Today I’m talking about an SMS case study from the company called EducationAhead.com.  Last night watching some Tv I noticed a banner at the bottom of the cable guide which looked like the same one I posted on the left here.  Except, that it had a text call-to-action that read: “Text AHEAD To 77948″.  “WHOA!” I thought to myself, someone’s using text message marketing to generate leads from cable subscribers!  Let’s take a look-see!

First off, I don’t know much about the company, other than they are an education advisor company.  So I guess that means they help people find the type of training or schooling they need to move forward with the career they want.  Ok, works for me, but let’s try out their text marketing campaign.

Ok, so far so good, they’ve got branding & standard disclaimers telling consumers what they’ve opted in for each month.  Not bad not bad, let’s try out that nifty EducationAhead.com/tv link they sent me.  (notice I didn’t link to it on purpose)

DOH!

Well, they were off to a great start!  The funny thing is, the link they posted obviously isn’t even working yet.  FaiL.  I have to believe that paying for advertising on a cable channel guide like Charter is pretty expensive.  One would think that you’d want to make sure all your T’s are crossed & your i’s are dotted.  I don’t know that’s just me.  We’ll see if I get any other messages from them & what they say.  Hey, who knows, that link may just work someday!  I’ll keep you posted.

Are You Thinking About Adding mObile To Your Business But Don’t Know Where To Start?
Get The Skinny, The Low-Down, The 411…Click Below!

RadiumOne just released a report on “Improving The Performance Of mObile Coupons”, & I have to say, it’s awesome!  This report basically echoes the kind of things I’ve been blogging about for the last year.  I’m really excited to dive into the data, so let’s go.

We all know the smart phone revolution has taken the world by storm so wouldn’t it make sense that the most popular way to be notified of a mObile coupon is SMS?!  What the…?  That’s right folks, even though we have almost 50% smart phone penetration, plus or minus 3points, consumers would rather still be able to show the cashier their SMS coupon.  When I show the ROI from a well thought out, & well executed successful SMS marketing campaign to a business owner, they honestly can’t believe it.  Hey, I don’t expect them to at first either, but the data don’t lie.

There are four different ways to redeem a mObile coupon:
1) Scanning an image such as a QR Code
2) Checking In On A mObile Application
3) Tapping Their Phone On A POS Terminal (NFC)
4) Redeeming A Coupon via digital loyalty cards (What my company does!)

In the study, they analyzed how women 35-54 engaged with coupons on their mObile devices.
They found that 61.9% redeemed grocery & retail based mObile coupons.
They also found that 51.5% prefer to display a coupon to a cashier.
23.8% Prefer the scanning method.
42.3% Prefer SMS based coupons.
28.1% Prefer mObile barcode scanning.
36.4% find push notifications useful.

First off, yes these numbers don’t add up to one hundred because I believe they’re taken from separate questions.  2nd, isn’t this the the greatest demographic that everyone is trying to reach?  Just turn on the TV & lemme know how many commercials are aimed at women.  Let’s also highlight the fact that they prefer SMS over mObile app push notifications…that’s huge!  Everybody for the last 2 years couldn’t shut up about app notifications & I have to say, I really don’t like them either.  They take up my whole notification bar until I clear it.  If I get a text message coupon, I get the little SMS notification which is nice.  Plus, I know the text can sit there for a while without bugging me.  If I get an app notification from my weather or news, sometimes the whole sentence will stay there & I can’t see anything else that might come in.  Granted, I never let it sit there if I have time to clear it, but I can see why people in the report said they are more invasive.  I’m not saying I don’t like apps, I’m just saying they’re not the silver bullet everyone keeps saying they are.  I don’t think there is a silver bullet for that werewolf we call the consumer.  (weird analogy I know)

Well, you’ve reached the point in the article that sells my SMS mObile coupon services.  If you’re not interested, exit now!

Take a look see at how our mObile coupon system is executed.  We have targeting, reporting, one time use mObile coupons.  These are not cookie based, or URL based which are easy to re-use & rip off small businesses..  These are real mObile coupons which are hashed with an algorithm to the mObile phone number with a personal digital wallet.  Once it’s used, it’s gone forever!

