from intention to decision...one objective -- to understand how this consumer thinks and acts, from...

FROM INTENTION TO DECISION

A Wild Fusion Quarterly Research Publication | July 2017

Understanding the Nigerian consumer’s mobile path to purchase.

As digital-led marketing trailblazers, we are enamored of pure, hard data. This holds us accountable and validate our work in the current business mix. This never-ending desire for data, enduring insights, and the provision of same for our clients and continued leadership of thoughts in the marketing technology sector takes us in the direction of curious adventures like the one that bore this study.

In the last few years, mobile - and the way people use it - has changed nearly everything. People are buying differently than they did five years ago. Mobile, and the plenitude of choices it represents, gives immense control to the consumer in the purchase journey. In this new order, the information-savvy consumers determine the outcome of the marketplace.

Responsive brands need to understand this new consumer purchase sentiment, and engage with the right message, in the right context. This is why we are excited to share what we have discovered to be a definitive path to purchase for the Nigerian consumer.

In this report, we have sought to answer, amongst other questions, where consumers find new brands and products, and where they prefer to conduct transactional interactions with brands. These answers, we hope, will provide strategic protocols for local brands and international brands looking to do business in Nigeria.

This quarterly publication, like many we have issued before it, is Wild Fusion’s contribution to the body of knowledge, insights and considerations pertinent to Nigeria’s marketing communication, media and technology industry.

Using this foreword as an opportunity, I will like to thank all the curious people at Wild Fusion’s Strategic Planning Department for their relentless questioning, guided by the need to understand more, better than anyone else, something they have come to call “consumer post-rational behavior.”

Keep up the good work.

Foreword

Agatha EminaGeneral Manager, Wild Fusion

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Executive SummaryThe Internet has disrupted traditional notions of marketing, and has changed the way we think about how products get to consumers. The internet enabled mobile phones were a major part of this disruption and businesses are looking for ways to be more strategic about how they connect and provide information to their consumers via mobile. There is a need to have full understanding into the consumer’s full journey along the mobile path so that marketers can better craft their communication strategy.

In this regard, Wild Fusion's specialist research unit, employing quantitative research methodology, and online data gathering, commissioned a research with one objective -- to understand how this consumer thinks and acts, from intention to decision, in the crucial micro-moments of knowing, going, doing, and buying.

In this study, we sought the opinion of Nigerian consumers across several key locations in Nigeria, and using the Big Data tools joined with analytical software for data evaluation and insights which form the basis for this report, we uncovered interesting revelations. Findings from this research show Nigerians have come far in accepting mobile as a means of conducting transactions, with 3 of 5 Nigerian shoppers surveyed preferring to shop with their mobile phones, and carrying out significant mobile shopping transactions at least once a month.

This report also sheds more light on consumer preferences and motivations for using particular channels to meet mobile purchase needs, including other key information and recommendations to guide businesses and brand marketers in making more informed strategic choices.

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INTRODUCTION

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At Google I/O 2016, Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, dished out a slew of impressive numbers about the rapid adoption and engagement on the internet across the world. We call the numbers impressive because he made clear the kind of speed and transformation the internet itself continues to experience, and what the world has become as a result. Things we once imagined impossible are the new normal.

Now, the stats that stopped us right in our tracks were the mobile stats - over 50% of search and activities from about 3 billion internet users across the world, growing from just 300 million some 3 decades back, were mobile.Being one of Africa’s leading marketing and media technology companies, the preponderance of the figure seemed just fine, the shock did not happen at first, we took the numbers in, but things took a drastic turn when we went “bigger picture” on the data and asked ourselves “can you imagine the implication of those numbers? That is magic.”

Then, it began to occur to us the possibilities the numbers represent; the outcome for AI, VR and AR, the power of the reach and accompanying outcomes on people, nations, economies, politics, and tech itself. These are not predictions, these are things happening already, delightfully disrupting our lives everyday. We are nearer to IoT proliferation than we originally thought.

Bringing the point home to Nigeria - world’s most populous black nation - where internet penetration stands at 49% , which is 27% of the entirety of Africa’s internet penetration, the effects of mobile disruption are as significant.

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1 Internet World Stats, Nigeria Internet Penetration (2017) http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm

From Intention To Decision | Introduction

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With smartphones taking 30% of Nigeria’s internet penetration figure, and projected to double by 2021, if most people were asked to name three things they could not do without, there is an easy wager that the mobile phone and a number of smart devices would receive prominent mentions. While we do not present this hypothesis as an indication of actual usage, we believe it represents penetration.

