Mobile Posse, a provider of mobile homes screen messaging and consumer analytics, is hoping the New Mobile Handset Owner Survey it released today will provide some insight as to how consumers make purchase decisions at wireless retail outlets. 

The new survey has the benefit of being able to reach consumers within the first 48 hours after they leave the story with their phone. The company is able to reach out to customers with short satisfaction surveys through an installed home screen widget.

Greg Wester, executive vice president of Mobile Posse, says some of the results of the survey might be surprising. For instance, the more informed a customer is prior to entering a retail store, the more satisfied they're likely to be in the end, he said. 

"Apparently at least for the new buyer, there are a lot of people walking in undecided," Wester said, noting that the undecided buyer results in significant lack of brand loyalty. 

"Across close to 50,000 buyers of new phones at three major carriers, more than three of four consumers switched OEM manufacturer,” he said.

It’s worth noting that the survey does not include iPhone users.  

The survey also found that users in the nation’s top 10 markets are more likely to know what they’re looking for before entering a store than users outside of the top 10 markets.

Buyers outside of the nation’s top 10 markets were 12 percent more likely to “have no idea what phone model they wanted” when going into the store -  47 percent versus 42 percent within the largest markets. 

Wester said that this month's survey is primarily focused on the micro-marketing challenges faced by the OEMs, adding that future surveys will tackle a variety of issues that can be probed via the company's unique position on the handset.  

Mobile Posse has posted a blog discussing the complete survey results.