When I demo our system to small business owners, they’re eyes light up like a kid in a candy store!  (It really is something you gotta see.)  I don’t blame them either because this stuff works!  Read that RadiumOne report & make sure you take heed to the advice they give.  Here’s the article about the report on mobile marketer.

Are You Thinking About Adding mObile To Your Business But Don’t Know Where To Start?
Get The Skinny, The Low-Down, The 411…Click Below!

From time to time I like to write about SMS case studies & whether they worked well, or didn’t.  Today I’m focusing on a small quick direct mail piece about saving money on your prescriptions.

The company is Luscinia Health with a direct mail flyer I received about how to save more money on prescriptions.  Notice on the bottom left they have a QR Code & directly to the right is their phone numbers & contact information.  At the bottom center is the (CTA) or call to action: {Anyone can text “SAVINGS” to 84464 to receive this same offer!}
I like this campaign for two reasons, number one, it’s simple, yet effective.  Number two, I like how they included the words “Anyone can text…” in the CTA.  This may seem trivial but I can assure you whom ever is running this campaign understands some consumers’ apprehension toward some SMS campaigns.  They took great care crafting the CTA to show that not only can smartphones use this, but feature phones without data plans can take advantage of this.  This maximizes the most subscribers they can muster up by not excluding anyone!

This is what happens when you text in.

Not such a glamorous event but it does get the job done.  Say, you’re at a friends’ or relative’s house & you happen to see this lying on the table.  You don’t wanna be rude & take the flyer but you also can’t get online & visit the website SimpleSavingsCard.com.  This is such a great way to get that information that’s printed on the flyer into your hands where you won’t lose it.  I mean if you lose your phone it’s quite possible your out of your mind already!  (sarcasm)  The QR Code directs you to the website which was technically not mObile optimized, but it didn’t look that bad on the phone.  I only had to pinch & zoom a little bit because the landing page was designed pretty well.  It’s not clear if I’ll receive any other reminders or offers from sending in this one text because they didn’t tell me.  Typically, when we adhere to the MMA guidelines, we like to tell the consumer what they’ve opted in for, how many messages per month they might receive, & also a way they can opt-out at any time.  Clearly by the screenshot of my phone, they did none of that.  Are they going to send me any more messages?  Can I opt-out?  Who knows?!  They could save face with this campaign & text me back a way to opt-in to more offers by replying with another keyword.  I’ll keep ya posted!  So in conclusion, they had a strong CTA which prompted a direct response from the consumer so I give Luscinia Health a solid B- for this campaign.

Are You Thinking About Adding mObile To Your Business But Don’t Know Where To Start?
Get The Skinny, The Low-Down, The 411…Click Below!

Looking back on the Super Bowl Commercials & mObile campaigns this year results in an unsatisfactory experience, at least for me.  Here are a few mObile calls to action that were used in an effective manner, & some potential lost opportunities.

The NFL had a couple nice CTA’s during the game to build its SMS database.  Texting keywords such as MVP & REWIND to the short code 55171 were utilized to have viewers vote for the Super Bowl MVP & get back a return URL to sign up for NFL REWIND which lets you watch every NFL game, playoff game, & super bowl in HD, on your pc, or tablet.  When you tap on the link in the text message, it eventually gets to a mObile optimized website which gives you this message…

Say what?!  Is it just me or is the NFL a little stingy with their content?  So, let me get this straight:  I can use the NFL mObile App & get live content & games on my smart phone, but I can’t get old games played on my smart phone?  Not that I want to watch old games on my smart phone, but what the hell, I should have the option!

This SMS campaign was a great idea to get consumers to opt-in at the peak of their interest.  Plus, if they can sell a few memberships to their online streaming service to keep fans engaged during the off-season, then it’s a win-win for everybody.  Execution was pretty well, but for the non-smart phone NFL Rewind content, I give the NFL an A- for this one.