Mobile technology is an essential companion in both our private and professional lives, this includes the many ways businesses and brands are leveraging mobile to reach faster, connect deeper, enhance experience, and simulate the idea of seeded control to the consumer. Mobile is changing everything; putting brands at the core of know, go, do, buy moments of the potential consumer who can now, very easily, search, view products, verify, compare, and purchase.

Since every business wants to adapt faster and smarter, the use of mobile in gathering real-time data to help make informed business decisions and yield positive social impact is rapidly becoming a norm, the expected outcome is profitability and relevance.

Only now, it is on the mobile consumer’s terms.

From Intention To Decision | Introduction

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MOBILE DEPENDENCY LEVELS OF THE NIGERIAN CONSUMER

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61%of Nigerians prefer to shop online with their mobile devices, chiefly the smartphone. While this might seem obvious, the implication for businesses is far reaching because the preference for shopping with mobile transcends speed, convenience, and even the availability of other support functionalities to meet the consumer’s need for a desired outcome, to the level of involvement and repetition of interaction with the smartphone.

Cognitively, mobile is the first port of calll with little, or no barrier to usage as the consumer is intricately woven into the device and the other way round.

The need for detail, multiple source verifications and product comparisons put the larger-screen devices next to the smartphone. In many cases, the journey begins with one and ends with the other -- the smartphone taking the larger chunk of that process.

From Intention To Decision | Mobile DependencyLevels Of The Nigerian Consumer

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11%of Nigerian consumers who own mobile devices have never used them for online transactions.

90%of Nigerian consumers who own mobile devices use them for transactions at varying periods, 29% use weekly while 38% use monthly.

Although, considering the impact of Nigeria’s current economic profile on disposable income and the sheer number of casual daily transactions that are conducted on mobile (e.g. airtime recharge, Uber, etc), our inference is that the weekly and daily (22%) frequency of mobile transactions have the potential to outrun the frequency of monthly transactions.

Adoption levels are still growing and consumers are increasingly getting over the barriers that have limited shopping online. As an implication on the online space, consumers are eager to see the extent of what is possible and are very much less wary with brands they trust to consistently deliver.


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Immersive engagement and experience delivered as delightfully relevant content that is in parallel creation with consumer realities play a pivotal role in conversion.

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26%of Nigerian consumers who engage in online purchase at varying periods expressed an indifference, saying they have never worried about trust issues surrounding mobile transactions.

13%of Nigerian consumers who shop online expressed some reserved doubt for using mobile for online transactions.

Consumers attribute this to past experiences and purchase habits, especially when these transactions are beyond a regular course of action they are used to, or a specified amount that is beyond what they are comfortable losing should things go wrong.

This shows some consumers approach online purchase in ways that may get between them and a decision to commit fully to a brand. Because these consumers approach every transaction with a potential sense of loss, they take much longer and inadvertently more brand spend to convert.

It is important for brands to painstakingly invest in building a reputation of trust and efficiency that can be leveraged on the long run, cutting corners and totally relying on tactical adjustments will not only be more expensive, but detrimental to overall brand health online.


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With growing penetration comes more liberalism which has us seeing drastically-reduced concerns about the integrity of using mobile for online transactions.

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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CONSUMER CHANNEL DISCOVERY How consumers discover brands and products on the journey to purchase.

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From seeing a product cameo on your favorite TV show, to hearing Drake name-check a brand, to that advert that has its copy and concept right, even a new experience your friend had behind your back, and cannot stop raving about, the first instinct is search.

The consumer’s mobile path to purchase begins with the need to know.

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72%of Nigerian consumers find themselves instantly searching for what they want to buy at any development. They want to know what it looks like, what other people have said about it, and how quickly they can have it.

Consumers, almost naturally, begin their journey with a search. Even when they most likely have apps for their preferred shopping brands on their phones for quicker access, they find themselves searching.

The multitude of information and perspectives in forms of reviews, videos, blogs from all over the world make the consumer willingly invest trust in the capability of search at the start of this journey. The reverse is rarely the case in a world where consumers now believe what cannot be found online barely matters enough to be taken seriously.

In addition to the starting with search, we find additional key reasons for the continuous engagement on mobile along the consumer journey.

