The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity. Is mobility on demand a good investment?
Stijn Driessen
Bart van Leeuwen
Friday, 23 January 2009
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity. Is mobility on demand a good investment?
The research question in this research is ‘Does the use of mobile Internet marketing have an influence on the brand equity of an organisation?’ This research concludes that the usability of a website influence the brand equity of a company. This was determined by Keller (1993), Lassar et al (1995) and Resnick (2001). So to determine whether the use of mobile Internet marketing has an influence on brand equity we researched if the usability of an adjusted website for mobile Internet users was significantly better or not than a normal website. The usability of a website can be measured by several points, according to Palmer (2002) and Brackel (2008). We combined these two in our research to measure the usability of a website, and consequently we used four criteria: Navigation, Response Time, Content and Lay-out. We also hypothesised these four criteria were moderated by the type of cellular phone (classic phone vs. modern phone). In order to measure these four components we have done an experiment among 100 respondents between the age of 17 and 26, because this group has more association with mobile Internet marketing. Each respondent was questioned several statements about one type of website and one type of cellular phone. This, so the respondent was not influenced with his opinion to make a difference between the type of website and the type of cellular phone. Consequently the results of our research supported our hypothesis and showed that all four components were influenced by the type of website. Also Navigation, Response Time and Lay-out are moderated by the type of cellular phone. We therefore recommend businesses to adjust their website for mobile Internet users.
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Table of contents TABLE OF CONTENTS __________________________________________________________________ 3 1. INTRODUCTION______________________________________________________________________ 4 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ________________________________________________________ 5 2.1 DEFINITIONS ________________________________________________________________________ 6 2.1.1 Brand equity ____________________________________________________________________ 6 2.1.2 Usability _______________________________________________________________________ 7 2.1.3 Mobile marketing ________________________________________________________________ 7 2.2 HYPOTHESES ________________________________________________________________________ 9 2.2.1 Navigation _____________________________________________________________________ 9 2.2.2 Response Time __________________________________________________________________ 9 2.2.3 Content _______________________________________________________________________ 10 2.2.4 Lay-out _______________________________________________________________________ 10 2.2.5 Moderators ____________________________________________________________________ 11 2.2.6 Theoretical model_______________________________________________________________ 11 3. RESEARCH DESIGN _________________________________________________________________ 11 3.1 METHODOLOGY ____________________________________________________________________ 11 3.2 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY ___________________________________________________________ 13 3.3 OPERATIONALIZATION _______________________________________________________________ 13 4. RESULTS ___________________________________________________________________________ 14 4.1 NAVIGATION _______________________________________________________________________ 4.2 RESPONSE TIME _____________________________________________________________________ 4.3 CONTENT__________________________________________________________________________ 4.4 LAY-OUT __________________________________________________________________________
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5. CONCLUSION _______________________________________________________________________ 17 6. DISCUSSION ________________________________________________________________________ 17 7. RECOMMENDATIONS _______________________________________________________________ 18 LITERATURE _________________________________________________________________________ 19 APPENDIXES __________________________________________________________________________ 21 APPENDIX A SURVEY ___________________________________________________________________ APPENDIX B NAVIGATION _______________________________________________________________ Type of website _____________________________________________________________________ Type of cellular phone – Mobile website __________________________________________________ Type of cellular phone – Normal website _________________________________________________ APPENDIX C RESPONSE TIME _____________________________________________________________ Type of website _____________________________________________________________________ Type of Cellular phone – Mobile website _________________________________________________ Type of Cellular phone – Normal website _________________________________________________ APPENDIX D CONTENT __________________________________________________________________ Type of website _____________________________________________________________________ Type of cellular phone – Mobile website __________________________________________________ Type of cellular phone – Normal website _________________________________________________ APPENDIX E LAY-OUT __________________________________________________________________ Type of website _____________________________________________________________________ Type of cellular phone – Mobile website __________________________________________________ Type of cellular phone – Normal website _________________________________________________
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
1. Introduction Over the past few years many business activities have been adjusted by new technology. Ever since the introduction of Internet, many businesses not only sought new ways to advertise, but also to distribute their products over the Internet (Geyskens, Gielens, & Dekimpe, 2002). Not only the Internet had a major impact on business activities, but also the introduction of the cellular phone several decades ago. When the cellular phone was introduced the only way to communicate was through voice communication. The revenues of voice communication are no longer growing and therefore, telecom providers continuously work to introduce valueadded services: mobile services in addition to the traditional voice calls, often based on new technologies. Asides from voicemail and text message as value-added mobile services, the time now has come to promote the Internet as value-added mobile service. Especially now that the technology on accessing the Internet through cellular phone has improved over the past few years, adopting this value-added service seems inevitable (Prins, 2008; Brackel, 2008). The figures of the Internet as value-added mobile service are increasing very rapidly in the Netherlands. At this moment about 1,600,000 Dutch consumers are visiting websites on the Internet with their telephones ones or more per month. The growth of active users is 