Pepsi had an interesting proposition for consumers during the game.  They prompted everyone to go to PepsiNext.com (which seems to have a responsive design for mObile) to receive a free 2 Liter Bottle of PepsiNEXT.  They only did this for the first 1 million people, so it was a first come first serve limited time thing.  The scarcity method worked perfectly here as you can imagine they probably hit that mark pretty quickly.  Pepsi also had nice sharing buttons for Facebook, Twitter, & Youtube.  The only thing I didn’t like was that it had no SMS opt-in here.  This is possibly the best place to put an opt-in CTA if there was ever one.  Why not build a database AND give away a free coupon?!  I realize they prompted consumers for more information to receive the actual coupon but I would of made it super simple:

  Text NEXT to 12345 for a FREE 2 Liter Bottle of PepsiNEXT!
BAM! Done.  Then, later on, you could still send them other relevant offers & use special features like text polls, contests, & social media to keep them engaged.  I give Pepsi a B+ on this one.

Jack In The Box which already has an SMS program, had no CTA for consumers.  Instead, they chose to use Shazam promoting the Hot Mess burger.  They prompted users to open the app whilst their watching the commercial on tv.  (seems a bit unrealistic to me, I mean you gotta be quick!)  If I don’t have the phone already there & can hit that Shazam app to tag the music from the tv, then the opportunity is gone.  Shazaming or tagging the commercial led to restaurant’s nearest locations, they test their drum skills, & download wallpapers that link to the Jack In The Box mObile website.  It is a nice mObile site with great content from the Meat Riot band who sings the “Hot Mess” song in the commercial.  I give props for all this content which is a nice throwback to the 80′s.  Can anyone say targeting demographic nostalgia?  I don’t understand why they couldn’t of used SMS or even MMS as a CTA to get consumers opted-into a database.  Then, they could blast out coupons, offers, & also the link for the commercial that they could Shazam.  After all, it was released before the game anyways.  Using only a specific mObile app severely limits the amount of cell phone owners that will be able to participate.  I give Jack In The Box a C+ on this one.  Ok ok ok, maybe a B- for the Meat Riot “Hot Mess” campaign because it brings back so many memories!

Aside from the power outage, (which I thought was cool) the game was entertaining if you forget about the lousy Refereeing job.  It almost seemed fixed to me, with so many penalties being called on the 49ers & not the Ravens.  That is a discussion that will forever be stuck at the Harbaugh family dinner table!  “You cheated!”  “Did not!”  Ouch.  Oreo had a great night on Twitter & possibly the best response to the power outage.

There’s also a huge debate about whether or not brands should be posting their commercials online before the Super Bowl airs.  I like to be surprised but I understand why they do it: for the social media interaction of course.  Here’s a great article about the pros & cons of releasing commercials online before the big game.  Whether or not you believe it helps or hurt the brands, you should see these statistics:  Super Bowl Commercials Still Draw Their Own Audience.

Unfortunately this year, big brands didn’t utilize SMS as much as I’d hoped.  I realize that a CTA might not be right for every single commercial but why would any company pay $3.8 million buckaroos & not try to capture at least some of those mObile phone numbers?  I know I would.  Last week I mentioned how 2 charities executed great SMS donation campaigns.  Take a look at this article where the author talks about how only a small percentage of people completed a follow up action to a Super Bowl ad.  Maybe that’s because most of the action was on social & mObile apps.  Again, mObile apps are great!  But if people don’t use them consistently…they become worthless.  Which is also why there’s so much fragmentation in the mObile space.  People keep jumping from one hip trendy app to the next.  That’s another reason why I don’t think SMS/MMS is going anywhere.  You can reach any phone, any where, & at any time on the planet.

I could go on & on about how this & that company could’ve used SMS but the fact is, most chose not to.  The sad fact about all of this is that we’re still only at 54% of smart phone penetration in the US market.  That means that when brands spend $3.8 million bucks on a Super Bowl Ad, & prompt consumers to download & use their mObile app, they are leaving out half of the cell phone users in the country.  My solution would be simple…use both!  Yes, that’s right I said use a mObile app (if you can afford to), & an SMS database loyalty program.  That way, a company could capture smart phone users, as well as feature phone users.

Are You Thinking About Adding mObile To Your Business But Don’t Know Where To Start?
Get The Skinny, The Low-Down, The 411…Click Below!

Some of my favorites were the VW C’mon Get Happy where the white guy was talking like Jimmy Cliff.  Funny stuff.

