Behavior tracking data is the new black. It is a type of big data that can help you better understand your target consumers — everything from the amount of time they spend on each social media outlet to their most popular time of day to visit shopping websites. Compared with other data sources, it allows you to capture actions at a very detailed level with precision, eliminating measurement errors by analyzing usage of what consumers do, not what they say they do.

In our recent publication, Mobile Behavioral Data: UK, we analyzed Forrester's UK Consumer Technographics® Behavioral Study, November 2013 to March 2014, and found that:

  • WhatsApp keeps UK smartphone owners engaged the longest. Forty-one percent of UK adults use the app for just over 8 hours per month (or about 2 hours per week). That is longer user engagement than for any of the other top 10 most popular apps that UK consumers use on their smartphone; this includes Facebook, the most popular app, which keeps smartphone users engaged for a little over 90 minutes per week. 
  • Young UK smartphone owners are most likely to use finance/banking apps. More than half of 18- to 24-year-old UK smartphone owners use finance/banking apps, like the Lloyds Bank app and the NatWest app. These youngsters show the highest adoption of finance/banking apps in the UK, and rates decline with age; about 40% of 25- to 44-year-olds and 34% of 45- to 54-year-olds use finance/banking apps.
  • UK tablet usage shows some unique usage patterns. The most popular time to access almost any type of app — from social networking apps to shopping apps to TV/video apps — on a tablet is between 8 p.m. and midnight during the week. There's a slightly different pattern on the weekend: While social networking apps, gaming apps, and news/media apps retain their late-night time slot, shopping and TV/video apps peak slightly earlier — between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Mobile has reprogrammed your customers’ brains, leading to the mobile mind shift: the expectation that they can get what they want in their immediate context and moment of need. They now turn to their smartphones for everything, and tracking their behavior on smartphones and tablets is a powerful source of information. It affords you the ability to reach a deeper understanding of how consumers use their mobile and tablet devices. Forrester’s mobile behavior tracking data will help you refine your mobile strategies and help you deliver an experience that is valuable to both you and your customers.

Forrester Technographics clients can request this report via their data insight managers. Not a Technographics client and interested in accessing rich behavioral data metrics and insights? Contact us at data@forrester.com.