important mobile web page factors are page load timing, great content and easy navigation
- Why mobile app advertising results vary from developer-to-developer. More sophisticated developers do better than others who just glue ads to their apps. Consumers expect greater engagement with applications they’ve loaded on their phones and trust brand advertising more than mobile website visitors who may be reluctant to purchase online. In any case, mobile ads are five times more effective than online advertising.
- Social networking interactions via the mobile channel on Facebook is now 89%; mySpace hovers around 39%; Twitter has grown from 10%-29% quickly, while LinkedIn stands at 12%. The quality of each mobile app is a major factor in driving traffic to social media sites
- Bottom line on why most people use mobile phones? For entertainment and connecting with others. Social media provides the bait: new content
Mobile Phone Casuals - Advertising research by InsightExpress asks consumers how much they notice mobile ads, would likely click on them and the annoyance factor. Mobile Internet banner ads have the highest click factor with lowest annoyance because people are used to online Internet advertising
- Five “mobile best practices” lead to successful advertising: clear branding, consistent messaging, fostering a connection with people, giving consumers a reason for engagement and developing preferences with coupons
- More people are texting each other while in the same room. Find out why intensives do it the most and why texting keeps growing among all three groups
- 18-34 year-olds use mobile as a total communications tool: sharing pictures, social networking and using “social filtering”
- Intensives also take photos in retail stores and send to friends, while casuals are more likely to share pictures from social events
- Younger mobile users are still throwing phones at each other and walking into walls while texting and talking
- Watching a video on your smartphone while sitting in front of your computer is the new cool thing. How people use personal computers in a wireless world may be changing.
- Download the complete April, 2010 PowerPoint slides by clicking here
Mobile Restrained Phone Users - Next up for Joy and InsightExpress: Apple’s iPad and mobile video: what consumers are doing with video, when, how and why
Mobile phone consumer research is a fascinating field revealing how humans interact with gadgets and technology. Check out InsightExpress‘ website for more information.
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