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Consumers Perceptions and Attitudes towards SMS Mobile Marketing in New

Amy Carroll Stuart J. Barnes Eusebio Scornavacca


School of Information School of Management, School of Information
Management, Victoria University of East Anglia, Management, Victoria
University of Wellington,NZ United Kingdom University of Wellington,NZ
nc.nz nc.uk nz

Abstract campaigns can generate responses, which are as high as


40% compared with a 3% response rate through direct
Mobile marketing is an area of m-commerce mail and 1% with Internet banner ads Despite this
expected to experience tremendous growth in the next 5 phenomenal marketing potential, there has been very
years. This paper explores consumer’s perceptions and little research on mobile marketing and particularly
attitudes towards mobile marketing via through a through its most successful application, Short Message
sequential, mixed methods investigation. Four factors Service (SMS) According to GSM Association, cell
were identified and proven as having a significant phone users send more than 10 billion SMS messages
impact on mobile marketing acceptance - permission, each month, making SMS the most popular data service
content, wireless service provider control and Conceptual frameworks and models identified in the
the delivery of the message, which guided the literature provide insight into the critical success factors
development of a revised and empirically tested model of m-commerce marketing, however very few of these
of m-marketing consumer acceptance. The findings also studies have empirically tested, or generated models from
suggest that marketers should be optimistic about a consumer’s perspective
choosing to deploy mobile marketing, however exercise The aim of this paper is to explore consumer’s
caution around the factors that will determine consumer perceptions and attitudes towards mobile marketing via
acceptance. The paper concludes with a discussion SMS, and to empirically test Barnes Scornavacca’s [2]
about directions research. m-marketing acceptance model. The following section
provides a background to mobile marketing and
1. Introduction identifies some of the prominent models in the
business literature. It also examines the factors believed
One area of m-commerce that is expected to to influence consumer acceptance of mobile marketing.
experience tremendous growth is global wireless The third section discusses the methodology, while the
advertising. It has been predicted that the mobile fourth and fifth sections provides the results of the study
marketing industry will grow from 4 billion dollars to and a revised model for mobile marketing acceptance.
16 billion dollars 2003 to 2005 Mobile The paper concludes with a discussion about the future
marketing provides new revenue streams and the for SMS mobile marketing, and directions for further
opportunities for subsidized access, along with the research.
potential for customers to experience more convenient
and relevant content value, sponsored by advertising 2. Background on Mobile Marketing
It is expected that 33% of cellular service provider’s
revenue will be coming advertising and Mobile marketing can be defined as “Using
payments and commissions from mobile commerce interactive wireless media to provide customers with time
activities and location sensitive, personalized information that
Wireless marketing allows through effective targeting promotes goods, services and ideas, thereby generating
and tailoring of messages to customers to enhance the value for all stakeholders” This definition includes
customer-business relationship Studies on this new an important concept of adding value not just for the
advertising medium indicate that mobile advertising marketing party, but also for the consumer. The literature

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shows a variety of technological platforms such as most important variables influencing consumer
wireless application protocol (WAP), acceptance.
service (SMS), and multimedia-message-service (MMS) Barnes and Scornavacca [2] believed that user
that are available to support mobile marketing permission, wireless service provider control and
applications brand recognition are the three most important
SMS is the most popular mobile data application to variables that could influence consumer’s acceptance of
date, showing phenomenal usage with 580 million mobile mobile marketing.
messaging users sending over 430 billion messages Among those, user permission was believed to be
worldwide in 2002 Text message services have the most important variable, the main reason for this
hugely popular for interpersonal communication, allowing being that most consumers are fearful of SMS mobile
users of all ages to exchange messages with both social marketing becoming like e-mail marketing that is with
and business contacts Xu, Teo, Wang [7] high levels of SPAM. WSP control is found to increase
identified three consistent success indicators for SMS the probability of user acceptance to mobile marketing.
messaging. The first factor is the cost effectiveness and This was supported by the fact that user’s are likely to
interoperability of the wireless infrastructure, the second have high levels with their WSP
is the high penetration of mobile phones (ubiquitous The model also puts forward eight propositions of
penetration levels of over 80% in some countries), and the varying levels of acceptance according to the different
third is the relatively low cost of the SMS messaging combinations of factors. Table 1 presents Barnes and
service. Scornavacca’s [2] hypothesized acceptability of SMS
Countries such as Japan, New Germany and marketing messages based on high and low levels of
the have cost-effective and interoperable wireless permission, WSP control and brand trust. This model is
structures, a high penetration of mobile phones, and a yet to be empirically tested with primary data.
relatively low cost for the SMS messaging service have
experienced remarkable success with the SMS application Table Scenarios for m-marketing acceptance
The success that SMS has had as a messaging
service, provides a potentially huge SMS messaging
customer base which could lend itself as a SMS mobile
marketing customer base, it an attractive
opportunity for marketers
One of the main challenges and opportunities for
mobile advertising companies is to understand and respect
the personal nature of the usage of mobile phones

