What Do Mobile Users Want?

By Dr. Erik Nylen, Data Scientist

When you are reading an article on your phone, your brain is actively commanding movements of two sets of muscles: your eyes are steering left and right, your thumb is wavering up and down. An advertisement scrolling onto your screen arrests your attention and breaks the rhythm of your natural reading cadence. Your eyes quickly scan the ad, forcing you into a split second decision: to dismiss or do not to dismiss the ad. A good advertiser is keen on maximizing the number of users who do not dismiss the ad immediately. But how can advertisers accomplish this?

The solution is to give consumers something else they can do with their thumb (and their eyes) — something other than simply scrolling the ad away. One campaign at Parsec offers three “hotspots” that users can tap to view more information about the brand’s products. Mobile users who view this ad are offered the option of multiple interaction points. Instead of dismissing the ad, we find that users who tap on more unique hotspots spend much more time with the ad. By delivering interactive content, we give control of the ad experience to the user. What happens when you give users control? They spend less time dismissing your ad, and more time engaging with it.