In the course of compiling the data for The Ultimate Guide to the Next Big Wave in Mobile: The Home Screen, which we worked with Phoenix Marketing International, Nielsen Mobile, and Recon Analytics on, we learned some important facts about mobile users.
The following facts deliver interesting insights into user behavior.
1. Mobile users are driven by the fear of missing something (FOMS)
Mobile users feel the need to stay connected to their friends, families, and colleagues, so they don't miss out on something exciting. So they check their mobiles constantly to make sure they're caught up. In fact, 51% of users say that notifications are the first thing they check when they pick up their phone, and 34% of people immediately pick up their phones upon receiving a notification.
2. Mobile devices are most used during "found time"
"Found time" is the little pocket of time when nothing else is going on—while waiting for a train, in line at the store, or while riding the bus to work. That's the perfect time to play a game, update friends on Facebook, or check in on Foursquare. Killing time by turning to the home screen is popular among 18-34 year olds, with 55% of them engaging in this behavior.
3. Users pick up their smartphones upwards of 100 time each day
Estimates may vary from report to report, but the bottom line is that folks pick up their smartphones very often. Reported numbers range from as low as 15 to as high as 150.
4. Mobile users spend more time on the home screen than any other screen
According to Nielsen Mobile's passive meter, users may spend a staggering 26% of their time on, and flipping through, their mobile phone's home screen. That is more than any other single app category.
5. Users respond to mobile alerts
Most users set audible alerts and pick up their mobile device to respond to far more than phone calls. While 92% of users surveyed will pick up their device for a call, 88% will pick up when a text message comes in. Email alerts, updates to mobile apps, social notifications, and weather follow on the list.
6. Notifications drive behavior
Some 51% of smartphone users strongly agree that the first thing they do when they pick up their handset is check their notifications. That FOMS-related behavior varies by gender, with 57% of women versus 44% of men stating that they check their notifications first.
7. The savviest users spend the most time on the home screen
Consumers who have used smartphones for several years are much more likely to pick up their phones more often. A four-year smartphone user is 80% more likely to pick up his phone 30 times or more a day than a user with less than two years of smartphone ownership. Avid users of mobile games, social apps, and texts are also spending huge chunks of time on the home screen. Even consumers who spend more than 30 minutes a day using their phones for Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn still spend over one-fifth of their mobile time on the home screen, as do the heaviest of mobile gamers.
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With all this attention paid to the mobile home screen by smartphone users, it's a wonder app and game developers aren't making home screen strategies a higher priority. Big players, such as Facebook Home and HTC BlinkFeed, have entered the race to claim the mobile home screen, and they are rushing to claim the space valued by Bessemer Venture Partners at $16 billion per quarter inch. So, the only real question to ask yourself is, "Have you included mobile home screen messaging in your 2014 development plans?"
Courtesy of an article dated February 6, 2014 appearing in MarketingProfs
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