There are four distinct types of consumer who are ‘always on’ and more digitally connected than ever before, according to research by Experian: Social Butterflies, Working Professionals, Gamers and Everything Tech.
The research identified the group based on technology consumption, social media habits and connectivity on a daily basis, and discussed how this impacts offline behaviours as well such as shopping, entertainment and leisure.
Nigel Wilson, managing director of data and analytics at Experian Marketing Services, said: “As our insight highlights, over the past decade, the advent of social media, the proliferation of smartphones, tablets and other new connected devices, and access to limitless data regardless of location have led to the emergence of the Always On, connected consumer.
“This consumer really is a global phenomenon, equally likely to be found in New York, Nottingham or Sao Paulo. More and more of us are Always On through one device or another. Being able to interact and consume content seamlessly across various platforms is now the expectation. The rise of this consumer raises the game for marketers and brands and their marketing must evolve to become truly cross-channel. To do this marketers need to really understand and gain deep insight on their audiences, use this insight to create meaningful and relevant communications and then interact with them intelligently and consistently every single time, regardless of channel.”
The Social Butterfly is a young female about town aged 18-34, who spends most of their spare time socialising with friends or enjoying leisure activities. They use technology for social networking, sharing and social shopping.Three times more likely to access digital across every connected device and four times more likely to consume news through their mobile than the average consumer, they are 70 more likely to use a digital tablet, 48 per cent more likely to use e-readers and 60 per cent more likely to use an MP3 player than the average consumer.Social Butterflies are 3.5 times more likely to purchase something seen on a social network and four times more likely to purchase something recommended by peers in this environment.
The Everything Tech is aged 18 to 34 and likes to be the first to try new things, from the newest bar to the hottest gadget; with tablets most likely to be the devise of choice.Mobile devices have the strongest influence on Everything Tech purchasing decisions: 60 per cent of Everything Tech consumers purchase a product they see advertised on their device, with 64 per cent willing to accept adverts on their device if they were to receive something of value in exchange.Everything Tech consumers are nearly six times more likely to trust the product information they get from social networks over other sources.
The Working Professional is a career focused individual (usually male aged 35-44), accessing content on-the-go primarily for work purposes and to 'get the job done'.This type of always on consumer is 84 per cent more likely than average to use a work computer, twice as likely to email and almost three times more likely to use messaging functionality from their work computers. Despite being highly connected consumers, they are 80 per cent less likely to want to receive adverts on their phone, almost 40 per cent less likely to follow favourite brands or companies on social sharing/networking sites and almost 50 per cent less likely to purchase products they see advertised on such sites.
The Gamer is a young single male aged 18 to 24 with a love of gaming via almost any game enabled device, the most popular being gaming consoles and mobile phones.Although they are 90 per cent more likely to purchase a product advertised on their mobile than average, generally Gamers are less interested in receiving advertising content to their mobile devices, with less than 10 per cent (9.7 per cent) saying they would opt in to receiving ads on their mobile phones.However, this group is the least likely of all four consumer types to see advertising as annoying or a waste of time, with peer and celebrity endorsements important: 60 per cent would be more likely to buy a product if a celebrity used it.