42% of consumers end up buying what they searched for or engage the brand further in the very moment of search while 25% actively compare prices before making purchase decisions.

From Intention To Decision | The PsychologyOf Consumer Channel Discovery

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Most consumers have an idea of what they want, and in most cases an idea of standard price from asking around following research, recommendations, or previous purchases. However, we discovered price comparison occurs more with products and services that require heavy financial involvement. For new purchases consumers are more likely to focus on product quality and the entire purchase experience.

Generally for online purchases, the heavier the financial involvement required of the consumer to make a purchase in the journey, the more likely the consumer is to compare a brand's prices and products with that of the competition before making a decision. Specifically for new purchases, consumers are more likely to focus on product quality and anticipated first-purchase experience before other things.

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Knowing that consumer engagement is even more crucial now as brands begin to better understand the power a consumer wields, even from the most remote location, we sought to reveal where consumers are the most comfortable with brand connection, which could result, not only in opportunities to increase brand capital, but to also stave off imminent havoc to a brand in real-time.

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51%of Nigerian mobile consumers will most likely engage with a brand's marketing efforts where they spend a vast chunk of their time, social media.This is to not say brands are required to be all over social media, we believe that brands known for the right content, at the right time, and in the right form will have little trouble getting impact for their marketing to a consumer who is not a victim, but a willing participant in their conversations.

39%of shopping consumers are converted through immersive digital marketing efforts covering the range of search and display.

10%believe email marketing offers additional position for share of mind.

Either exclusive of each other, or combined, these three - social media, online ads and email marketing - are important avenues for brands to leverage.

As a result, it behoves brands to make themselves available and accountable where the consumer chooses to have this connection; a platform that is trusted for connection with brands, is by extension trusted for tactical product and brand marketing efforts

From Intention To Decision | EstablishingThe Basis For Connection

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Consumers talk to each other, and where a brand is human and engaging enough, it gets appreciable attention.

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GUARANTEEING POST-CONSIDERATION PURCHASE

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That a consumer spends time on a brand’s website or app could be a factor of different things from planning, to comparison, to just because they like the design, the choice of colors, or the product photography.

We found that ensuring a prospective shopper decides to go with a brand, having considered a mass of others, takes a few essential factors into consideration.

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Consumers have no trouble ignoring brands they do not readily associate with considerations that are most important to them.

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DETERMINING POST-PURCHASE BEHAVIOR Does the Nigerian consumer reallygive product and brand feedback?

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80%of Nigerian mobile shoppers will provide review and feedback about the product, brand and entire experience depending on a number of factors.

We discovered that frequency of engagement with an on-line store, likely repetition of transaction based on delight, and the emotional outcome of the experience influence the need to provide feedback.

Consumers are eager to share new experiences as a pointer for others, or as a status claim amongst close relations. Regardless of the form or channel, consumers eventually share out of a sense of goodwill towards the brand, which becomes an obligation they are happy to take on; or the need for justice, ensuring a brand does not survive a wrong done to them.

50%of consumers prefer brand websites and social media platforms for reviews and feedback.

Consumers judged these platforms as more impactful because they are able to reach brands quicker and more directly.

From Intention To Decision | DeteminingPost-Purchase Behavior

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Consumers are ready to share their experiences within their circle of influence at least, and the better or worse they feel about the experience, the more likely they are to take their feedback to more visible and far reaching platforms.

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STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS What these developments mean for brands and businesses in Nigeria.

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Having uncovered these insights and their potential implications for brands in the battle for the consumer’s heart and pocket, we pushed further to arrive at strategic considerations.

We believe these will help brands looking to have sustainable head start make choices that will put more predictability to spend, the effect of spend, and ROI expectations.

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Mobility or the highwayThe power of mobile is no longer news. Understanding how the consumer sees and feels about this power, which is usually completely different from what brands think, is most essential. The more moments present themselves for consumers to wield their mobile power, the more it becomes a detriment to lackluster brands and an opportunity for smart brands.

It is not only important for brands to just put mobile first or be mobile-friendly, it is crucial to actually be mobile in their consumer engagement and brand experience. Especially now that we know having a mobile-friendly platform is not the same as brand mobility -- a brand’s capability to put the consumer’s motion into consideration, and adapt seamlessly, weaving itself into that journey, when making connection and communication choices.

From Intention To Decision | Strategic Considerations

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B

All roads begin with search!