2.1. Consumer acceptance of mobile marketing


These propositions provide a starting point in
The acceptance of a mobile marketing message is further exploring the factors that could contribute to
likely to be influenced by the consumers acceptance of the consumer acceptance of mobile marketing.
mobile medium, the relevance of the content and the
context of the marketing message 3. Methodology
Messages that are short and concise, funny, interactive,
entertaining, and relevant to the target group usually The chosen strategy of inquiry for this research is
achieve higher levels of success The recent m- sequential exploratory mixed methods. Sequential
business literature offers a couple of frameworks that procedures are ones in which the researcher uses the
investigate user acceptance of SMS based mobile findings of one method to elaborate on or expand with
marketing another method The objectives of the
The guiding model used for this research is the sequential exploratory approach for the purpose of this
conceptual model of permission and acceptance study is to use two qualitative focus groups to explore
developed by Barnes Scornavacca This model perceptions of mobile marketing, focusing on main
was selected as it looks at a small subset of factors variables believed to influence mobile marketing
identified in the literature, which are believed to be the acceptance, and then elaborate on this through
experimental research in which the findings of the

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initial phase will be used. The empirical data will advantage of using a survey in this study was the economy
hopefully confirm what has been identified the and rapid turnaround of data collection that a survey
literature and the findings from the focus groups. provides. Surveys are also advantageous in their ability to
make inferences about consumer behaviour for given
3.1 Focus groups populations based on a sample
A survey questionnaire was chosen due to its cost
The samples for the focus groups were purposely effectiveness, data availability and convenience. 78
selected based on convenience sampling, availability and participants for the quantitative phase of the research were
profiling. Participants for both groups were in the age selected using random convenience sampling with eight
range 20-28 (one of the major target groups for mobile members of the sample being non-respondents.
marketing Four participants were selected for focus The instrument used in the survey was a
group A and five participants for focus group B. The version of the permission and acceptance model of mobile
participants in focus group A had a greater knowledge of marketing developed by Barnes and Scornavacca [2] with
mobile commerce technologies and applications than the four variables permission, WSP control, content and
participants in focus group B, which was purposely delivery of the message. Sixteen propositions were
achieved in order to canvas a range of experiences and formulated around these variables that were tested with a
provide differing viewpoints. The participants in this four-point likert scale ranging from “unacceptable” to
study were university students as well as young “accept enthusiastically”.
professionals. The data that was collected from the surveys was entered
Interviews were based on open-ended questions and into an excel spreadsheet, and statistical calculations were
triggers. Video recording was used to tape the focus group carried out. The sixteen propositions were then placed in a
discussions, with additional notes being taken by the table with the expected and actual levels of acceptance
facilitator. The advantages of using a focus group was that that were found for each proposition. Tabular analysis was
a range of ideas and perceptions were derived and the conducted in order to analyze the change in SMS mobile
dynamics of the group provided a rich understanding of marketing acceptance through the various combinations of
the research problem. These focus groups generated new the set of variables (permission, WSP control, content,
propositions that were tested in the survey questionnaire and delivery). The results from the quantitative phase
phase. were then compared against previous literature in order to
Data analysis for the focus groups involved transcribing provide further insight of the findings.
interviews and sorting the data into groups of information To avoid possible threats to validity, caution was taken
based on various topics. The transcriptions were then read when the results of this experiment were generalized to
over to look for ideas, depth and credibility of the other populations and environments, when conducting
information from participants; thoughts were noted down statistical analysis, and when the definitions and
in the margins of the transcript A coding process boundaries of the terms were defined.
was then carried out where the data was organized into
clusters before any meaning was derived from it The 4. Results from the Focus Groups
themes and categories identified from the analysis are the
major findings of the qualitative phase, and have been While Focus Group A was more knowledgeable in the
shaped into a general description of the phenomenon of area of mobile commerce, mobile technologies and the
mobile marketing acceptance (see the results section for potential of mobile marketing, both focus groups had
details). Reliability measures were used to check for only ever experienced mobile marketing through their
consistency of themes and patterns, while validity wireless service providers. To some extent the
measures (triangulation, member checking, bias and peer participants’ experience of receiving marketing
debriefing) were used to determine the accuracy of the messages from their service provider influenced their
findings individual perceptions and perceived importance of
varying factors contributing to consumer acceptance.
3.2 Questionnaire The results of both focus groups were consistent with
little disparity between the two.
This phase involved the use of a cross-sectional survey Factors identified in the focus groups as having a
questionnaire to test the acceptance of mobile marketing significant impact on consumer acceptance of mobile
messages against sixteen various propositions that were marketing were permission to receive mobile marketing
formulated from the results of the focus groups. The messages, control of the wireless service provider,

