Google Smartphone Data: Lots of Shopping, Lots of Local

Google has released results of a study filled with positive results on smartphone usage. Known as “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users,” it focuses on search and search-related ad performance.

According to the study, 71 percent of smartphone users search based on ads they’ve seen elsewhere. Eighty-two percent notice mobile ads, 74 percent make a purchase after shopping searches, and 95 percent have conducted local searches.

Other highlights from the report include:

General Smartphone Usage: Smartphones have become an integral part of users’ daily lives. Consumers use smartphones as an extension of their desktop computers and use it as they multitask and consume other media.

• 81% browse the Internet, 77% search, 68% use an app, and 48% watch videos on their smartphone
• 72% use their smartphones while consuming other media, with a third while watching TV
• 93% of smartphone owners use their smartphones while at home

Action-Oriented Searchers: Mobile search is heavily used to find a wide variety of information and to navigate the mobile Internet.

• Search engine websites are the most visited websites with 77% of smartphone users citing this, followed by social networking, retail and video sharing websites
• Nine out of ten smartphone searches results in an action (purchasing, visiting a business, etc.)
• 24% recommended a brand or product to others as a result of a smartphone search

Local Information Seekers: Looking for local information is done by virtually all smartphone users and consumers are ready to act on the information they find.

• 95% of smartphone users have looked for local information
• 88% of these users take action within a day, indicating these are immediate information needs
• 77% have contacted a business, with 61% calling and 59% visiting the local business

Purchase-Driven Shoppers: Smartphones have become an indispensable shopping tool and are used across channels and throughout the research and decision-making process.

• 79% of smartphone consumers use their phones to help with shopping, from comparing prices, finding more product info to locating a retailer
• 74% of smartphone shoppers make a purchase, whether online, in-store, or on their phones
• 70% use their smartphones while in the store, reflecting varied purchase paths that often begin online or on their phones and brings consumers to the store

Reaching Mobile Consumers: Cross-media exposure influences smartphone user behavior and a majority notice mobile ads which leads to taking action on it.

• 71% search on their phones because of an ad exposure, whether from traditional media (68%) to online ads (18%) to mobile ads (27%)
• 82% notice mobile ads, especially mobile display ads and a third notice mobile search ads
• Half of those who see a mobile ad take action, with 35% visiting a website and 49% making a purchase

The message of all this is clear: Businesses and mobile advertisers should fish where the fish are by making sure they can be found via mobile searches. That includes mobile SEO, mobile landing page presence and optimization, and in some cases paid search campaigns.

Optimization of landing pages and search campaigns should include geographically relevant site copy in addition to calls to action. The latter is important given the local intent shown by these results and can include everything from correct business information to product or inventory data.

Or as Google puts it:

The findings of the study have strong implications for businesses and mobile advertisers. Make sure you can be found via mobile search as consumers regularly use their phones to find and act on information. Incorporate location based products and services and make it easy for mobile customers to reach you because local information seeking is common among smartphone users. Develop a comprehensive cross-channel strategy as mobile shoppers use their phones in-store, online and via mobile website and apps to research and make purchase decisions. Last, implement an integrated marketing strategy with mobile advertising that takes advantage of the knowledge that people are using their smartphones while consuming other media and are influenced by.

The survey-centric study was conducted by market research firm Ipsos and included a sample of 5,013 U.S. adult smartphone Internet users at the end of 2010. Here’s an even more boiled down version in an infographic-driven video.