.FLYINGHEAD INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
.TITLE Analysis: what do consumers really want in a mobile email solution?
.AUTHOR Mike Serbinis
.OTHER
.SUMMARY What do consumers really want in a mobile email solution? Is it the same as what professionals need when they’re trying to stay in touch with the office on the go? In this important article, messaging expert Mike Serbinis takes a long, hard look at the issues and helps us understand what consumers really want.
When talking about mobile email, most people think of mobilizing the workforce, and for good reason. In an attempt to increase productivity and employee flexibility, mobile email has been a priority in the business world for some time now. Thanks to products like RIM’s BlackBerry and the Palm Treo, staying connected to your office email — anywhere, anytime — has become a reality. And if you listen to the industry experts, it’s only set to continue.
Technology research firm Strategy Analytics estimates the value of the mobile email market will reach $11 billion by 2007. Similarly, other industry research shows that the market will show rapid growth over the next five years, offering significant opportunities for wireless carriers and mobile infrastructure providers.
With this kind of growth, it’s no surprise to see new players entering the mobile email arena. The surprising fact, however, is that most of them are pursuing the same professional mobile email users as RIM. A few are making good progress at wrestling customers away from the BlackBerry, but with consumer demand for data services growing at a much faster rate, it begs the question — what about the rest of us?
Today, there are approximately 1.8 billion mobile phones in the world, which translates to roughly 600 mobile phones to every BlackBerry. And while corporate mobile email will continue to grow, the potential of a number like 1.8 billion makes it difficult for carriers to ignore. The mass market — your aunt, your husband, or mom — want email on the go too.
.TEASER So how do consumers really feel about mobile email? The answers may surprise you. Tap here to read.
.H1 How consumers feel about mobile email
I work for a messaging solutions company called Critical Path. Recently, my company’s marketing team engaged Ipsos-Reid to survey U.S. consumers on their feelings around mobile email. Results indicate that more than 40 million U.S. consumers want mobile email.
Furthermore, Richard Jesty, Senior Consultant, Informa Telecoms & Media commented: "We see the mobile consumer market offering great potential worldwide for an easy-to-use, affordable email system and our forecasts show around 500 million users by 2007."
Some vendors have taken notice and have started to promote mobile email for the mass market, but upon closer inspection, their solutions look more like repackaged enterprise services. When it comes to meeting mass-market demand for mobile email, smart carriers know that retrofitting solutions designed for professional users doesn’t cut it.
Consumers are not the same as professional users. They’re a different breed with unique behaviors, needs and demands. For example, the survey reveals that consumer mobile email solutions need to meet a number of important criteria.
.H2 Make it easy
63 percent of respondents said "ease-of-use" was very important for a mobile email service. They don’t want to have to read a lengthy users’ manual or download and configure software to set up the service — it should be intuitive and fast.
.H2 Make it work with what they’ve got
No need to upgrade was rated a very important feature by 53 percent of respondents. Consumers want to be able to use the phone and the email accounts they already have.
.H2 Make it affordable
71 percent of respondents ranked "low cost" as a very important feature of a mobile email service, and 96 percent of consumers aren’t willing to buy an expensive device just to get mobile email. They want access to their email on the go, but they don’t want the hefty price tag.
.H2 Put them in the driver’s seat
More than three quarters (82 percent) of consumers surveyed want to be able to choose which emails reach them on their cell phones. Unlike professional users, consumers don’t want every email from their inbox delivered to their phones and they definitely don’t want spam. Would you? If you have a sub $100 cell phone — perhaps you’re a recent college grad on a pre-paid plan, or a busy mom who is constantly on the go — the answer is probably not. Consumers want to be in control over what they receive.
.H2 Deliver what they want
Emails from the boss are definitely not wanted according to 67 percent of respondents — they would actually rather hear from an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend. 69 percent ranked emails from a spouse or significant other as priority emails they would like pushed to their cell phone.
Mass-market consumers want only the messages that matter, or messages they care about pushed to their mobile phone. This may be messages from their spouse, child or best friend.
.H1 Objections
The survey results clearly show that consumers overwhelmingly want to be able to control who they receive emails from on their cell phone and cite "low cost" as a very important mobile email feature.
Still, not everyone is convinced of the mass-market opportunity for mobile email. What follows are some of the objections often raised.
.H2 Do consumers really need mobile email when they have text messaging?
To date, the success of SMS (Short Message Service), also known as text message or simply "texting", especially in Western Europe, has been phenomenal, but that doesn’t mean there is only room for one mobile messaging application. SMS meets the need for short, quick communication (messages of 160 characters or less) between two people who are both on their mobile phones.
On the contrary, mobile email gives users access to messages and information sent to their email address — messages they might not otherwise see until they returned to their computers. For example, imagine the email sent to 20 people announcing the birth of your best friend’s new baby, or the email to you and your golf buddies about an unexpected change in the tee time. These are the types of important emails that consumers want to see on the go.
As a result, SMS and email will co-exist on the mobile phone much like email and instant messaging co-exist on the desktop.
.H2 MMS hasn’t done very well in the consumer marketplace, so why will mobile email?
MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), when marketed as "picture messaging" demonstrates little and/or sporadic value to consumers.
Maybe you want to send a picture from your phone while on vacation, but it’s probably not a service you would depend on daily. In contrast, consumers already depend on email and use it everyday.
Mobile email gives consumers improved access to messages that matter and gives operators a great way to drive traffic over the MMS infrastructure they’ve already invested in.
.H2 Consumers aren’t using smartphones
For the most part, consumers are not using smartphones, so the prospect of composing emails on a small cell phone keypad is not enticing.
Most consumers care more about receiving important emails on their phones than they do about sending them. In fact, research shows that consumers want to receive important emails while on the go, but they will typically respond to only 10 to 30 percent of them by typing a reply message the phone. Instead, many will respond by voice — generating more voice traffic and additional revenue for carriers.
.H1 Final analysis
According to the U.S. Mobile Market: trends and forecasts 2005-2010 report from Analysys, wireless messaging revenue in the U.S. increased by 106 percent in 2004 and is expected to continue to grow strongly over the next five years. By 2008, wireless messaging alone will account for 10 percent ($16.4 billion in U.S. dollars) of operators’ total mobile services revenue. We believe the consumer mobile email market represents a significant portion of this growing revenue opportunity.
To capitalize on this opportunity, carriers need to think beyond the enterprise to the mass market. But first, they must take a step back to really see what consumers want, how they want it and how much they want to pay for it. Consumers want only the messages that matter to them, at a price they can afford, that works with their existing technology. And the carriers who understand this, listen to what consumers are saying and deliver services efficiently will reap the biggest rewards.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on RIM’s BlackBerry, visit http://www.blackberry.com.
For more information on Palm’s Treo, visit http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones.
For more information about Strategy Analytics, visit http://www.strategyanalytics.net.
For more information about Critical Path, visit http://www.criticalpath.net.
For more information about Informa Telecoms & Media, visit http://www.informatm.com.
For more information about Analysys, visit http://www.analysys.com.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Mike Serbinis is CTO of Critical Path. Critical Path developed Memova Mobile, a solution for the mass market that pushes messages from the users’ existing email accounts, such as Gmail or ISP email accounts, to their cell phones. Memova Mobile works on any MMS handset and allows users to select the email addresses they want to hear from.