30% to 40% a year. Already 75% of the Dutch consumers have a telephone that can access the mobile Internet (Brackel, 2008). Consequently companies now remain with the question whether they should adjust their website for mobile Internet users: consumers that use a cellular phone to surf the Internet; or stay with only the current version of the website. A site specially designed for mobile Internet users is an addition on the normal Internet website. Whenever a mobile Internet user browses to the website he will get redirected to the mobile version of the website. These two variants run combined, only there is a slight difference in the mobile version of the website (Chae & Kim, 2003). In order to measure whether companies should adjust their website for mobile Internet users or not, we measure brand equity. Keller (1993) defines Customer-based brand equity as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand. Three important concepts are included in the definition: “differential effect,” “brand knowledge,” and “consumer response to marketing.” A normal Internet website can lead to enhanced brand image, customer loyalty and provides an unobtrusive touch point for learning
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity more about key customers. Already many successful on-line brands have used a combination of Internet and traditional channels to build brand equity and customer loyalty. This is created through a combination of strategic awareness, consumer perception, image distinction and image consistency. Building brand equity can also be done by improving the usability of a website (Resnick, 2001). In this paper we will describe the influence on brand equity when using mobile Internet marketing. We believe that adjusting a normal Internet website for mobile Internet users improves the usability and therefore the brand equity. As other papers described the use of mobile Internet marketing or how to build brand equity, we combine these two as a whole. The use of mobile Internet has increased over the past few years since her introduction and therefore there are not many research studies available. This research defines whether it is wisely for a company to adjust their websites for mobile Internet users or not. These websites run synchronised side by side with the normal website only we believe there are some advantages for the usability for mobile Internet users. Currently it is not known if an adjusted Internet website increases the usability and thereby the brand equity from a company. To measure this we want to measure the usability of a mobile Internet website in order to conclude that companies should have an adjusted Internet website aside from a normal Internet website or not. We find that if a mobile Internet website improves the brand equity of a company, companies should adjust their website for mobile Internet users. In the next chapter we will discuss the theoretical framework of this paper and our research design. Next we will discuss our research results on the hypotheses given in our theoretical framework. Furthermore we will discuss our conclusions of this research and consequently we will discuss our recommendations on the matter.
2. Theoretical Framework In the last decade of the twentieth century mobile communications and the Internet were the two major demand drivers for telecommunication services. Combined – mobile Internet – would be one of the major demand drivers of the first decade of the twenty-first century (Srivastava, Goodrick, Kelly, Reynolds, & Takada, 2002). Lately already some gigantic players on the market have invested in mobile Internet websites. It is not for no reason they decided to invest in mobile marketing. Giants like Sony Ericsson, My Space, Yahoo, Middlesex University etcetera have already adjusted their websites for mobile Internet users. They claim it is value-adding to their company. Especially now that the -5-
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity demand takes place anywhere at anytime with a cellular phone (Farber, 2008; Goldie, 2006; Jaquith, 2008). We believe an adjusted Internet website for mobile Internet users increases the usability, and thereby the brand equity of a company. Thus, our research question is: Does the use of mobile Internet marketing have an influence on the brand equity of an organisation? In order to research this we have studied many relevant and previous studies and made several hypotheses which form the base of our research.
2.1 Definitions 2.1.1 Brand equity Brand equity is already studied from various perspectives. Because of the variance of studies there are also a lot of definitions about what brand equity really is (Krishnan & Hartline, 2001). The definition that is the best in our perspective is the one that Keller (1993) defines. He defines brand equity as the deferential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand. Brand knowledge is the most important concept in the definition of brand equity for our study. Customer-based brand equity occurs when the consumer is familiar with the brand and holds some favourable, strong and unique brand association in memorising. A consumer forms brand knowledge by storing nodes in his or her memory. Nodes are stored information that are connected by links that vary in strength. These stored nodes are triggered and linked together when the consumer takes up information from his or her environment. The more nodes that are triggered determine the extent of retrieval in memory. Thus, the more nodes a consumer has on a certain brand, the more brand knowledge the consumer has. This is relevant to our study, because it states whenever a consumer has a good experience with a website on the mobile Internet, the more favourable nodes he or she has, and thus the brand equity of the company will increase. This is supported by Lassar, Mittal, and Sharma (1995) who studied how to measure customer-based brand equity. They say customer-based brand equity can be measured by measuring the performance, social image, value, trustworthiness and attachment of a brand. Usability can increase performance, social image and trustworthiness, thus brand equity.
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
2.1.2 Usability In spite of the increasing importance of mobile marketing and its efforts, a research of the influence of mobile marketing on brand equity has been lacking. There is yet no research done about measuring the usability of an adjusted Internet website for mobile Internet users, although there has already been developed a method for measuring the usability of a normal Internet website. Therefore we want to measure the usability of a mobile website using the method for measuring the usability of a normal Internet website. For measuring the usability of a normal Internet website we measure four different variables: navigation, response time, credibility and content (Palmer, 2002). These four variables combined reflect the usability of a website. Brackel (2008) determines, because of the limited screen size of a cellular phone, mobile Internet websites should not include credibility content, but instead should focus more on lay-out. If a mobile Internet website has a better usability, it should increase the brand equity of a company. Because the mobile Internet site is easy to use, consumers will use these websites more often. Consequently if the site is visited more often it will improve its brand knowledge, thus brand equity (Keller, 1993; Palmer, 2002).
