More mobile shoppers are clicking on ads, according to the latest study from call management provider Telmetrics.

One in three consumers see mobile ads as helpful and informative, according to the report, which represents a spike of 76% from this time last year.

The researchers argue this boils down to different types of content working on mobile today. More than half of mobile shoppers share ads on social media, particularly the youngest age demographic of 18-34 year olds, while there’s been a 40% in preference for geographically relevant ads and a quarter (24%) of mobile shoppers prefer ads with phone numbers.

The last one’s a bit of a no-brainer: if you’re viewing an ad on your phone and like what you see, one click to ring the company up is far more efficient than email, or a generic landing page.

Mobile shoppers are increasingly taking action after they’ve clicked an ad, according to the data, with nearly 40% continuing on their journey. 35% visited the advertised site, 27% looked for more information elsewhere, 21% used a coupon, 19% visited a store location, 16% made a purchase, and 10% called the business.

The last number would surely be higher if more brands put their phone number on their ads. Yet even though some actions raised above are far more likely to generate a close than others, it’s interesting to see user perceptions changing.

“Post-click mobile shoppers are two times more likely to be looking for a specific location or contact information, so advertisers who include this information can help drive more purchase activity,” said Bill Dinan, president of Telematrics.

“Overall, the jump in mobile ad engagement among consumers is a good sign for advertisers who can now benchmark their mobile ad performances against relevancy, timeliness and geographical trends to ensure they are maximising the mobile opportunity,” he added.

The research also showed that if ads are here to stay, then that’s okay with us. The vast majority of survey respondents said they would prefer a free website with ads as opposed to a subscription-led, ad-free offering. This chimes in with other findings which suggested that a hypothetical ‘ad tax’ wouldn’t go down well with consumers.

What do you like and dislike in mobile advertising?