Rise of the Nomophobes

With global smartphone sales expected to grow by 13 percent from 2014 to 2015, according to a September 2014 report from Strategy Analytics, there will be nearly 2.5 billion global smartphone users in 2015. That’s a billion more users than 2014!

Asia-Pacific will be the key growth driver, driving greater than 50 percent of the global volumes in 2015. Although China and the United States will remain the largest smartphone sales countries through 2015, the U.S. is expected to be surpassed as the second largest market by India in 2019.

With increasing mobile penetration, mobile addiction is growing at an alarming rate. A “mobile addict” is defined as a user that launches apps more than 60 times a day. And, according to the Collins dictionary, a new word, “nomophobia,” has been coined to describe: “A state of stress caused by having no access to, or being unable to use one’s mobile phone.”

A 2013 study by IDC and Facebook revealed that four out of five smartphone users check their phones within the first 15 minutes of their day.

The survey also found that adults are now spending an average of 87 minutes communicating and using social media on their phones Monday through Thursday, and greater than 160 minutes Friday through Sunday!

Although concerning at a social level, these trends do offer an opportunity to marketers to engage these gadget addicts or nomophobes (“no-mobile-phone phobia”):

• Responsive Web Design: Nomophobes spend a lot more time on their smartphones than desktops. With mobile search in the U.S. expected to overtake desktop search in 2016 according to eMarketer, the opportunities to bring location-specific content to mobile devices is huge. Since nomophobes tend to have less patience, they’re therefore highly likely to disengage if the content does not render properly. 
• Mobile-Friendly Emails: Since more than half of all email is read on a phone, the opportunities to customize and mobilize emails are great. Marketers need to design completely different content for their desktop and mobile to allow for higher open rates and call to action. 
• Desktop Website ≠ Mobile Website: Just adapting your desktop website to your mobile is a recipe for disaster. For these mobile-addicted souls, the blog post or video has to be short enough to consume while they are on the move. 
• Nomo Apps: As weird as it may sound, a lot of nomophobes are glued to their phones even in the restroom. The key is to engage them with the brand in that space. Recently, Oral-B launched an iPhone app to measure brushing patterns via an iPhone app. This simple app links to a Bluetooth-enabled toothbrush allowing users to read news while using their brush. 

The nomophobe population is increasing rapidly. As we see from the above discussion, they have very specific needs and little patience. Engaging with them is going to be challenging for marketers since it will force us to rethink the marketing plan. However, organizations that crack the code will reap rich benefits. The big question is, how to do so?