A study of emerging trends on consumer usage of smartphones and tablets in the US, featuring 5,600 men and women, has indicated that 74 percent of responders rely on smartphones and tablets for user reviews prior to purchase.

The study, The Digital Path to Purchase, released by Moosylvania, an independent advertising agency specialising in digital, branding, experiential and promotions, reinforces that marketers need to recognise the fundamental role social media plays in purchase decisions and customer service, and invest appropriately in mobile-friendly websites and social media monitoring. According to the agency, those who don’t will significantly limit a brand’s ability to remain in the consideration set.

As per the findings, 73 percent of the study’s respondents reported that customer reviews are five times more influential than advertising. And 74 percent of the respondents in the study seek reviews on their mobiles prior to purchase, and 64 percent said that they comment on their brand experience using their mobile device post purchase.

The proliferation of tablets and smartphones, which allows consumers to actively engage in social media and utilise geo-social applications, is changing the path to purchase from linear to circular. It means that rather than relying on brands to deliver information about their products and services, consumers circumvent these resources and get a wealth of information about brands on their mobiles via Facebook, Google and many other sites before making a purchase. For marketers, this means a mobile strategy is more essential than ever.

In addition to how respondents use apps, coupons, payment services, QR codes, content and more, the Moosylvania study looks at how mobile technology fulfills the differing needs of women and men.

“We found that women are more likely to use tablets and smartphones to seek social interaction, while men more often seek information, Norty Cohen, founder and CEO of Moosylvania. “And while women are more concerned with savings, men seem to desire efficiency.”

As highlighted quite often, brands must now optimise their websites for tablets, with finger-friendly navigation and controls enabling swipes, tilts, zooms and pinches and replacing Flash with HTML 5. In most cases, making websites smartphone-friendly will require a fundamental re-think of both website content and structure.

Providing mobile-friendly web browsing brand experiences is key, especially in the travel and ecommerce sectors, where online conversion is vital for business.