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relevance of the content, timeliness and frequency of the Frequency: Participants agreed that there would be a
messages, simplicity and convenience of the messages, limit to the number of mobile marketing messages they
the brand or company sending the message, the control wished to receive, and there should be some control
of the marketing from the consumer and the privacy of over the number of messages which they are receiving
the consumer. Consistent with Barnes Scornavacca’s depending on what good or service was being marketed
[2] model, permission and WSP control were perceived or what industry Both focus groups
to have a heavy bearing on the acceptance of a mobile agreed that if consumers were to be hounded by
marketing message, however brand was found to have marketing messages, it may result in switching
little or no impact on acceptance than the likes of providers, or deleting messages without reading them
content, time and frequency of the messages. The
emerging there are classified as follows: Time: Participants raised the issue of the time playing
an important role in the acceptance of mobile marketing
Permission: Permission was raised the most messages. It was believed that it is important for
throughout the discussions in each focus group, and was consumer’s to receive marketing messages at times
concluded by participants as the most important success suitable for them, and consumer’s are able to not only
factor. Participants stated that consumers should have to give permission to receive messages but also chose the
‘opt in’ before they receive mobile marketing messages time’s they wish to receive them.
of any kind, and have the option to ‘opt out’ at any
stage. Brand: As far as the brand or company who was
marketing was concerned the general feeling among both
Wireless service provider (WSP) control: Although focus groups was that as long as the marketing messages
there was great emphasis on permission, It was also were being filtered by the service provider it wouldn’t
strongly felt that there needed to be a degree of filtering matter too much who it was from, however if it was third
from the service provider, participant A stated .. there party they would be annoyed straight off. The majority of
has to be some sort of protection, they can’t just open it participants argued that it would be the more well known
up to anyone - if companies want to market to brands or brands that the individual consumer
customers they should have to go through Vodafone”. recognizes. However some consumers may prefer to
The idea was raised that if participants had just one receive messages from a little boutique shop down the
company to go to which was linked to their service road and there should be a way smaller companies can
provider’s then there would be just one point of contact afford mobile marketing. Again if the brand or company
allowing consumers to easily ‘opt in’ and ‘opt out’ doing the marketing was to go through the wireless
rather than tracking down several different companies. service provider this would result in an even higher level
Participants agreed that it should be evident in the of trust. Focus group two believed that consumer’s should
message that it is being filtered by the service provider be able to select which companies and brands they
and legitimate. receive messages from to a very specific point.

