SURVEY ON THE MOBILE USER

BEHAVIOUR
INTRODUCTION
The main purpose of this survey was to study the general behaviour of
consumers’ while selecting mobile phones and what kind of decision making
process is put behind the purchase. Mobile phones have become an important
component of daily life and thus it is an important topic as to know what goes on
in the minds of the general public before they go to purchase a new mobile and
the brand they select.
India has the second largest mobile phone users in the world thus showing how
important it is to know the mindset of a consumer. This kind of survey becomes
important for mobile producers as they can start producing phones according to
the needs and wants of the consumers and not according to what they think. Also
with the current boom in the 4G market, every person is running to buy new
phones especially smartphones.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Androulidakis G. Kandus (2011) correlated the brand of mobile phone to users’
security practices. Users show different behaviour in an array of characteristics,
according to the brand of the mobile phone they are using. As such, there is a
categorization of areas, different for each brand, where users are clearly lacking
security mind, possibly due to lack of awareness. Such a categorization can help
phone manufacturers enhance their mobile phones in regards to security,
preferably transparently for the user.
Nasr Azad Maryam Safaei (2012) states that there are many evidences to believe
that customers select their products based on brand name. Products also
maintain their own characteristics, which make them differentiable from others.
In this paper, researchers have present an empirical study to determine important
factors influencing customers' purchasing intend for cellular phones in capital city
of Iran, Tehran. The results of the study show that there are some positive
relationships between exclusive name and quality perception, between exclusive
name and word of mouth advertisement, between quality perception and fidelity,
between word of mouth advertisement and brand name and between brand name
image and brand name.
SanySanuriMohd. Mokhtar, Ahmed AuduMaiyaki , NorzainibtMohd Noor
(2011) explores the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction
on customer loyalty with regards to mobile phone usage among the postgraduate
students of a university in Northern Malaysia. The results show that both service
quality and customer satisfaction significantly affect the level of customer loyalty
of mobile phone users in Malaysia. It was therefore, recommended that mobile
service providers should pay special attention to their service quality and the
factors that drive customer satisfaction.
Harsha de Silva (2011) generally shows that adoption of (primarily) mobile
telephones has significant benefits not just to the adopter, but to the community at
large. In this context, the objective of the current article is to examine, from a user
perspective, the influences (as well as the interplay of these influences) on mobile
phone adoption by the poor in a selected set of countries in the emerging Asian
region.

OBJECTIVE OF THE SURVEY

The main objective of this survey was to come to a conclusion as to what are the
various factors that go into the decision making process when a consumer
considers buying a new mobile phone for his or her usage. What the consumer
looks for in a mobile, the budget constraints, who are the different kind of people
or which kind of media affects their purchase decision.

METHODOLOGY
A questionnaire was given out to 50 MBA students(first year and second year) at
SIBM Hyderabad to understand what kind of thinking and factors are considered
by them in taking a decision when they have to purchase a new mobile phone and
also how long they would keep the current phone with them on an average, how
much they would spend on it etc. The questionnaire consisted of open ended as
well as close ended questions. The age group of the population taken into
consideration is 21-28 years. The conclusions have been arrived to by taking into
consideration the frequency of the answers that have been provided by them.

DATA ANALYSIS
According to the data collected, majority (76%) of the respondents would prefer
to use a phone of medium screen size while large screen size was the second most
preferred (16%) and small screen sizes was the least preferred (8%). This can be
evident with the help of the given pie chart.
 Preferred Screen Size
small
large 8%
16%

medium
76%

small medium large

Further analysis shows the main purpose of the phone i.e. what feature of the
phone is most used by the consumer.

HIGHEST USAGE
Gaming

Music

Clicking pictures

Calling

Texting

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

We can see from the graph that people purchased phones mostly for the basic
need of communication i.e. calling or texting (includes WhatsApp etc.).
Entertainment factor came in a close second with people preferring to purchase a
phone with the motive of listening to music. Nowadays cameras form an
important part of the mobile phones. People want to click all the moments they
enjoy through the medium of selfies or normal photographs. Thus, we can see
that clicking pictures is the third priority of people when going for the purchase of
mobile phones. This number will keep on increasing with improvements in
technology and heavy investment by companies on the betterment of their
camera quality. In this busy world, gaming is a luxury that only few people can get
time for and thus it is the least preferred feature that a user would look for. Since
the survey was taken among the consumers of the next generation, it shows a
trend of the times to come in the future considering their likes, dislikes and their
priorities.
The survey also tells us that the new generation is not pricey. It is economical and
wants that mobile phone which gives them the best value of money. So a mobile
company cannot just charge Rs. 50,000+ without giving them appropriate features
to justify that price. If at all they do charge that high an amount without satisfying
the needs of the consumers, they will simply switch brands and look for a brand
that is giving them the features they expect at a better price. This can be inferred
with the preferred price of a phone. People are looking for phones that lie in the
range of Rs.10,000 to Rs.40,000. Thus, ditching the age-old thinking that higher
the price, better the features.

