Adapting Digital Strategies to Evolve with Mobile User Behavior

It’s No Surprise Mobile User Behavior Is Evolving

As digital media technology evolves at an ever-increasing pace, so does the user habits of consumers.  In their new report:  “iConsumer:  Digital Consumers Altering the Value Chain,” McKinsey & Company describe six over-arching trends in digital usage behavior that they believe will significantly impact the industry value chain.  These include shifts in device usage, communication style preference, communication content, social emphasis, user-controlled video and retail experience.  Originally launched in 2008, the study includes longitudinal data from over 200,000 detailed surveys from clickstream web log data and in-home/in-store analysis, for a highly-detailed picture of the emerging digital consumer.

Mobile User Behavior

In the European market, the firm identified four distinct mobile user categories based on user behavior.  These include traditionalists, data practicals, data entertainers and mobile omnivores.  Just one of the interesting revelations of the data is that mobile omnivores and data entertainers, while just 23 percent of the population, consume more than 85 percent of all data traffic.  Considering facts such as these, it’s McKinsey & Company’s assertion that in order to maximize overall performance and value, companies cannot afford to focus solely on those markets that drive their economics, but also institute a concurrent business model that caters to a broader audience.

“Our experience is that within broad consumer movements, small groups of users (often overlooked in cursory analyses) actually drive the economics. Achieving a more refined understanding of who is doing what requires a thoughtful segmentation—incorporating data about consumers’ demographics, household characteristics, usage patterns, spending, attitudes, and needs—supported by “big data” analytics.”