2.1.3 Mobile marketing According to Leppäniemi and Karjaluoto (2007) there are four mobile marketing communications tools: Advertising, Promotions, Direct Marketing and CRM. Advertising can be divided into WEB, Broadcast, Narrowcast, Physical browsing and Other. In this paper we will focus ourselves only on WEB as the mobile marketing communication tool. Chae and Kim (2003) studied the business implications of the mobile Internet from the user’s perspective. They describe the characteristics of the mobile Internet can be understood from three different perspectives: user, environment and system. First, from the user’s perspective, it is rare to share mobile Internet phones, because they are usually more personal and individual than stationary Internet devices. Therefore, the mobile device always carries its user identity. Second, from the environmental perspective, mobile Internet systems are portable and always available. Stationary Internet systems are the opposite; they are not usually movable and require long pre-processes, such as booting up etcetera. Third, from the system’s perspective, mobile Internet systems have a lower level of available resources compared to those provided by the stationary Internet. While mobile Internet devices are very
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity portable and handy, they have smaller screens, less convenient input/output facilities, and lower multimedia processing capabilities than do desktop computers, for example. Many studies show mobile Internet is always available anywhere at anytime (Lamming, Eldridge, Flynn, Jones, & Pendlebury, 2000; Jaquith, 2008; Chae & Kim, 2003). There are however some limitations to mobile Internet (Chae & Kim, 2003; Brackel, 2008). Before we determine the limitations of mobile Internet websites we first have to study what the consumer expectations, the technical possibilities and the marketing possibilities are of normal Internet websites. Palmer (2002) studied what the consumer expectations are for a normal Internet website. He concluded that the consumer’s expectations of a website are determined by download delay, navigation/organization, interactivity, responsiveness and information/content. Consequently these variables determine the website success. I.e. From a substantive point of view, site design, usability, and media richness appear to be closely associated with site success. Schlosser, White, and Lloyd (2006) studied how website visitors could be converted into buyers. They concluded that whenever consumers believe a website is more trustworthy their online purchase intention would be more likely. They claim that investments are necessary, but only when risks are high. Song and Zinkhan (2008) showed that interactivity on a website is also very important for online purchases. They also find that speed is of a substantial factor for website visitors. Another study proves the existence and influence of website social ness perceptions. They showed whenever a website was social interactive the online purchase intention would increase (Wang, Baker, Wagner, & Wakefield, 2007). Other studies show the importance of Customer Relationship Management in online Retailing. There are infinite technological and marketing possibilities online, but there has to be sought for a good balance between those two. Research shows that moderate online experience are better able to leverage CRM into superior customer satisfaction outcomes than firms with either low or high online experience (Srinivasan & Moorman, 2005). We believe that a mobile Internet website is, although its technical limitations, an addition to the normal Internet website. In this paper we will test this by various hypotheses.
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
2.2 Hypotheses Palmer (2002) wrote in his study the way to measure the usability of a normal website is by measuring four variables: Navigation, Response Time, Credibility and Content. If these variables are perceived good, the usability of the website increases. Brackel (2008) however determinant it is not possible for mobile Internet websites to focus on Credibility and argues a larger focus on Lay-out. The central subject of this paper is a normal Internet website versus an adjusted Internet website for mobile Internet users. We believe there is a substantial difference between these two variants in the usability of a website. The independent variable therefore is whether it is a normal Internet website or an adjusted Internet website.
2.2.1 Navigation Navigation is the placement of the navigational tools on a website, such as buttons and bars. The navigation of a website is important for the users of the website. Having a good navigation allows users to find their information faster and easier (Palmer, 2003; Brackel, 2008). If the navigation of a website is adjusted for mobile Internet users, everything will fit on the limited screen of the cellular phone (Chae & Kim, 2003). This will increase the navigation of the website with the advantages mention above, namely it will allow users to find their information faster and easier. We therefore hypothesize a positive influence of navigation on usability.
H1: An adjusted Internet website for mobile phone users has a better navigation than a normal Internet website when it is visited by a cellular phone. Thus, the usability will increase.
2.2.2 Response Time When visiting a website you download information and eventually this information will be displayed on the device’s screen (Gralla, Ishida, Reimer, & Adams, 2006). An adjusted Internet website for mobile Internet users has a lot of elements that take away most of the download time. An adjusted Internet website has fewer pictures or other multimedia and the pictures and other multimedia that the website do have are adjusted for mobile devices. This means those pictures and other multimedia have an optimised resolution for mobile devices which takes away a lot of bytes, thus download time (Brackel, 2008). We believe that the
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity users of mobile Internet will say that the download time of an adjusted Internet website is less bothersome than the download time of a normal Internet website when it is visited by a cellular phone. We therefore hypothesize a positive influence of response time on usability. H2: An adjusted Internet website for mobile phone users requires less download time than a normal Internet website does when it is visited by a cellular phone. Thus, the usability will increase.
2.2.3 Content The Internet is designed to gather information, like news, weather, sports, traffic etcetera (Brackel, 2008). There are already a lot of websites that provide this information, so these are value adding. However if a website is full of text, it is difficult for a user to read it on a limited sized screen, such as you can find on cellular phones. Therefore adjusted Internet websites for mobile phones are restricted with their content and only provides brief information that is relevant and up-to-date for its users. We believe that if a website is adjusted for mobile Internet users only provides the information that the user requires. If this data is up to date and as brief as possible, the usability will increase. We therefore hypothesize a positive influence of content on usability. H3: An adjusted Internet website for mobile phone users has more relevant content for the user than a normal Internet website does when it is visited by a cellular phone. Thus, the usability will increase.
