A survey has indicated that 10 million online consumers in the UK made a transaction using a mobile device in the last year but, in what should be a convenient and simple way to shop, 83 percent of these experienced problems when conducting such mobile transactions.

Published: 11 Apr 2011

A survey has indicated that 10 million online consumers in the UK made a transaction using a mobile device in the last year but, in what should be a convenient and simple way to shop, 83 percent of these experienced problems when conducting such mobile transactions.

As per the survey commissioned by Tealeaf and conducted online by Harris Interactive, as smartphone adoption grows, consumers are increasingly expecting a faultless experience across all online channels, including mobile, with 75 percent of all online adults agreeing there is no reason why a mobile transaction can't be completed on the first try. This has a significant impact for brands, with 66 percent saying, if they experienced a problem conducting a mobile transaction, they would be less likely to buy from the same company via other purchase channels.

Mobile commerce is here to stay

Possibly the most striking information to come out of the survey is that UK consumers are racing to embrace
the mobile channel as a way of conducting transactions.

Nearly a quarter of online adults in the UK (23 percent) – equating to just over 10 million people - said they have
conducted a transaction on a mobile device in the past year. The equivalent figure was just 18 percent in the US,
showing that UK consumers are leading the way in mobile commerce adoption.

While shopping is the most popular mCommerce activity (63 percent), mobile savvy consumers are also using mobile devices to conduct financial transactions (37 percent), travel bookings (34 percent) and insurance payments or purchases (23 percent). On average, mobile shoppers completed 4.4 transactions on a mobile device per month, with consumers evenly split over whether they prefer to conduct transactions using an app (43 percent) or an Internet browser (41 percent).

Expectations

The survey focused on consumer mobile transactions conducted during the last year to investigate how consumers are using this new channel.

Just over half of British adults who have conducted a mobile transaction in the past year said they expect a better shopping experience on a mobile device compared to purchasing in-store (51 percent) or online using a computer (52 percent). Among the problems experienced were error messages (34 percent) and navigation difficulties (24 percent).

As with other online channels, if things do go wrong, the research shows consumers are impatient: when asked how they would react after experiencing a problem, 30 percent of British adults who have experienced mobile commerce problems in the last year said they would abandon the transaction on their mobile device and try again later on a computer, 13 percent would switch to a competitor’s app or website, and nearly one in 10 (9 percent) would vow never to conduct a mobile transaction ever again.

Just under a quarter (23 percent) said they would call customer service and 58 percent of all British adults who have conducted a mobile transaction in the past year said if they did, they would expect the agent to have visibility into what they were attempting to do on the app or mobile webpage.

When consumers have problems with mobile transactions, they do not keep their experience to themselves. More than four in five adults who experience problems conducting mobile transactions (86 percent) said they have shared their mobile transaction experience with others and 49 percent of these said they had shared experiences via social media. When those who experience problems complain on social networks, 27 percent said they would expect a response from the vendor. Among all mobile shoppers who experience problems, 61 percent said they would tell their friends and family about it to discourage them from using that app/website or doing business with the company.

Methodology

This Mobile Transactions survey was conducted online within the US and Great Britain by Harris Interactive on behalf of Tealeaf Technology between February 9-11, 2011 among 2,469 U.S. adults ages 18+ and between February 9-14, 2011 among 2,228 Great Britain adults ages 16+.