A while ago, during one of those years that was supposed to
be the “year of mobile”, there was such a fear of mobile spam that the industry
set stringent guidelines about sms marketing.
Overall this is a attribute, we don’t want to turn off the consumer and
we want to make the customer happy.
Because of the explosion of apps, mobile web sites and other uses of
mobile, sms is just a fraction of the marketing effort. Still, a sharing of best practices is
lacking.
Last night, I saw a Target ad on television with a call to
action of texting Toyland to TARGET (827438).
Argue the merits of vanity short codes amongst yourselves. Where I found a flaw was in the message. It asked me to go to a website, target.com/toyland,
but the url was not a click through. I
had to type the link, or copy and paste, into my browser. A small inconvenience. Still, a barrier and it runs counter to the
reason you do this kind of marketing, to shorten the impulse and make it easier
for the customer to get to your e-commerce site. By the way, Target does have a great mobile
site and no, I did not buy any toys, there are no young ones in our house.
But the lack of communication and direct marketing does not
stop there. A few months ago, I saw a
call to action at a Baskin Robbins with the promise that every couple of weeks
a text would arrive with a special.
Yukon Cornelius. Nothing. Not a peep since the initial thanks for
joining the mobile club. Now, there are
all sorts of reasons to text ice cream eaters, even in the winter. About now a number of people might be interested
in a holiday dessert or a lovely quart of egg nog.
Qudoba is another where there has been no mobile follow
through. Saw the call to action. Joined.
Got a message back thanking me and saying that I should show the
register the message for a free order of chips, salsa and chili con queso. Got the chips, never got a message. Tis the season to cater the office party and
various things around the home. They are
missing a opportunity.
So, who is doing it right?
Every couple of weeks I get a text from Bed, Bath and Beyond for 20% off
of this or that. Coke does a good job
texting members of its rewards club.
Arby’s, even though I do not eat there and just wanted to see what they
are doing, does great job of sending Buy One Get One Free or mobile combos on a
weekly basis. In the Chicago market,
Value City Furniture has done a good job of leveraging a sports sponsorship to
gain mobile members and sending specials.
So the point here is if you are going to go through the
trouble of building a mobile database via sms, then communicate with the
customer. While you may not get a
immediate sale, if you don’t ask the question the answer is no. Also, you are spending money on a tactic
rather than investing in a strategy.
Think about your consumer, their experience and pay attention to the
details as well. Remember, if they don’t
want to hear from you once a week, consumers can always opt out.
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