Conventionalists, Connectors, Technoisseurs and Mobilarti: Differential profiles of mobile marketing segments based on phone features and postmodern characteristics of consumers

Abstract

The high penetration of mobile phones amongst the South African population presents mobile phones as an attractive interactive marketing communication medium. This paper argues that the access and actual use of different phone device features can be productively used as a segmentation approach, which may enable marketers to be more effective in planning interactive marketing communication plans. This study, based on 330 students, developed segments derived from mobile phone usage patterns using cluster analysis. The outcome revealed four clusters that were named: Connectors, Conventionalists, Technoisseurs and Mobilarti. Connectors made daily use of a full range of communication functions.Conventionalists were inclined to limit their use of mobile phone features to talking and texting. Technoisseurs were found to use a whole range of sophisticated mobile phone facilities. Mobilarti were identified as a group of expert users; using the full range of functions available to them on their phones, despite recording the lowest percentage of 2 smartphone ownership when compared to the other groups. These groups were further profiled by analysing attitudinal and behavioural variables pertaining to two newly developed postmodern dimensions, which were introduced in the study as mobile importance as an attitudinal aspect, and social transformation as a behavioural outcome. For marketers, an understanding of the proposed segments, as well as the differences in attitudes towards mobile importance and social transformation behaviours, coupled with typical financial and social realities of these segments, allow targeting strategies that are more clearly actionable.

The smartphoners: consumer segmentation by smartphone usage

“…For example, Vanden Abeele et al, (2014) disclose among the youth users three different segments: the trendy users, strongly embedded in social and fashionable characteristics of their smartphones, the engaged users, characterized by an instrumental and social use of mobile phone and the thrifty users, with a basic and disinterested use of mobile phone. Goneos-Malka et al, (2014) identify four different segments: the Conventionalists, inclined to limit their smartphone usage, the Connectors who basically use communication functions, the Technoisseurs, who have a whole use of mobile phone facilities, and the expert users, the Mobilarti.…”

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Animated logos in mobile marketing communications: The roles of logo movement directions and trajectories

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