Personalization and content: It was agreed that of use: many important issues were
permission regarding time of day, frequency and raised regarding mobile technology and convenience of
content would also be critical to the acceptance of the marketing message - some issues have been pointed
mobile marketing. Both focus groups agreed that out in the previous sections. The main point raised that
content and its relevance would play a key role in the falls under this section is that marketing messages
acceptance of a mobile marketing message, with some shouldn’t be a hassle for consumers to receive, they
participants arguing this as the most important factor. It should work with the limitations of the phone and there
was believed that marketers should make use of the should be a manageable way to deal with them.
technology and the advantages it provides over
traditional forms of marketing and the internet, looking 5. Revised model and survey results
to add value other than just advertising. Other ideas
discussed in the focus groups were to tie content with Four conceptual factors emerged as having the most
location, timing, and ensure that the format of the influence on consumer acceptance based on the tabular
message works with the limitations of the phone. analysis and findings of the focus groups. Similar topics
were merged as conceptualised themes and then these
themes were analysed according to the number of times

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they were mentioned in the focus groups, whether these respectively, than scenarios 12 and 15 where there were
comments were implying that they were important higher levels o f and appropriate delivery
factors or not and whether or not the participants respectively.
explicitly stated them as being one of the most It is interesting to note that consistent with the
important factors. propositions, the level of acceptance declined with the
Appendix 1 presents 16 new propositions based on number of factors which had low levels, except in the
varying combinations of the identified factors, ranked case of proposition two, which was expected to generate
according to the importance of factors - 1) permission, the second highest level of acceptance and in actual fact
2) WSP control, 4) content, 5 ) delivery and also the dropped down to position eight. Where all other factors
number of factors which are low (0, 1, 2 , 3 or 4). were high, yet the delivery of the message was
The results obtained in the survey demonstrated that inappropriate more than 50% of respondents found this
propositions 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 were message unacceptable, compared to just 26% of
supported, while propositions 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 9, and 10 respondents who considered a message with low levels
were not found to be supported by the data collected. of WSP control unacceptable.
Overall, consumer acceptance of mobile marketing Looking at the other of propositions
messages was much lower than expected. Over 50% of their expected to actual perceived influence on
respondents answered unacceptable to more than 10 out acceptance, just three propositions stayed in the same
of the 16 scenarios put forward to them, with the ranked position. However of the propositions that did
average number of scenarios answered as unacceptable get shuffled in rank, nine of these only moved within
being 9. On the other hand, nearly of the one or two ranks, with just three propositions moving
respondents did not answer ‘accept enthusiastically’ to three places or more. Participants found all messages
anything, and of the 30% that did give this response for which had three or more factors with low levels to be
at least one scenario, more than 80% only gave this completely unacceptable. This was consistent with the
response for one or two of the questions. expected results, and supported the propositions 12, 13,
Of all the propositions the highest level of acceptance 14, 15, and 16. Messages which only had high levels of
for mobile marketing, was as expected for proposition WSP control or relevant content were found to be 10%
one. However it can be seen that even where consumers less unacceptable than messages with only high levels of
have given permission, the content of the message was permission or appropriate delivery - this supporting the
relevant, the delivery appropriate, and the message had theory that permission and delivery of the messages are
come through the WSP, it was found on average to be perceived to be the most important factors.
only acceptable, with just 3 1% of respondents accepting
this message enthusiastically. Thus disproving 6. Discussion
proposition one. Alternatively on average the lowest
level of acceptance (unacceptable) was found where The findings indicated a number of factors that are
there was a low level of all these factors. Only 9 out of critical to the acceptance of mobile marketing by
the 70 participants answered anything other than consumers. While the empirical testing showed that
unacceptable for this question. This result was expected some factors are more important than others in
and consistent in proving proposition 16. influencing the overall level of acceptance, it was found
Permission and delivery of the message were the two that all factors played a significant role.
variables that were found to equally have the most Consistent with the literature explicit permission was
influence on the participant’s level of acceptance, while found to be essential The wireless
content was found to be the next most important factor channel is relatively protected and spam free with
with control of the wireless service provider having the consumers having little experience with mobile
least amount of impact on the level of acceptance. marketing. Due to the personal nature of the phone, and
Participants were more likely to accept messages that experiences with unsolicited spam via e-mail users were
had a lower level of wireless service provider control or weary of receiving marketing to their cell phones, and a
irrelevant content than messages which they had not number of privacy issues were raised in the focus
given permission for or that came at an inappropriate groups. Another finding which emerged from the study
time or frequency. This was shown again in the table, was the importance of delivery with the marketing
rows 12-15, where participants found scenarios 13 and message. Literature has suggested that frequency and
14 more unacceptable, despite having high levels of time is linked to targeting, where users are happy to
wireless service provider control and content receive messages at a higher frequency so long as the