Oreo Cookie vs Creme In The Oh So Quiet Library!

Got milk?  this is pretty good one with the Rock.

Speed Stick Handle IT!

Tide Montana Stain

Leon Sandcastle NFL Draft -(Great background tune Electric Guest “This Head I Hold”)

Asking Amy Best Buy

Wheat thins Night Vision

Confused About mObile Marketing?

Well, it’s no secret that there’s a ton of mObile apps out there for mObile phone messaging.  The question is, have they substantially destroyed carrier SMS revenues & profits?  The answer is of course no.  While these new apps have cut into the carrier profits slightly, they haven’t been able to eliminate the SMS habits of most subscribers.  That’s because SMS is such a ubiquitous channel that can reach any phone, at any time.  There’s just no competing with that unless you wanna use a voice message service which is far more costly & interrupting than a 160 character Text message.

Looking at some statistics, we see from Portio Research that 7.8 Trillion text messages were sent last year.  That’s right Trillion with a “T”.  “But hey Dan, that’s just one research firm what about someone else’s findings?”  Ok, how Informa who counted 5.9 Trillion messages.  Either way, we’re in the Trillions here, & that shows that it’s also comprising 64% of mObile messaging traffic.  I’ve written about this before & it still holds true, Texting is more popular than phone calls.  Even in other countries you can see that people are tired of playing phone tag, waiting for someone to get back to them, (I know I am).

The point is, there’s so much technology out there for mObile messaging that it’s become like everything else today, completely fragmented.  Many companies are diving into the mObile app world spending $50,000-$100,000 on just their iPhone app.  Forget about Android, Windows, or the new Blackberry phone.  This is the same kind of talk when Tablets hit the market.  Remember all the headlines?  “The Death of the PC”.  Well, that reads great for commercials & advertisements but the fact is, I still love my PC & I can only do certain things on there that Tablets & mObile phones can’t do.  Try doing a spreadsheet or writing a blog post on smartphone or Tablet, hope you don’t get frustrated easily!

Bottom line___: if you want to reach everyone with a simple message, then you can type the message once, & add everyone in your list that you desire & tap SEND.  You know that even if that person doesn’t have a text plan, & is paying for each SMS (some people still do this!), that they will still receive that message with no hiccups, or anything else to download/install.  You cannot say this about Facebook, Twitter, What’sApp, Skype, or Kakao etc.  Of course there’s always privacy issues with certain apps.  SMS is slated to dominate until 2016 & then I guess they foresee one app that every person will download that will connect us all.  Until then, I’m gonna keep my poker chips on SMS & of course…stay froggy folks!

Are You Thinking About Adding mObile To Your Business But Don’t Know Where To Start?
Get The Skinny, The Low-Down, The 411…Click Below!

With the slew of mObile loyalty Apps on the market today…there’s gonna be some duds.  Now, I’m not trying to stifle innovation or creativity here, but let’s be honest, there are some major problems with this space.  There have been too many to name here but recently Google announced that they were closing Punch’d, a mObile phone loyalty app service.  Many suspect that the acquisition of Punch’d was a stepping stone for Google to integrate it with their Google Wallet service, & I think they are right.  The problem with most loyalty apps is # 1:  privacy concerns.  How long companies can track you, & for what activities is in constant debate.  Also, aren’t we all tired of getting bombarded by someone’s Facebook feed of what songs they listened to, starred, & created a playlist for on Spotify?  There are also other privacy issues that need to be addressed.  Cyber criminals have been caught releasing their own versions of apps & attempting to steal all your information.  Not to mention the fact that many loyalty apps are a major hassle to set up with your old plastic cards.  Let’s also point out the fact that mObile apps are great!  But, if you don’t actively use them all the time, they quickly become useless.  Push notifications which are also a handy feature, can be cleared so fast that you may not even read the whole notification because you’re busy & you just want it out of the way.

Problem #2:  Most Loyalty Programs Don’t Give Enough Value To Keep The Consumer Engaged For The Long term.  Half of the time I sign up for a loyalty program whether it be mObile or not, I’m getting offers for stuff I really don’t want.  Limited promotions for stuff I’m not interested in, or even care about.  Carol Roth wrote a great article about useless loyalty programs a while ago.