2.2.4 Lay-out The lay-out of a mobile Internet website is different from the lay out of a normal Internet website. Everything is adjusted to fit on a screen of a cellular phone. Brackel (2008) determines that an adjusted Internet website has a good lay-out if it is well readable and long sentences are avoided. We believe that an adjusted Internet website for mobile Internet users increases the usability. We therefore hypothesize a positive influence of lay-out on usability. H4: An adjusted Internet website for mobile phone users has a better lay-out for the user than a normal Internet website does when it is visited by a cellular phone. Thus, the usability will increase.
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
2.2.5 Moderators Brackel (2008) determent the use of mobile Internet has increased because of several reasons. The most important reason was the rise of more advanced cellular phones, which are capable of faster loading times and bigger screens. We therefore hypothesize the type of cellular phone has a moderating effect on a website’s usability. H5. The type of cellular phone has a moderating effect on a website’s usability.
2.2.6 Theoretical model Usability Navigation (H1)
Response Time (H2)
Type of website
Brand Equity
Content (H3)
The grey area (influence of Usability on Brand Equity) has already been proven by Keller (1993), Lassar et al (1995) and Resnick (2001).
Lay-out (H4)
Type of cellular phone (H5)
3. Research Design 3.1 Methodology To determine if the use of mobile Internet marketing has an influence on the brand equity of an organisation we made five hypotheses. To test these hypotheses we do field research. We have chosen to do a field experiment with the various options there are to visit an Internet website through a cellular phone. Thus, we will test both the normal Internet websites (unadjusted) and the adjusted Internet websites for mobile phones through two kinds of devices. The difference between these two devices is that one is running Internet Explorer (one of the latest technology devices) and the other is running WAP browser. We will use the HTC Touch PRO as the modern cellular phone and the Nokia 6020 as the classic cellular phone (Brackel, 2008).
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity We have chosen to take a stratified random sample of the Dutch population. We have chosen to experiment with students, because of vary of reasons. First, this group is more aware of the latest technology and therefore more interesting. Secondly, among this group almost everybody already uses a cellular phone, because it is practically indispensable in the current society. Third, we want to test a model with this research and doing a survey under youngsters is sufficient to determine whether this model is valid or not. By doing an experiment we do not want to conclude anything about the total population. Last, this target group is more interesting from business perspective, because mobile marketing is specifically targeted at this group. (Brackel, 2008). The experiment will be to determine the usability of mobile Internet websites. We did not have the time to make a 0-measurement. The research had to be done within five months and we think this time is too short to have a difference in results. The respondent will be asked to do an assignment on the website and will thereby have to fill in some questions. The following experiments will be tested: The respondent will get a classic cellular phone and has to do an assignment on a normal Internet website. The respondent will get a classic cellular phone and has to do an assignment on an adjusted Internet website for mobile Internet users. The respondent will get a modern cellular phone and has to do an assignment on a normal Internet website. The respondent will get a modern cellular phone and has to do an assignment on an adjusted Internet website for mobile Internet users. Every respondent will only get one cellular phone and therefore will only do one experiment. This is, so we eliminate the influence of technology on our data and so we can measure the moderating influence of technology on the usability of a website. During the experiment we will ask the respondents several questions about the navigation, response time, content and lay-out of the website he is currently viewing (see appendix A). The respondent has to rate these questions on a 5-point likert scale, whereby only the first and the last-point have a value. This is done so we can calculate averages with the results. We will test our hypotheses with one website (NS.nl), which has both a normal website and an adjusted website for mobile Internet users. Both of these variants are available to display on a cellular phone. On this website we can ask the respondent to search for a specific detail, so we can measure the usability. Also the speed of the perceived information retrieval will be measured. - 12 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
3.2 Reliability and validity In total we will experiment with approximately 100 respondents. According to MacCallum, Widaman, Zhang, and Hong (1999) 100 respondents will give data which is valid to do statistics calculation with. Normally this is to make conclusions about the whole population when having a sample. In this case we will do an experiment, so we do not conclude anything about the total population, but we are testing a model. However, we have chosen to have 100 respondents, to get a closer insight and to have a valid experiment. The target group of respondents will be students in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and districts. We believe the trend towards mobile Internet usage is specifically interesting under youngsters. Therefore we aim to get respondents out of this target group. Consequently tests will be taken in schools, associations and at home with friends.
3.3 Operationalization Construct
Measures
Method
Sources
Hypothesis 1:
Arrangement
5-point likert scale
Brackel, 2008
Navigation
Structure
Independent Sample
Palmer, 2002
Links
T-test Actual time
Hypothesis 2:
Speed
Response Time
5-point likert scale
Brackel, 2008
Independent Sample
Palmer, 2002
T-test Actual time Hypothesis 3:
Amount of Information
5-point likert scale
Brackel, 2008
Content
Variety of Information
Independent Sample
Palmer, 2002
Word count
T-test
Content quality Relevance Actual Hypothesis 4:
Readability
5-point likert scale
Brackel, 2008
Lay-out
Suitable
Independent Sample
Palmer, 2002
Length of sentences
T-test
Proper Hypothesis 5:
Wap version
Type of cellular phone
IE version
Instrument
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Brackel, 2008
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
4. Results During our research we have received much assistance from our fellow students and our friends. Therefore our non response was very low and our research went well. We have done our experiments on all weekdays between 13.00 and 15.00. In total we have received 100 respondents and approximately 4 non-responses. The respondents are between the age of 17 and 26. 54% of our respondents are male. 79% of our respondents are already familiar with mobile Internet. The NS website is quite popular, because already 92.2% of our respondents are already familiar with this website. However, this does not conclude they are already aware of the two formats, but only NS.nl in general. On a scale from 1 to 5 whether the respondents thought mobile Internet had a future the average score was 3.98. Each respondent received either the classic cellular phone or the modern cellular phone with either the normal Internet website or the adjusted Internet website for mobile usage. The respondent had to search for the departure times of the train from Den Bosch to Eindhoven. The time this experiment took was measured by a stopwatch. Next the respondent was questioned about the five hypothesis and the answers were filled in by the interviewer.
