Customers Perception of GSM Interruptive Advertisement in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
This study has the overall purpose of investigating the customer perception of GSM interruptive adverts in Nigeria. It will specifically, study the following
1. To ascertain the frequency of GSM adverts sent to GSM users by GSM operators
2. Determine the nature of interruption of GSM advert to GSM users.
3. To determine the attitude of GSM users towards GSM adverts
4. To find out the perception of GSM users towards interruptive GSM adverts
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Although a lot of literature exists on consumer attitudes and perceptions on SMS interruptive advertising less has been done to establish the relevance of such among university students in Nigeria. Given that almost every university student has a mobile phone that can either receive or send messages, advertising agencies have seen such students trapped in between the messages that are really intended the subscribers.
Advertising
In his book „the advertising Handbook,‟ Sean Brierley looks at the reasons why organizations and customers advertise and in what way they commence study of markets; a place they advertise and what methods they use; techniques of persuasion and their effectiveness and ultimately in what way achievement is measured. He points out that that advertisers hedge their bets. Technological progress is said to have improved production techniques hence creating room for mass production of goods and services although this had its demerits like mass unemployment (Brierley, 1995). Producers were forced to source for fresh customers and enlarge their already existing markets all in an effort to boost profit margins. With manufacturers, they were put in a position to identify the mass medium, which would be used as a conveyor belt (Bovee, 1992).
Advertising existed to provide mass media communication and a channel to the customers as a marketing tool and managing or controlling consumer markets at the minimal cost (Brierley, 1995). He notes that the greater concentration of an advertiser in a market is an indication of the greater power of the advertiser to control distribution, prices and advertising. That to establish difference in the market place, manufacturers went a step forward to give their products added values that competition did not provide. According to Quah (2002), the push model dominates mobile advertising. Through the push model, potential consumers are bombarded with messages that they did not request for from the advertiser.
For organizations that have realized the need to spend on advertising, results have been better especially in brand sales and profitability. They have stimulated consumption to meet the demands of the masses and beyond. Fernandez and Rosen (2000) and Lohse and Rosen (2001) categorize advertising into brand building and directional. Brand building advertising refer to product advertising and is commonly seen in traditional mass media, including television, radio, magazine, and newspaper. Although it is in tandem with the consumer‟s decision, in such a situation, the route of communication is characteristically one-to-many whereby the route is intended to influence a mass audience through use of tactical intrusion aimed at capturing the attention of users (Barrow, 1990; Rosenberg, 1995). The probabilities of processing of advertisements carefully are depressed by the increase in number of advertisements contending for attention of individuals on a daily basis (Bogart, 1985). Limited time and concentration make it problematic for adequate commitment of attention by the audience to most advertisements even as companies and individuals compete for clients. Mostly, the messages come in their numbers leaving them struggling to get their satisfaction.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
Methodology is the process used to collect information and data to systematically and critically inquire about a particular aspect of life (Creswell, 2009). It outlines how research is to be undertaken so as to find out the result of a given problem on a subject matter.
This chapter presents a detailed methodological approach with regards to the study site, research design, study population and unit of analysis, sampling procedure, instruments, and data analysis and processing. The chapter finally presents the ethical considerations, reflexivity, validity and presentation of the findings in relation to the research problem.
Research Site
The research was conducted within the University of Nsukka‟s Main campus. This area has seen a lot of business due to the large population of students who mainly buy fast moving goods. Due to this fact, mobile advertising using SMS has taken advantage of the students to maximize on sales and cut a market niche because it is not easy to reach this population using other mainstream media to create awareness. The businesses here are targeting university students even though there are other categories of people like university staff and other members of the community. The research thus focused on the university student consumer as a point of focus due to their large numbers.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION
Introduction
This chapter covers data analysis, presentation and interpretation. Analysis in this case means: manipulating, categorizing, summarizing and putting in order data to obtain answers to the research questions. It is to reduce data to interpretable form using narrative technique. Presentation (Jwan and Ong‟ondo, 2011) is a way of communicating the findings by making claims supported by data so that the reader understands the researcher‟s logic. Interpretation in this project involves: penetrating for connotation and inference of research results, in order to make inferences and draw deductions and relate to the theory. This research has conducted both qualitative and quantitative analyses in answering the research questions.
This study was aimed at investigating consumer perceptions towards Short Message Service (SMS) advertising among Nigerian university students. The study covered the University of Nsukka‟s Main Campus with focus on the School of Journalism, which is one of the 12 schools under the college of Humanities, and Social Sciences that commands 65 percent of the population in the top university in the country. This was helpful as it provided the researcher with four focus groups to provide a lucid conceptualization of the issue under study. The students involved were also available and familiar with the researcher.
The students from other fields were engaged through questionnaire to collect data as long as they met the criteria of among others; owning a phone, having received an SMS advertisement and being able to read and comprehend such messages. They were approached at the university‟s hostels and corridors and requested to fill the questionnaire.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
The summary of key findings is presented in this chapter as well as the conclusions of the study. They attempt to give answers to specific questions that were examined. The chapter also grants recommendations for possible actions and suggestions for further research.
