FICO, a predictive analytics and decision management software company, has released the results of an international survey of businesses and consumers showing that UK consumers ranked fourth lowest of 14 countries surveyed in terms of mobile sophistication.
The results showed that only 17% of UK respondents considered themselves ‘Mobile Natives’ – those who interact with businesses using mobile devices on a daily basis. However China had far more ‘Mobile Natives’ with 51% and India with 49%. The UK does have more than the United States which has 16% and France which has the lowest amount of 12%.
The survey looked at consumer preferences and tendencies with regards to mobile, online and in-person interactions with banks, government agencies, healthcare providers, insurers, and retailers. It included 2,239 adult smartphone users in the UK, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and the United States.
The results showed that consumers in the UK are more open to the idea of mobile interactions with businesses than consumers in other Western markets. 41% of UK respondents said they found the idea of receiving alerts on their mobile for overdue bills as attractive, compared to only 27% of French respondents. More than 72% of respondents worldwide described notification apps as attractive.
Hayley Kershaw, FICO’s MD for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: "Consumers are really the ones driving UK businesses’ adoption of mobile services. We see a great deal of demand, particularly in banking and retail, while the more forward-looking insurance providers are beginning to seize opportunities to use mobile channels to build customer loyalty. That said, businesses of all kinds need to build customer trust in addition to mobile capabilities, as British consumers are the second most reluctant population to divulge personal data, according to our survey."