When using this method the control of preventing direct influences is very high. This is, because each respondent only gets one case and is thereby not influenced by the other cases. We can control this, because there are several groups, independent from each other. With our collected data we have done Independent Sample T-tests. With these tests we can indicate the differences in averages between the sample categories. To see whether a relation is significant we first have to determine if the variances are assumed equal or unequal. We therefore use the Leveneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Test for Equality of Variances. If this test is significant it means the variances are assumed unequal, else they are equal. We look at the significance (2-tailed) to determine whether the relationship is significant. We test our hypotheses with a reliability of 95%. This means Îą = 0.05, so we reject H0 if the significance level is < 0.05 and consequently there is a relationship. The moderating impact is measured for every component of usability separately. We have measured this by doing the Independent Sample T-test as well for each type of Internet website.
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
4.1 Navigation H1: An adjusted Internet website for mobile phone users has a better navigation than a normal Internet website when it is visited by a cellular phone. Thus, the usability will increase. The results of the navigation are illustrated in Appendix B. We have made Independent Sample T-tests in SPSS. We found that the adjusted website is significantly better in arrangement, structure and information than a normal website when showed on a cellular phone. When we look at the difference in navigation between the two types of cellular phones, we see that there is a significantly difference between a modern phone and classic phone on finding the way back on an adjusted mobile Internet website. The respondents that viewed the normal website founded that the website had a better structure on a modern phone than on a classic phone.
4.2 Response time H2: An adjusted Internet website for mobile phone users requires less download time than a normal Internet website does when it is visited by a cellular phone. Thus, the usability will increase. In Appendix C you can see the results of the Independent Sample T-tests in SPSS. We have tested the actual response time, the perceived response time and the expected response time. We have tested these variables with what kind of cellular phone and which kind of website.
The differences between the two variants of websites on the response time, perceived response time and expected response time are all significant. The normal website takes 33.35% longer to load than the adjusted website. The respondents rated the perceived response time of the adjusted website better than the perceived response time of the normal website. Also the respondents found the adjusted website faster than expected.
The differences between the two types of cellular phones on the actual response time, perceived response time and expected response time are also all significant. The respondents found the modern phone faster than the classic phone.
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
4.3 Content H3: An adjusted Internet website for mobile phone users has more relevant content for the user than a normal Internet website does when it is visited by a cellular phone. Thus, the usability will increase. In order to determine the differences between the types of websites and the types of cellular phones on content we used an Independent Sample T-test. The results of these tests are in Appendix D.
The adjusted website is significantly better than an adjusted website in delivering content. However, this does not mean the website is more actual. The type of phone does not significantly influence the content.
4.4 Lay-out H4: An adjusted Internet website for mobile phone users has a better lay-out for the user than a normal Internet website does when it is visited by a cellular phone. Thus, the usability will increase. In appendix E you can find the results of the Independent Sample T-tests in determining the differences in lay-out between the type of websites and the type of cellular phones.
Our respondents have a significantly distinct preference for an adjusted website, because it fits better on the screen, the page is clearer and the lay-out is more pleasant to view.
Furthermore, the lay-out of a normal website is significantly reviewed better on a modern phone than on a classic phone by our respondents. Also the lay-out of an adjusted website is significantly reviewed better on a modern phone than on a classic phone by our respondents, except for the item â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;fit in screenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
5. Conclusion The adjusted website is significantly better on all four criteria we used to determine the usability of a website. Thus, the Navigation, Response Time, Content and Lay-out are better on an adjusted website for mobile Internet users than on a normal website for mobile Internet users. Also the type of cellular phone moderates the Navigation, Response Time and Lay-out of an Internet website for mobile users. The content is not moderated, which sounds logic, because the content can not be changed by a cellular phone. However, the rest can be and are, so we therefore can conclude that the type of cellular phone is a moderator for Navigation, Response Time and Lay-out.
Consequently we can conclude the use of mobile Internet marketing has a positive influence on the Brand Equity of an organisation. We can conclude this, because Keller (1993), Lassar et al (1995) and Resnick (2001) already determined that the brand equity of an organisation is influenced by usability. Palmer (2002) and Brackel (2008) determined the usability of a website can be measured by Navigation, Response Time, Content and Lay-out. In our researched we limited mobile Internet marketing to the component â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;WEBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. All four criteriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s have been proven positively influenced by an adjusted website for mobile Internet users. Thus, all our hypotheses are accepted and therefore we can conclude the use of mobile Internet marketing positively influences the brand equity of an organisation.
