Study: U.K. Mobile Search Survey Reveals U.K. Consumers In Less Of A Hurry To Make Purchases Than U.S. Mobile Users

Mobile-location based advertising network xAd joined forces with mobile call measurement provider Telmetrics to release their first U.K. Mobile Path-to-Purchase study, focusing on U.K. mobile search behavior. Conducted by Nielsen, the online study, surveyed 1,500 U.K. smartphone and tablet users to measure consumer search activity on mobile devices.

While price comparisons and reviews were the leading mobile research activities in the U.K., users performing restaurant and automotive searches on smartphones were most often looking for location or local contact information.

According to the study, 40 percent of U.K. mobile searchers reported an intent to make a purchase within a day of their search. Of the mobile searchers looking to make a purchase within 24-hours, 22 percent were looking to make a purchase within an hour of their search. People with an intent to make a purchase within a day were more likely to use their smartphones, with 14 percent more of the searches performed on a smartphone versus a tablet.

When compared to an August 2012 U.S. Mobile Path-to-Purchase study, U.K. mobile searchers have less overall immediacy with their intent to purchase than U.S. mobile searchers across the three primary vertical categories: restaurants, automotive and travel.

For restaurant searches, 87 percent of U.S. mobile searchers had an intent to purchase within the day, compared to only 58 percent of U.K. mobile searchers. And while 49 percent of U.S. mobile searchers performing automotive searches had an intent to purchase the same day, only 29 percent of U.K. mobile searchers had an intent to make a purchase the same day. Travel was the only category with less than a 10 percent gap between U.S. and U.K. data, with 33 percent of U.S. mobile searchers intending to purchase the same day compared to 31 percent in the U.K.

A key finding of the study was the importance of location for U.K. mobile search, with nearly 50 percent of both smartphone and tablet users expecting search locations to be within walking or driving distance.

Smartphone users have a greater interest in location with 58 percent of smartphone searches performed outside of the home.

Not only does location play a key role in U.K. mobile search, it is also a driving force for mobile ad clicks, with nearly one-third of users preferring ads that are geographically relevant. Location relevance trumps both brand awareness and promotional offers in terms of what generates the most U.K. mobile ad clicks.

More than 65 percent of survey respondents reported that they did not know exactly what they were searching for when performing a mobile search, opening the door to untapped opportunities for mobile advertisers in the U.K.

“Successful mobile advertising campaigns must be tailored to distinct device and category nuances as a ‘one size fits all’ approach won’t produce the desired results,” said Monica Ho, vice president of marketing for xAd, Inc.

Overall, 80 percent of smartphone and tablet searchers in the U.K. visit search engines in the research process. When specifying which device they are most likely to use at home, 81 percent of respondents claimed to use their tablet compared to 42 percent who reported searching on their smartphone at home.

The 1,500 U.K. smartphone and tablet users surveyed were required to have engaged in a restaurant, travel or automotive related mobile search activity in the previous 30 days.  Restaurant, travel and automotive were the selected categories as they are the leading three vertical markets projected to demonstrate mobile growth during the next five years.