An exhaustive search of mobile marketing industry publications, several phone calls and emails to carriers and industry associations, and an extensive search of research reports and statistics from research firms reveals plenty of data supporting the value of mobile marketing. Reports and research on everything from the proven effectiveness of SMS to predicted app usage to the future of mCommerce to the composition of the mobile audience are available for both marketers and consumers to study.Given the amount and variety of mobile marketing statistics available, I was surprised to learn that a significant chunk of mobile marketing data does not yet exist.
I recently researched the amount of U.S. mobile subscribers that have purchased or plan to purchase an unlimited texting plan and/or data plan. I consulted reports from several industry research firms, articles from respected publications, and even reached out to the four major wireless carriers only to find out one thing − with nearly 300 million mobile subscribers in the country, data on consumers with unlimited texting/data plans is not tracked.
I learned from Verizon Wireless that the company does not break out the data I was looking for. Inquiries into the other three major carriers yielded the same results − nothing.
Though the carriers do not have the data I was looking for, I was even more bewildered to find that research firms and industry associations also lacked these statistics. In fact, a research contact at a major industry association suggested I perform a Google search for the data I needed!
It is interesting to note, however, that there is plenty of information available on the mobile subscribers with unlimited texting or data plans in other countries.
The question begs to be answered: Why is there no data on U.S. mobile subscribers with unlimited texting or data plans?
Imagine the insight marketers and carriers could glean from the data, if it was available. Mobile campaigns can be improved, access for consumers to more information is opened up , and consumers’ relationships with providers can improve.
Filling this data gap enables marketers to build even bigger and better cases for the consumer value of mobile marketing and mCommerce on a strong foundation of quantifiable text and data plan information.