6. Discussion We have researched the influence of WEB as part of mobile Internet marketing on usability as part of Brand Equity. Mobile Internet marketing, however, can be divided into advertising, promotions, direct marketing and CRM. Brand equity can be divided into brand knowledge, brand awareness and brand image. We have done our research among youngsters between the age of 17 and 26. We have chosen to only research WEB (part of advertising; tool of mobile Internet marketing), because time and technology was of the essence. We did not have the time to research all components and we did not have the technology available to test the other components. Furthermore, brand equity could best be measured for this research by usability, but there are also other ways to measure this. Our target group were youngsters for this research, because we only wanted to test our model. Also, this target group is most interesting for this research, because of several aspects. First, this target group is more familiar with the - 17 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity latest technology. Second, this target group often use a cellular phone. Third, we only wanted to test our model and did not want to conclude anything about the total population. Last, this group is often used for mobile Internet marketing campaigns. This research proves our model valid. Thus, the usability is influenced by web and therefore we can conclude the use of mobile Internet marketing influences the brand equity. However, there is a possibility that other components of mobile Internet marketing do not influence the brand equity of an organisation. Further research for this is needed. Further research has to be done for the other components of mobile Internet marketing and also for the other measurement methods for brand equity. Further research is needed among other target groups as well, to test if this model is valid for the whole population.
7. Recommendations This research shows that the brand equity of a company is influenced by the use of mobile Internet marketing, specifically â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;adjusted websites for mobile Internet usersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. We concluded the usability of an adjusted website is significantly better than a normal website and therefore has a positive influence on the brand equity. Song and Zinkhan (2008) already proved speed is of a substantial factor for website visitors and according to our research adjusted websites for mobile Internet users are faster and therefore better for visitors. Consequently we recommend companies to adjust their websites for mobile Internet users. This will enhance the usability and thereby enhance their brand equity. Also according to our respondents mobile Internet marketing has a good future and therefore the investments that need to be made are worth it. We also expect the demand for adjusted websites will grow in the future and Brackel (2008) supports this.
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Literature Brackel, P. (2008). Mobiel Internet in Nederland 2008: Gebruik van Mobiele Sites: Het Web Achterna? OMI, 2008 Chae, M., & Kim, J. (2003). What’s So Different About the Mobile Internet? Communications of the ACM, 46(December 2003), 240-247 Farber, A. (2008). MySpace Plans Global Mobile Site Overhaul to Align with Online Offer. NMA 17.07.08, 4 Geyskens, I., Gielens, K., & Dekimpe, M.G. (2002). The Market Valuation of Internet Channel Additions. Journal of Marketing, 66(April 2002), 102-119 Goldie, L. 2006. Universities Try Out Mobile for Reaching Prospective Students. NMA 30.11.06, 6 Gralla, P., Ishida, S., Reimer, M., & Adams, S. (2006). How the Internet Works (8th ed.). United States of America: Pearson Education United States Jaquith, A. (2008). As the Mobile Internet Arrives, Identity Becomes Paramount. RCR wireless News, 27 Issue 25(8/18/2008), 6-6 Keller, K.L. (1993). Conceptuualizing, Measuring, and Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity. Journal of Marketing, 57(Jaunary 1993), 1-22 Krishnan, B.C., & Hartline, M.D. (2001). Brand Equity: Is it More Important in Services? Journal of services marketing, 15(5) 328-342 Lamming, M., Eldridge, M., Flynn, M., Jones, C., & Pendlebury, D.S. (2000). Providing Access to Any Document, Any Time, Anywhere. ACM Transactions on ComputerHuman Interaction 7, 3 (2000), 322–352 Lassar, W., Mittal, B., & Sharma, A. (1995). Measuring Customer-Based Brand Equity. Journal of consumer marketing, 12(4) 11-19. Leppäniemi, M., & Karjaluoto, H. (2007). Mobile Marketing: From Marketing Strategy to Mobile Marketing Campaign Implementation. Proceedings of the 6th Annual Global Mobility Roundtable Conference, Los Angeles, (June 2008) 1-2. MacCallum, R.C., Widaman, K.F., Zhang, S., & Hong, S. (1999). Sample Size in Factor Analysis. Psychological methods, 4(1), 84-99 Palmer, J.W. (2002). Website Usability, Design, and Performance Metrics Information Systems Research, 13,2(June 2002), 151-169 - 19 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity Prins, R. (2008). Modeling Consumer Adoption and Usage of Value-Added mobile Services. Erasmus Research Institute of Management, Erasmsus University Rotterdam Resnick, M. (2001). Increasing Brand Equity With Interactive On-line Communities. Journal of E-business, 2 (Vol 1, December 2001), 1-6 Schlosser, A.E., White, T.B., & Lloyd, S.M. (2006). Converting Website Visitors into Buyers: How website Investment Increases Consumer Trusting Beliefs. Journal of Marketing, 70(April 2006), 133-148 Song, J.H., & Zinkhan, G.M. (2008). Determinants of Perceived Website Interactivity. Journal of Marketing, 72(March 2008), 99-113 Srinivasan, R., & Moorman, C. (2005). Strategic Firm Commitments and Rewards for Customer Relationship Management in Online Retailing. Journal of Marketing, 69(October 2005), 193-200 Srivastava, L., Goodrick, J., Kelly, T., Reynolds, T., & Takada, Y. (2002). ITU Internet Reports: Internet for a Mobile Generation. ISBN: 92-61-09851-7, International Telecommunication Union, Geneva Wang, L.C., Baker, J., Wagner, J.A., & Wakefield, K. (2007). Can a Retail Website Be Social? Journal of Marketing, 71(July 2007), 143-158
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Appendixes Appendix A Survey Enquete “The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity” Goedemorgen/middag/avond, meneer/mevrouw. Zou ik enkele minuten van uw tijd mogen om u wat vragen te stellen? Ik ben ….,. Op het moment ben ik bezig met een onderzoek met betrekking tot de gebruiksvriendelijkheid van mobiel Internet gebruik. Deze enquête kost slechts 5 minuten van uw tijd. Bij voorbaat dank. De vragen dienen volledig ingevuld te worden door de enquêteer. Markeer slechts één antwoord bij elke vraag, tenzij anders vermeld. Controleer de antwoorden die je invult bij de respondent.
