How brands can engage customers better by tracking smartphone prices

By tracking handset prices, brands can engage customers better and bring down the drop-out rates, says Nielsen

Did you know that the smartphone you use could give advertisers key insights into what advertisements you see and how you navigate your online presence? A recent study by marketing analytics firm, Nielsen, points out that the price of handsets is turning into a very important metric for businesses to profile and target relevant content to users.

Nielsen noted that the average spend on smartphones in India has risen from Rs 7,700 in 2015 to Rs 9,960 in 2017. Consequently the report found that the engagement level of users with these devices also increased depending on the price of handsets. Entry level smartphones are priced below Rs 5,000, mid-segment are worth Rs 5,000 to Rs  15,000 and premium phones are priced between Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000, as considered for this study. While an entry level user spends 91 minutes on an average on online activities, premium users spend over 130 minutes doing the same on their smartphone.

What this means is users with premium phones are likely to engage better and for longer online and can be targeted with services and product ads.  The type of apps usage also varies across phones (despite a few universal apps) and the adoption of lighter version of apps and browsers is more prevalent among cheaper handsets. “Almost half of India’s entry-level users are between 15 and 24 years old, mostly students, and can be assumed to be data-hungry, though less affluent than premium handset owners. Among premium handset users, 60 per cent are over 24 years old, primarily working professionals or self-employed. These users are usually affluent and data-hungry,” noted the report.

These numbers barely scratch the surface of the user complexity on the ground when one looks at the spread of Indian language users within this. Reverie Language Technology’s report also noted that even among  Indian language internet users, almost 54 per cent use mid-range phone models, 22 per cent of users use high end device models, disproving the assumption companies have that Indian language internet users have low purchasing power. This data shows how essential it is for phone manufacturers and OEMs to ensure that phones across all price bands have accurate, legible fonts and rendering in Indian languages for a seamless user experience.

Online furniture marketplace Pepperfry is among the growing band of companies that keep a close watch on consumer data and mobile usage. Pepperfry Chief Product Manager Abhimanyu Lal said during an earlier interaction with Business Standard that the company gets almost 70 per cent of all online traffic from mobile users and it has made a number of changes in the way users experience the platform on their mobiles over the past year to accommodate changing digital usage patterns across the country. It realised the need for customising the app/website for lower end phones and is seeking to provide premium AR technology at a lower app size.  “The transaction size on apps is twice as much as compared to the mobile site, which is still lower than desktop transaction values,” said Lal. 

Brands are increasingly breaking down the data to understand how to bait, retain and get the online consumer to spend on their apps. The learning curve is still a steep climb as a recent Facebook report showed that friction accounts for approximately two-thirds of consumer dropouts while buying smartphones. Interestingly, friction faced by consumers can be reduced with the higher use of mobile in the media mix and this can create close to $3.1 billion worth of potential revenue for smartphone brands by 2022. The Nielsen report is an indication of how brands can sharpen their mobile strategies to identify and target their customers more efficiently.

Know the phone, know the customer

|   The price of handsets is emerging as a remarkable surrogate for monitoring the ever-widening set of users and their       smartphone usage, thereby facilitating business and marketing strategy for better return on investment (ROI)

|   There is a strong correlation between the amount of time people use their handsets and the evolution of the usage

|   Among premium handset users, 60 per cent are over 24 years old, primarily professionals or self-employed. These users are usually affluent and data-hungry