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relevance to them is maintained This was 7. Conclusions
supported by the empirical testing where it shows
messages with a low level of relevant content yet This research highlights the importance of consumer
appropriate delivery were found to be much more perceptions and acceptance levels of mobile marketing.
acceptable than messages with a low level of relevant The literature showed the powerful marketing potential
content and inappropriate delivery (a higher that mobile marketing can offer companies through it’s
While participants in the focus groups made a point of anytime and anywhere nature, yet limited research
saying that it is useless receiving any messages looking at consumer’s perceptions and acceptance of
containing content which is irrelevant, there are a mobile marketing has been carried out. This study
number of possible reasons why the respondents may out to overcome the apparent gap in literature, and
found delivery to be more important. If a consumer through the use of both qualitative and quantitative
receives a message which is irrelevant to them once in a methodology a model has been adopted, explored,
blue moon, and it doesn’t come at a disturbing time they developed, and empirically tested and validated.
may not be that bothered by it. On the other hand if they This study suggests that marketers should be
were to messages on something that was relevant to optimistic about choosing to deploy mobile marketing,
them, but were receiving these messages continuously however exercise caution around the factors that will
and at interruptive times it is likely to be more determine consumer acceptance. While consumers can
unacceptable. see the potential in the mobile medium, they are weary
It was interesting to see that the control of the wireless of receiving unsolicited messages, which they don’t
service provider had the least impact on consumer want. Obtaining user trust and permission will be the
acceptance in the survey results, conflicting with the main challenge faced by marketers and research
results of the focus groups where participants expressed should focus on ways to overcome these challenges.
their strong opinions towards the importance of WSP Consumers are more likely to trust messages coming
control. The results may in fact indicate that where from their service providers than anywhere else and so
consumers receive messages they find disturbing or it is important that service providers provide a high
intrusive they would rather it hadn’t come from their level of filtering and protection as reassurance for their
service provider they trust. The focus groups indicated users. Trust and permission are necessary factors of
this, stating that they trust their service provider’s consumer acceptance; however they should not be seen
judgment and would expect them to behave responsibly. as the only objectives. Attention needs to be focused
Consumer attention seems more likely to divert to the around the of the content and the timeliness
filter when they are receiving unsolicited messages that and frequency of the delivery of marketing messages.
they find disturbing. The research showed that simply focusing on
Despite literature showing mobile marketing to be a contextual, content or factors in
successful tool in building brand awareness, and an isolation is unlikely to result in a high or even moderate
important factor in consumer acceptance [ [4] the level of acceptance. Instead marketers need to take into
study revealed that the brand may have very little account all these factors and how varying combinations
impact. Consumers are more likely to care whether a of these factors will impact on consumer acceptance.
brand has been accepted by their service provider and The permission and acceptance model which has been
has come through a filter, than about their level of trust developed and tested in this research provides a
between two different brands. Despite having a high foundation for further SMS mobile marketing research
trust in a brand, consumers are still doubtful of the bona to be built upon. Academics can refer to this model as a
fide of these messages when they have come direct. guide for further understanding of consumer acceptance
They are also less likely to care about the brand that is to mobile marketing, while practitioners may find this
being marketed to them than whether or not the content model useful in providing direction for mobile
is relevant. The importance that is placed on brand is marketing strategies. The device media aspects
likely to increase when all other factors are high, and discussed in the focus groups may also provide an
there is more choice in the market. Currently there are a indication as to what new technologies and mobile
limited number of brands being marketed through the devices will be of significance in meeting consumer’s
mobile phone in New and more to needs for the future.
brand is likely to arise in the future. The generalisability of this study is limited by it being
conducted only in New as well as the lack of
further qualitative interviews to further elaborate on the

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