Search is king, and brands need to take more advantage of SEO, organic relevance, ad visibility in search and display context.

By understanding, analyzing, and skillfully deploying keyword search terms, businesses can provide timely and much needed information useful to to guiding consumer choiceand decision. To support this, brands need to ensure website landing pages are readily optimized for mobile, are relevant, leading straight to desired consumer action and expectation.

Remember, be there like you were expecting them, not make them feel like they stumbled on your page.


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C

Seed brand enhanced momentsWe are in the experience economy, and consumers continue to expect brands to push the boundaries of delightful adventures that show their products are designed and offered with detailed understanding of their (consumers') wants, needs, and aspirations. That in itself, is an experience.

Consequently, consumers are quick to hold back their forgiveness when brands, as expected, do not decidedly lead the experience conversation and action. That is power to lead by creation which only few brands are aware of, and even fewer take advantage of. The know, go, do, buy micro moments are fraught with opportunities brands are expected to fill, waiting for the consumer who is looking to be welcome like he is being expected.

Hence, marketers need to help brands land moments that empower them to support consumers through the purchase journey in ways reminiscent of information, ease of carrying out action, speed, and safety.


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D

Be social with purposeBrands have a choice to make, whether to become, start, or join social conversations depending on personality, target audience, even the level of positioning sought to be commanded in the consumer community. For those who decide it is the way to go however, it is crucial to do so with single-mindedness. Timeliness, responsiveness, consistency, and eyes peeled for trends are some of the traits these brands need to have.

Much as consumers want to have interesting conversations, they also want to be inspired and given the permission to do same by the brands they trust and associate with as extensive definition of themselves.

Necessarily, a brand is expected to be focused, become an authority -- or be associated with authority -- on a range of relevant subjects, have a consistently satisfying and non-negotiable outcome for the consumer at every interaction; and be tactful with selling when the opportunity presents itself.


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Our ConclusionAt Wild Fusion, we believe these developments are significant indications of the promises mobile holds for brands and the openness of the consumer to being led by brands who are smart, intentional and specific in their connection. Mobile provides more room for brands and marketers to have a relook at their mobility strategy in light of their marketing communication plans, be it traditional and/or digital.

Being there to meet the consumer’s need to know more, enough to get things done faster, smoother and with deliberately tailored delight, at the exact time of need, will position brands for advantage. In effect, this will help brands roll out tactically-opportune plans that may cost less and have more impact on the long run.

Mobile represents endless potentials in achieving these, and more so, it is where the con-sumer feels the most in charge, safe, informed, engaged and connected; from intention to decision.

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Wild Fusion

DISCLAIMERThis publication has been written in general terms and therefore cannot be relied on to cover specific situations; application of the principles set

out will depend upon the particular circumstances involved and we recommend that you obtain professional advice before acting or refraining from

acting on any of the contents of this publication. This publication and the information contained herein is provided "as is," and Wild Fusion makes

no express or implied representations or warranties in this respect and does not warrant that the publication or information will be error-free or will

meet any particular criteria of performance or quality. Wild Fusion accepts no duty of care or liability for any loss occasioned to any person or

organization acting or refraining from action as a result of any material in this publication.

July 2017Copyright © Wild Fusion Groupwww.wildfusions.com

Wild Fusion is Africa’s leading full-service digital marketing agency with offices in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. We are a media and marketing technology company specialized in digitally led communications carefully approached and deployed to provide clients with sustainable leadership and advantage.

Established in 2010, Wild Fusion works with some of Africa’s biggest and most exciting brands. We are the first Google Certified AdWords Partner in West Africa, and have been featured in several publications, including Forbes’ list of top innovative companies in Africa.

With a dynamic, vastly experienced, and Google certified team, we have received local and global award recognitions for uniqueness in practice and winning campaigns for its clients, including the highly coveted Mobile West Africa Award -- which recognizes the region’s best mobile and tech companies, and an invitation by the Federal Government of Nigeria to join a Tech Trade Mission to Silicon Valley.

Wild Fusion operates at the intersection of digital and traditional marketing, which has provided us with a rare point of view. We hold ourselves to delivering solutions that achieve seamlessly integrated experiences between message, medium and mechanism, resulting in an interactive and delightful delivery from brand to consumer.

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from intention to decision...one objective -- to understand how this consumer thinks and acts, from...

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