Twitter plays a key role when consumers switch mobile providers

Twitter plays an important role for consumers switching phone providers, according to new research. The study highlights how consumers who use Twitter as part of the switching process enjoy a more positive experience than others.

The European-wide study — across UK, France, Germany, and Spain — carried out in partnership between Socialyse Global, France, and Twitter, found that 40% of Twitter users turn to the platform to help inform their choice of phone or smartphone or carrier.

The key stages of switching

Across all markets, when it comes to moving provider, the research identified four key stages to switching:

• Passive information gathering
• Active information seeking
• Decision making
• Deal hunting

Of those steps, the study found Twitter plays a central role in the first three stages where around 1/3 use Twitter to inform their decision-making process. This is rooted in the fact that Twitter users perceive themselves to be experts and influencers of their peers in the telecoms switching process.

Twitter offers a unique value proposition

The study also points to how Twitter is perceived as a uniquely influential platform for its ability to aggregate a mass of information from a variety of sources: ranging from trusted acquaintances to industry experts. That’s an important attribute for consumers when sifting information during the switching journey.

The study found that 43% of Twitter users use the platform to make their decision. Of this group, they said they found it useful, informative, and impartial. This point is further underscored by the way that Twitter helps make the switching process more positive. They found that while the switching process can be seen as confusing and stressful to begin with Twitter users have a more positive outlook than their non-Twitter counterparts. For instance, 76% of Twitter users found the process interesting while other words scoring highly were enjoyable, fun, and exciting.

Bruce Daisley, VP of Europe, says: “Twitter plays a daily role in the lives of our users, and this research highlights how useful it can be in helping people across Europe make informed decisions about the telecom brands they turn to and the mobile products they buy. There are important lessons here for these brands and the industry. We found similarities in how people approach switching from London, to Berlin, Madrid and Paris. And what’s fascinating is that Twitter can help make the process more positive. That says a lot about the platform.”

Significantly, the study shows the similarities in the key stages of the consumer journey across different markets when it comes to switching providers. This means that advertisers across Europe can deploy unified ad strategies when targeting consumers.

In highlighting the different stages of the decision making process consumers go through the study suggests how brands can best use Twitter to succeed when targeting consumers who are considering switching.

Five ways brands can best engage with users switching smartphones

1. Adopt an everyday Twitter strategy and targeted messaging to reach users at the right time and right place and tailor Twitter targeting to reach consumers at each step in the switching process.
2. Take advantage of influencer partnerships with Niche (@joinNiche) to combine the benefits of impartiality and trust with the existing ability that brand Tweets have to drive purchase.
3. TV advertising combined with Twitter is 36% more effective. Combine an everyday strategy with TVxTwitter to drive success.
4. Twitter users tend to be influential among their peers. Connect brand advocates on Twitter to grow a valuable base of earned brand coverage through outreach and advocacy.
5. Seed promotions one month prior to the launch of a new device/plan to align with the average consumer switching cycle of 30 days.

Séverin Naudet, Global Managing Director, Socialyse, says: ”It was fantastic to work with Twitter on this project. We worked closely with Twitter across all our brands, and partnering on a research project like this made a lot of sense. The results are positive — as expected — however the real benefit was enabling our teams to plan media and creative based on the output of the joint research.”