US statistics (Pew Research Center) have recently indicated that the number of stay at home mothers has risen in recent years, however, the rewards that careers afford mean that working moms still make up a large segment of the US population.
The power that these women yield, in terms of making decisions surrounding the shopping habits of their household emphasises the importance of advertisers to gain a robust understanding of the working mother. With this in mind, RealityMine have captured and analysed USA TouchPoints e-diary data and passive mobile metering data to dig deep into the way that the American career mom interacts with different forms of media.
Retail advertising
Our research has revealed that working moms are more likely to use retail advertising that offer savings than working women without children. Furthermore, we found that working moms aged 25 to 34 are more likely than mothers of any other age to actively seek and use retail advertising.
Older moms aged 45-54 are more likely than their younger counterparts to seek deals via the internet and newspaper flyers. This is a particularly interesting insight, indicating that while women of this age are tech savvy they are still making the most of more traditional forms of print advertising.
Media Consumption
With regards to their use of technology, moms track a similar trend to the average US population, TV use is slightly higher in the evenings as mothers finally get some time to unwind. Their use of computers is high on weekdays when they are in the office but use of all devices other than TV drops over the weekend as moms spend more quality time with their children.
Web Browsing
The browsing habits of working moms and other working women vary across the types of websites that are accessed via mobile phones. We found that working mothers were significantly more likely to use websites offering coupons and discounts and online banking services than women in full time employment without children – this is a key indicator of the price conscious nature of working mothers.
App Use
In comparison to the general US population, the app use of working moms shows some considerable differences; they are more likely to use social networking, shopping and gaming apps while video and TV, news and work apps were favoured by the general population. This not only points to areas where in-app advertising could benefit from being placed but it also confirms what working moms have been telling us for years – they have interests which lie outside their mothering roles – and it’s crucial that marketers understand this.