Key Influencers
29
30

25

20

15 12

10
5
3
5 1

0
Friends Family Reviewers Ads Others

Out of the 50 surveys taken, 29 people said that they their purchase decision was
influenced the most by reviewers followed by their friends’ recommendations (12
people) followed by family (5), other reasons like their own decision(3) and ads
the least influential. This shows a paradigm shift from earlier times where ads
formed the major part in our decision-making process. However, with time
passing by, people have become more tech savvy and more dependent on the
technical aspects of the phone and would want a hands-on review of what type of
a product they are trying to get into which applies to mobile phone purchases as
well. Also with internet resources being available 24*7, these reviews can be
watched anywhere, anytime and by anyone thus making the decision-making
process easy.
Respondents did not have any specific brand preference as to they would
purchase that brand only over other available brands in the market. Those who
did prefer brands varied from a number of brands that are available in the market
the majority of them preferring Apple which has its flagship iPhone in the market.
This survey shows that people are not brand loyal and would switch brands if
given the chance and better services as compared to their current mobile phones
or are getting the same features at a cheaper rate. This is the current trend in the
mobile phone market. Consumers are not hesitant in shifting brands. Infact they
do so in a jiffy without putting in much thought due to the availability of
comparisons between all available mobile handsets of different brands on the
internet.
The next question asked to the respondents was how long they would use their
phones and the majority of the response was more than 2 years. This shows that
people would prefer using a phone till it either develops a problem or a new
technology has come into the market or are fully satisfied by its usage. Hardly
anyone said that they would change their phones in less than a years’ time.
Given a choice between battery life, display, camera, speaker, looks and the price
of a particular handset respondents the majority of the respondents preferred
phones with good battery life given the hectic nature of the modern day lives.
Other preferences include good screen resolution or a good camera. The
inclination of the respondents towards need of a better battery life shows us how
hectic life has become and how important mobile phones are in these times.
Further, they were asked regarding their knowledge as to how they knew a
particular phone was in the market. This was met with responses of all kinds.
Some came to know regarding the brands through ads, some through friends or
family, some through hoardings or the internet(YouTube). Brand information is
important for any product to sell without which any product will not be able to
sell itself in the market especially with the kind of competition that exists. Also to
depict oneself different from the other brands(competitors) and to increase sales,
it is important to attract these users through different mediums.Nowadays, there
have been many instances of batteries in phones exploding at different points of
times. When the respondents were put forward as to would their preferences
would be affected with these controversies, 28 out of the 50 said that the
controversies do affect them thus inferring that every brand must take ample care
that they do not find themselves in the middle of a controversy or else their
consumers would not be hesitant to shift loyalties.
To put an end to the questionnaire, the final two questions that were asked to the
respondents were their preferred OS(operating system) and which phone
according to them is the best in the market.
 PREFERRED OS
Other
2%

iOS
30%

Android
68%

There was more preference towards android given that it is more consumer
friendly and flexible compared to iOS. Although there is a niche market for iOS,
the majority of the users prefer android phones given the ease of use and also it
being an open source.
When asked regarding the current best brand/handset, the answer varied from
iPhone to Moto to even upcoming brands like Xiaomi and OnePlus and even
Google with its new phones Pixel which is giving tough competition to the big
brands. Also, with the reasons that the respondents have given, it can be assumed
safely that the current consumer group is very well informed regarding all the
brands and handsets available to them in the market and all the specifications and
technicalities of them respectively.

CONCLUSION
After completing the whole survey, I can thus come to a conclusion that users of
mobile phone have a fixed preference as to how they want to a mobile phone to
be, what features they must have, what colour it should be, the price range etc.
failure to adhere to which they will easily switch brands to another brand which
gives them the same features at a better price or better features at the same price.
Thus, indicating to us that its not just the price that influences the decision-
making process of consumers but, it is the summation of a number of factors
which have to be taken into consideration by mobile phone producing companies
while they are trying to produce new handsets or face the same consequences that
Nokia faced. It is a very volatile market but if you can keep the consumers happy
with innovation and proper services, one can earn huge profits and a good market
share.