The Importance of the Mobile Phone: How Powersports Shoppers Use Their Phones

This article started in 2018 as a short video conversation about landlines. The point made then still holds: if a customer gives you a home number, you may never reach them, because the phone that matters is the one in their pocket. Get the mobile number, respect it, and when you use it, say something worth reading.

Eight years on, the question is bigger than which number to call. The phone is where a powersports purchase is researched, compared, discussed and often started. This guide, for dealer principals, sales managers and BDC leads, covers how shoppers actually use their phones, what the data can and cannot tell you, and what a store should change.

For the website side, Google's mobile-first indexing, speed thresholds and tap targets, see our companion guide to the mobile website for powersports dealers.

What the data says, and who it describes

A lot of "mobile shopper" statistics online describe car buyers, retail shoppers in general, or one vendor's customers. They can still be useful, but only if you know who was studied. Here is what we could verify, labelled.

Three things stand out. Almost every adult your store sells to carries a smartphone, including 78% of adults 65 and older. And 27% of 18 to 29 year olds have a smartphone but no home broadband, so for them your website on a phone is your website, full stop. And while shoppers expect a fast reply by text or email, powersports dealers in Pied Piper's 2026 study phoned only half of their web customers and left 9% with no response at all, even though every inquiry was sent during normal business hours.

For how these expectations shifted over time, see our piece on how powersports buyer expectations have changed.

Five moments a shopper reaches for the phone

The research above gives the scale. The moments below are where it plays out in a powersports store. Each one asks something different of your team.

1. Spare minutes

The original version of this post leaned on Google research about phones filling idle moments: waiting rooms, commutes, lunch breaks. That page has since been retired, so we no longer quote its numbers, but the pattern is familiar to anyone who watches their own web traffic. A shopper looking at a used trail bike on a lunch break has a few minutes and a thumb. If photos stall or the price is hidden, the moment passes.

2. Comparing units

Rollick's 2023 survey found shoppers do most early research online and use manufacturer sites, review sites, community social media pages and third-party industry sites alongside dealer websites. On a phone, that means your listing is one tab among many. The listing that wins is the one with the actual unit, the real price story and an easy way to ask a question.

3. Messaging the store

This is where a phone-first shopper becomes a lead, and where most stores lose them. The same survey found shoppers expect immediate responses by email and text after an inquiry. A shopper who sends a question from a phone is holding that phone when your reply lands. A reply that answers the question, followed by a call, gives them two ways to continue. Our guide on why text communication matters covers consent and templates for that first text.

4. On the lot

Expect a shopper on your floor to check another dealer's listing, read reviews or text photos to a partner. Fighting that rarely works. Showing them the answer on your own screen usually does: the build sheet, the service history, the payment estimate. Our guide to using tablets and phones on the showroom floor covers how salespeople can do this without losing the conversation.

5. After hours

Shoppers keep shopping after you lock the doors. We could not verify the after-hours traffic figures widely shared in dealer marketing articles, so we do not quote one. What is verified is sobering enough: Pied Piper's 2026 inquiries were all sent during business hours, and more than half still received no personal response within 24 hours. An inquiry sent at 10 p.m. needs a plan, not luck. Our article on what slow lead response costs a powersports store covers after-hours and weekend coverage in detail.

What most mobile-shopper advice gets wrong

Most articles on this topic make one of two mistakes.

They quote the wrong customer. A figure about car buyers, retail shoppers or a decade-old smartphone survey gets presented as if it describes riders. That leads to bad decisions, such as copying a car store's online-buying funnel for a customer who still wants to sit on the bike. The Cox numbers above are a fair signal for any big-ticket vehicle purchase, but they are labelled for a reason.

They treat "mobile" as a website project. A fast mobile site matters, and it is the subject of our companion mobile website guide. But the shopper's phone is also a messaging device, a camera and a calculator. The biggest gap in the data above is not page speed. It is that a powersports shopper who asks a question from a phone often does not get a personal answer. Fixing that is a process change, not a redesign.

What a store should change for phone-first shoppers

1. Capture the mobile number and the preferred channel. Ask "Is text or a call better for you?" on every form, at the counter and in the CRM record. Respect the answer.
2. Get consent for texting right. Informational replies and marketing texts follow different rules. Write your consent language with your attorney. This is general information, not legal advice.
3. Answer the question, then call. The first reply should answer what was asked about that unit by text or email. A phone call should follow. Shoppers who ignore one channel often answer the other.
4. Send the real unit. A 20-second walkaround video or three photos of the actual bike, shot on a phone, answer more than a brochure link.
5. Cover nights and weekends. Publish when a person replies, set an automatic acknowledgement that says so, and make the first business-hours task the overnight inquiries.
6. Use the phone on the floor, with the customer. Look things up together, share screens, and text the summary before they leave.
7. Log every text and call in the CRM. A conversation that lives on one salesperson's personal phone disappears when they are off or leave.
8. Measure it monthly. Submit a mystery inquiry from a phone, after hours and in hours, and time the replies. Fix what you find.

You can also see the same AI-powered powersports CRM on our sister site, PSXDigital's AI-powered powersports CRM page.

Where PSX Ascend fits

PSX Ascend is built around these habits. The AI-powered powersports CRM connects shoppers across phone, text and email while the dealership team stays in control, and keeps communication preferences visible so each customer is reached the way they asked. AMP, the marketing platform, turns customer intent into timely email, text, call and sales-team action, and hands qualified opportunities to the sales team with useful context. And the certified powersports websites are designed for phones, so the inquiry arrives in the CRM with the unit and source attached.

When a lead stalls after the associates' quick multi-touch follow-up, ALMA, the Automated Lead Management Assistant, takes over the repetitive re-engagement and works to bring the shopper back to a live conversation with a person. ALMA does not make AI voice calls. The aim is for salespeople to close deals, not chase them.

Sources

• Pew Research Center, Mobile Fact Sheet, updated November 20, 2025 (survey of 5,022 U.S. adults, February 5 to June 18, 2025).
• Rollick, The Future of Buying: Navigating Powersport Consumer Trends, 2023 consumer survey of powersports, RV and marine shoppers.
• Pied Piper Management Company, Indian Motorcycle Ranked Highest in 2026 Web Lead Response Study; Industry Enters 5th Year of Stagnant Performance, press release, March 23, 2026.
• Cox Automotive, 2025 Car Buyer Journey Study, January 13, 2026 (car buyers, not powersports).