On the other hand, if you get a Text Message, you have to tap on it which opens up the entire message.  This enables the consumer to read the whole offer, & decide if it’s relevant to keep or delete right on the spot.  Another great feaure of our SMS program is the SMS Loyalty Feature.  We have the ability to allow your customers to opt-in to an SMS Loyalty Program & earn points with purchases.  We also can send customers special mObile coupons, offers, & news updates as well.  We can even segment the list down into subgroups from say breakfast customers vs lunch & dinner clientele.  We can send text polls to ask what their favorite sports team is & segment NY Giants fans from New England Patriots fans (we all know how big that rivalry is now).  The possibilities are endless with SMS marketing.  I always tell clients or prospective clients that 99% of small businesses will not need a mObile app because their customer or client base will simply not use it enough to justify the cost.  Text messaging & a good mObile website will cover 80% of the businesses’ mObile needs.

Are You Thinking About Adding mObile To Your Business But Don’t Know Where To Start?
Get The Skinny, The Low-Down, The 411…Click Below!

Are You Thinking About Adding mObile To Your Business But Don’t Know Where To Start?
Get The Skinny, The Low-Down, The 411…Click Below!

Now let’s compare this with the old report released in 2009:

It’s interesting to see the only type of mObile apps that have survived are News & Communication where 3yrs ago Weather, Reference, & Health & Fitness were not far behind.  Granted, this isn’t a complete total survey of all the mObile apps in the industry, only from those companies who use Flurry’s mObile analytics.  It’s also only taken from iPhones & iPads.

You can find the new updated study here:  App Engagement:  The Matrix Reloaded

It’s interesting to see the music streaming apps in Quadrant II because I figured those would be in Quadrant I.  I personally love my Pandora & Spotify, can’t live without them & my New Normal Music through the TuneIn app.  I also use an Android Smartphone so I wonder how these stats would convert to that platform.

The competition has increased exponentially in both app stores from Apple & Google.  So, it’s no surprise that most apps have a lower frequency use than previously shown.  I’ve noticed I hit my:

Fox 5 Storm Team Weather App – daily,
Gmail app – 10-20x/day,
Yahoo mail app – 10-20x/day,
NFL mObile – 3-5x/day (will drop once season ends),
AccuWeather Widget – 3-5x/day,
Speed Test – every other day (because I’m a curious Tech Geek),
TuneIn app – daily to listen to various programs (you can find almost anything on there it’s amazing!),
Pandora – when I’m out & about so every other day,
Spotify – the same,
Banking app – every few days,
Credit Card apps – every few days,
Dunkin Donuts app – 1x/wk,
Starbucks app – 1x/wk,
Gas Buddy – every other week as needed.

I don’t play games on my phone.  I personally hate time wasting games.  I only play board games with people or the PS3 (but not everyday).  That may change also because this year I want to invest in a pool table, & ping pong table.  You can actually buy a good priced pool table that will fit your room & then just get the table tennis top that will fit on your pool table.  I find that I miss those more now that I’m older.  Plus, they are more active, & don’t require electricity, unless it’s super dark outside when you’re playing.

Many other apps I’ve downloaded I haven’t even really done much with them.  Others I’ve just simply uninstalled/deleted like ShopKick because I don’t need another thing to do!  Sorry, but that’s how I feel about those loyalty apps that ask me to check in every few seconds…ugh!  Send me a coupon & I might use it, otherwise, don’t give me any more homework.  I’ve got enough!

I think as phones become better, & faster, if we don’t have a need to use an app that will solve a problem for us (the consumer) then they probably shouldn’t be creating the app.  That’s why I’ve said most small businesses in our neighborhoods won’t need a mObile app.  Fortune 500 companies are different for obvious reasons. (please don’t make me name all of them right now)

Most apps today do not solve a problem (excluding games obviously) so I won’t be downloading them anytime soon.  That concludes this status update of mObile app usage.  If you’re ready to talk about a plan to integrate mObile marketing into your small business, give us a shout!  Not sure yet?  Click the pic below to get more info!