• by Steve Smith  @popeyesm, November 12, 2012

Marketers looking to maximize the power of mobile should be aiming far beyond the click. The core constituency for device-based marketing, the 18- to-34-year-old segment recently dubbed “Generation C,” is all about sharing the deals and offers they like best. According to a new survey of this segment from ad platform RadiumOne, 50% of the young adults in its recent survey share sale offers with friends via their mobile devices.

“We like to share things,” says RadiumOne VP of Mobile and Display Kamal Kaur. Among the Gen-C mobile users, they found that 54% said they use social networking apps most frequently on their phones, even more so than gaming and entertainment apps (34%), utilities (28%) and shopping apps (10%). The survey finds that 77% of Gen-C users consider personal recommendations and sales and offers as the major influencers on their purchases. Thirty-one percent of these mobile shoppers are sharing coupons, sales and ads with friends one to three times a month, with 16% sharing three to six times a month and 3% sharing even more than six times a month.

Kaur says that marketers have to keep the mobile sharing effect in mind when building campaigns. “The messaging needs to be crafted and it needs to allow for sharing of the ad or the coupon.” In fact, because shoppers are often using their devices as one step in a multi-screen process that is fulfilled later, the mobile component needs to accommodate this emerging purchase path. “Mobile is a very one-person tool, owned by one person,” she says. “Being able to share a coupon or offer or to remind yourself on another screen is key."     

But when they do go into the store and crack open the phones, young users are aggressively leveraging their phones to get the job done, adds Kaur. “This age group is very much into comparison shopping. They like standing in front of products [in-store]. They will check reviews and cross-search. In-store, if they find a better deal they will walk out,” she says. Among young adults about half are already using their devices for comparison shopping on a weekly basis. More than half (54%) have already used their device to make a purchase in the past six months. Indeed, of mobile purchasers 32% made one to three buys, 14% made three to six buys and 9% have made more than six purchases in the last six months on their phones.

With well-optimized experiences, Gen-C is very eager to engage with marketing messages, the RadiumOne survey found. Almost half (47%) of respondents said they had clicked on a mobile ad in the last three months.