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity Invullen door de enquêteer: Website variant: o NS.nl (mobiel) o NS.nl (normaal) Type telefoon o Modern o Klassiek Geef de mobiele telefoon aan de respondent en vraag hem een reis te plannen van Den Bosch naar Eindhoven. Start de stopwatch zodra de respondent begonnen is. Tijd: ….. seconden Vragen Leeftijd: ….. jaar Geslacht: M / V Reeds bekend met mobiel Internet: JA / NEE Reeds bekend met deze website: JA / NEE Gebruikerstype: NOOIT / 1 x per maand / 1 x per week / dagelijks 1 = zeer oneens Laadtijd De laadtijd was snel. 1 2 3 De laadtijd was de laadtijd die ik wil. 1 2 3 Navigatie De website is logisch opgebouwd 1 2 3 Ik kan gemakkelijk de weg terug 1 2 3 vinden, zodra ik fout zit De informatie die ik nodig heb is 1 2 3 moeilijk te vinden Ik ervaar de navigatie zeer prettig 1 2 3 De navigatie is voor mij van belang 1 2 3 als ik surf Content De site geeft de informatie die ik 1 2 3 nodig heb De informatie op de website is 1 2 3 actueel Ik acht de content zeer belangrijk 1 2 3 wanneer ik surf Lay-out De pagina past goed in het scherm 1 2 3 De pagina is niet duidelijk 1 2 3 De lay-out maakt de website 1 2 3 aangenaam om hem te bezoeken De plaatjes pasten goed naast de 1 2 3 tekst De website is goed leesbaar 1 2 3 Gebruiksvriendelijkheid Ik ga vaker mobiel surfen komende 1 2 3 maand Ik ga vaker mobiele websites 1 2 3 bezoeken komend jaar Ik zie er geen toekomst in 1 2 3 Bedankt voor uw medewerking
- 22 -
5 = zeer eens 4 4
5 5
4 4
5 5
4
5
4 4
5 5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4 4 4
5 5 5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
4
5
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Appendix B Navigation Type of website Group Statistics
Website logisch opgebouwd Gemakkelijk weg terug te vinden
Website mobiel
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
Std. Error Mean
50
4,56
,501
,071
normaal
50
3,02
1,020
,144
mobiel
50
4,10
,789
,112
50
2,66
1,022
,145
normaal
Informatie gemakkelijk te vinden
mobiel
50
4,50
,505
,071
normaal
50
2,40
1,069
,151
Ervaring navigatie prettig
mobiel
50
4,58
,499
,071
normaal
50
2,44
,972
,137
mobiel
50
3,94
,818
,116
normaal
50
4,00
,782
,111
Navigatie is belangrijk
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Independent Samples Test Levene's Test for Equality of Variances
Website logisch opgebouwd
Equal variances assumed
F
Sig.
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
Mean Difference
Std. Error Difference
Lower
Upper
Lower
Upper
Lower
Upper
Lower
10,436
,002
Equal variances not assumed Gemakkelijk weg terug te vinden
Equal variances assumed
3,914
,051
Equal variances not assumed Informatie gemakkelijk te vinden
Equal variances assumed
38,190
,000
Equal variances not assumed Ervaring navigatie prettig
Equal variances assumed
25,243
,000
Equal variances not assumed Navigatie is belangrijk
Equal variances assumed
t-test for Equality of Means
,659
Equal variances not assumed
- 24 -
,419
95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Upper
Lower
9,581
98
,000
1,540
,161
1,221
1,859
9,581
71,376
,000
1,540
,161
1,220
1,860
7,885
98
,000
1,440
,183
1,078
1,802
7,885
92,080
,000
1,440
,183
1,077
1,803
12,559
98
,000
2,100
,167
1,768
2,432
12,559
69,837
,000
2,100
,167
1,766
2,434
13,849
98
,000
2,140
,155
1,833
2,447
13,849
73,103
,000
2,140
,155
1,832
2,448
-,375
98
,709
-,060
,160
-,378
,258
-,375
97,803
,709
-,060
,160
-,378
,258
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Type of cellular phone â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Mobile website Group Statistics
Website logisch opgebouwd Gemakkelijk weg terug te vinden
Telefoon modern
Std. Deviation ,490
Std. Error Mean ,098
25
Mean 4,64
klassiek
25
4,48
,510
,102
modern
25
4,36
,700
,140
25
3,84
,800
,160
klassiek
N
Informatie gemakkelijk te vinden
modern
25
4,52
,510
,102
klassiek
25
4,48
,510
,102
Ervaring navigatie prettig
modern
25
4,48
,510
,102
klassiek
25
4,68
,476
,095
modern
25
4,20
,816
,163
klassiek
25
3,68
,748
,150
Navigatie is belangrijk
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
- 26 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Type of cellular phone â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Normal website
- 27 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
- 28 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Appendix C Response time Type of website Group Statistics
Laadtijd in seconden Laadtijd snel Laadtijd was zoals verwacht
Website mobiel
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
Std. Error Mean
50
79,10
31,457
4,449
normaal
50
105,48
28,284
4,000
mobiel
50
4,00
,728
,103
normaal
50
3,22
1,329
,188
mobiel
50
4,14
,700
,099
normaal
50
2,82
1,304
,184
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Independent Samples Test Levene's Test for Equality of Variances
Laadtijd in seconden
Equal variances assumed
F
Sig.
