Despite spam issues and fear of intrusiveness, mobile marketing programs are attracting high consumer interests in Asia Pacific, thanks to increased usage of multiple mobile phone features in the region, according to a new survey.
The high usage of smartphones in Asia, especially in China and India, also gives mobile marketers additional options for developing and executing campaigns, said the survey conducted in October by Synovate.
The study, which is sponsored by the Mobile Marketing Association, surveyed 1,901 mobile users of six countries across the region, including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and Korea.
According to the survey, half of the respondents express at least moderate interest in mobile marketing, while 13% indicates high interest, because of the immediacy of the information and convenience of the service.
Regardless of country or age, mobile users are more likely to have experience with sweepstakes/voting and receiving information about new products than with other mobile marketing applications.
The study also shows that mobile users have the greatest interest in mobile coupons, status alerts about accounts or purchases, alerts on special sales and sweepstakes.
Of the countries surveyed, the greatest potential is in India and China, followed by Hong Kong, where mobile users already have participated in such programs.
Not surprisingly text messaging usage is high, accounting for more than 60% of the region's uses. This usage translates into a large addressable audience for SMS-based marketing campaigns, the study noted.