What Motivates Mobile Phone Buyers? Self-expression

Once again, self expression is one of the main motivations when buying a new mobile phone. According to NPD,

“What motivates buyers when they choose a new mobile phone? Many factors come into play, of course, but having the desired capabilities and a flip-phone form factor rise to the top most often.

With a couple of exceptions, buyers have ranked these two criteria highest (roughly 40 percent) over the past seven quarters. That’s testament to the fact that experienced phone buyers know what they want in a phone and make purchases based on these factors.
The third most often cited reason for choosing a particular phone is that it is a “good brand,” which again reflects a mature market. Buyers have obviously come to trust certain handset makers over others.”

Also, when drilling down, we see that self expression is rated the highest among the youth age group:

“Age can play a role as well in the purchase of a handset. Among the various age groups, different profiles emerge based on the top purchase motivator. For example, buyers 18 to 24 chose “it’s a cool phone” as their top motivator for buying a handset during the last year. Those 25 to 44 most often chose “had the capabilities I wanted.” And consumers 45 and older chose “flip phone / can be closed” as their top criterion for purchase.

Based on age and the top purchase motivator, three distinct target groups emerge:

• The youngest buyers seek a desirable device that reeks of “cool” (design is key, but the phone has to deliver on functionality, too).
• Young to middle-aged buyers want a wide range of capabilities. Getting just the right combination is the trick, so the device must strike a balance between popular must-have features and those that might just be nice to have.
• For people just past middle age and the older crowd, a solid flip phone will suffice; however, it shouldn’t lack basic capabilities and the brand is still important, too.”

[via NPD]