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
Mean Difference
Std. Error Difference
Lower
Upper
Lower
Upper
Lower
Upper
Lower
4,727
,032
Equal variances not assumed Laadtijd snel
Equal variances assumed
22,597
,000
Equal variances not assumed Laadtijd was zoals verwacht
Equal variances assumed
t-test for Equality of Means
20,478
Equal variances not assumed
- 30 -
,000
95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Upper
Lower
-4,409
98
,000
-26,380
5,983
-38,252
-14,508
-4,409
96,913
,000
-26,380
5,983
-38,254
-14,506
3,639
98
,000
,780
,214
,355
1,205
3,639
75,995
,000
,780
,214
,353
1,207
6,305
98
,000
1,320
,209
,905
1,735
6,305
75,068
,000
1,320
,209
,903
1,737
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Type of Cellular phone â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Mobile website
- 31 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Type of Cellular phone â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Normal website
- 32 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Appendix D Content Type of website Group Statistics
Site geeft goede informatie De informatie is actueel Content is belangrijk
Website mobiel
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
Std. Error Mean
50
4,54
,503
,071
normaal
50
2,60
1,400
,198
mobiel
50
4,52
,505
,071
normaal
50
4,40
,495
,070
mobiel
50
4,56
,501
,071
normaal
50
4,42
,499
,071
Independent Samples Test Levene's Test for Equality of Variances
Site geeft goede informatie
Equal variances assumed
F
Sig.
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
Mean Difference
Std. Error Difference
Lower
Upper
Lower
Upper
Lower
Upper
Lower
57,221
,000
Equal variances not assumed De informatie is actueel
Equal variances assumed
1,806
,182
Equal variances not assumed Content is belangrijk
Equal variances assumed
t-test for Equality of Means
,157
Equal variances not assumed
- 33 -
,693
95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Upper
Lower
9,222
98
,000
1,940
,210
1,523
2,357
9,222
61,470
,000
1,940
,210
1,519
2,361
1,200
98
,233
,120
,100
-,078
,318
1,200
97,962
,233
,120
,100
-,078
,318
1,400
98
,165
,140
,100
-,058
,338
1,400
97,997
,165
,140
,100
-,058
,338
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Type of cellular phone â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Mobile website
- 34 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Type of cellular phone â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Normal website
- 35 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Appendix E Lay-out Type of website Group Statistics
Pagina past goed in scherm
Website mobiel
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
Std. Error Mean
50
4,36
,631
,089
normaal
50
2,66
1,206
,170
mobiel
50
4,26
,694
,098
normaal
50
2,82
1,044
,148
mobiel
50
4,24
,716
,101
normaal
50
2,82
1,289
,182
Plaatjes passen goed naast tekst
mobiel
50
3,98
1,020
,144
normaal
50
2,48
1,249
,177
Website is goed leesbaar
mobiel
50
4,22
,790
,112
normaal
50
2,84
1,076
,152
Pagina is duidelijk Lay-out is aangenaam
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The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Independent Samples Test Levene's Test for Equality of Variances
Pagina past goed in scherm
Equal variances assumed
F
Sig.
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
Mean Difference
Std. Error Difference
Lower
Upper
Lower
Upper
Lower
Upper
Lower
17,785
,000
Equal variances not assumed Pagina is duidelijk
Equal variances assumed
10,803
,001
Equal variances not assumed Lay-out is aangenaam
Equal variances assumed
17,589
,000
Equal variances not assumed Plaatjes passen goed naast tekst
Equal variances assumed
2,827
,096
Equal variances not assumed Website is goed leesbaar
Equal variances assumed
t-test for Equality of Means
2,191
Equal variances not assumed
- 37 -
,142
95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Upper
Lower
8,833
98
,000
1,700
,192
1,318
2,082
8,833
73,983
,000
1,700
,192
1,317
2,083
8,123
98
,000
1,440
,177
1,088
1,792
8,123
85,264
,000
1,440
,177
1,088
1,792
6,811
98
,000
1,420
,208
1,006
1,834
6,811
76,619
,000
1,420
,208
1,005
1,835
6,576
98
,000
1,500
,228
1,047
1,953
6,576
94,228
,000
1,500
,228
1,047
1,953
7,311
98
,000
1,380
,189
1,005
1,755
7,311
89,937
,000
1,380
,189
1,005
1,755
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Type of cellular phone â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Mobile website
- 38 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
- 39 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
Type of cellular phone â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Normal website
- 40 -
The Influence of Mobile Marketing on Brand Equity
- 41 -