Summary
The main objective of this study was to investigate the consumer perceptions towards the use of Short Message Service Short Message Service (SMS) advertising among Nigerian university students. From the findings, the study revealed that advertisers should take into consideration the interests of university students and even all audience types before sending them advertising messages. Message characteristics dictate the kinds of reactions to SMS interruptive advertising . Through this, advertisers will ensure that they tame the perceptions of the population under study and realize value for money.
The study also sought to assess perception of university students towards SMS interruptive advertising . It emerged that marketers did not take into consideration the expected reaction of message receivers so that they lure them into buying their ideas, products or services. As revealed in the focus group discussions, the study provided valued understandings about SMS ethos of communications organisations in Nigeria.
Ultimately, the study outlined trust, permission, privacy issues, brand of the product and advertising value, timing of messages, message length, affect for incentives, and flexibility of response and consumer satisfaction as the driving factors behind the success of SMS advertising among Nigerian university students. From analysis, it is obvious that mobile marketers should inculcate the aforementioned factors in their advertisements without which their campaigns will not be effective. For any communication to realize its objectives, the researcher found that participation that provides a feedback mechanism would favor maximum results for both parties. The reverse is true.
Conclusion
The findings indicate that consumer perceptions toward SMS interruptive advertising strongly depend on message characteristics, which need to be developed carefully. Advertisers cannot only rely on the fact that an advertising message sent through mobile devices will be read and remembered automatically. This is because recipients of such messages are mostly rational in nature and can react either favorably or unfavorably. From the study, it is clear that Nigerian university students understood the extent of use of SMS interruptive advertising and its role in general, they were aware that there exist perceptions towards SMS interruptive advertising among themselves and factors likely to influence the use of SMS interruptive advertising among university students. This is going to be important for marketing managers and advertisers in general as new insights have emerged in the study. It is evident that a large number of people trust SMS interruptive advertising more especially when they are aware of the source of the message. Permission based advertising has also been noted for maximum results. This will reduce intrusion into privacy of the customers or potential customers. Brand too affects the consumer perception in that no person would like to spend money in a place he/she knows would not get value for his or her money. From Focus Group Discussions, apart from those factors gathered from questionnaires; timing of messages, message length, affect of incentives, flexibility of response and consumer satisfaction emerged as also key among factors identified to influence consumer perceptions towards SMS interruptive advertising .
Recommendations
From the findings, the ability of SMS advertisements to inform about a product, idea or service depends greatly on how the message is crafted. Marketers should take great care when launching marketing campaigns, as there are ways to strengthen the acceptance of such advertising messages. It is in the mind of the sender to ensure the message yields maximum results after the receiver decodes it. This informativeness allows for the synthesis of the constructs of the message that provoke the need to make a purchase.
In this technological edge, the researcher recommends that advertisers should be using SMS interruptive advertising to reach their clients and prospective clients. However, as they are using this kind of channel to reach them, they should bear in mind to use easy to understand language, clear and brief texts. Advertisers and marketers should get permission from the contacts they might use to send messages in a bid to minimize interruption, as recipients will be psychologically prepared. Advertisers should brand their text in such a manner that it is recognized instantly. Marketers or advertisers should divulge all details including hidden charges for them to buy trust with the consumers. Credible brands like Safaricom that has rich profile are trusted and they do well.
Producers of the product should make sure that consumer satisfaction is met so that even if they receive an SMS advertisement on the same product they can positively respond. This will happen when they will be sure that they will be getting value for their money when purchasing that particular product. Consequently, this will create a brand that the consumers will identify them with.
Future research should attempt to determine how consumers of different sectors of the economy and cultural settings differ in their perceptions on SMS advertisements. Nigeria is a diverse country in terms of different sectors of economy and a study that highlights differences in consumer perceptions towards SMS advertisements based on sectorial differences could be valuable. This may yield rich data because different audiences have different interests.
Future researchers should also focus on the advertiser so as to understand what goes through his/her mind when crafting SMS advertisements. This might provide insights, which can be weighed in line with the perceptions of the consumers so as to create an ideal marketing strategy. Producers of the product should make sure that consumer satisfaction is met by creating an early awareness so that even if consumers receive a text on the same product they can positively respond (Jelassi and Enders, 2004). This will happen when they will be sure that they will be getting the value for money when purchasing that particular product hence the success of SMS interruptive advertising .
Since this study has identified factors influencing use of SMS interruptive advertising for university students, future research should explore how SMS interruptive advertising can be integrated with other forms of media. This will provide further insights in this technology that keeps changing day by day.
REFERENCES
- Abdulraheem. M. Ahmad. Zabadi, Mohammad Shura, E. A. Elsayed (2012). Consumer Attitudes Toward Mobile Advertising among Jordanian Users.Published February 1, 2012
- Ajzen, I. (1991). The Theory of Planned Behavior: Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, pp. 179-211
- ALhrezat R. (2013). Factors affecting consumer‟s attitudes toward mobile marketing:
- International Journal of Business and Economics Research
- Andersson A. Nilsson (2000). Wireless Advertising Effectiveness:Evaluation of an SMS interruptive advertising Trial.
- Bauer, Barnes and Reichadt (2005). Driving Consumer acceptance of Mobile Marketing; Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2005
- Barwise, P., & Strong, C. (2002). Permission – based mobile advertising. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 16 (1), 14 – 24.
