We ran our first trial last week of delivering a marketing message for one of our newsagencies by text message. We have a good mobile phone database which we would like to use in promoting a range of products and offers using this technology – if we can see the return.
The mechanic was that the customer had to bring in their phone and show the message to redeem the reward – in this case a $1 scratchie with the purchase of aspecific magazine at full price.
While we were not swamped with responses, we did have customers come in, show us the message, make the required purchase and get their reward. Some said they would not have made the purchase otherwise.
Newsagents need, more than ever, to promote outside our four walls – to new customers as well as to existing, and past, customers. Text message marketing is more about an immediate, almost disposable, offer, it’s the nature of the technology and how it is used.
We already use email marketing so trying text messages was a logical step for us. We have several more messages in our plans before we take time to analyse the results. Our feeling is that we need to run a trial over several messages as the delivery method may appeal to some an not others. This is what we want to find out.
I love text message marketing but I would guess that those consumers most likely to respond to it are also those least likely to take up an offer where they have to show their mobile phone. The extra step creates an immediate barrier for the consumer. A campaign that requires less work of the consumer may be key to making SMS (or any marketing activity) work.
We have been using a combination of both sms and mms to alert our customers for thge last 12-18 months.
Customers like it, in saying that we have found some older handsets struggle with the mms format – thankfully a full text of the “video” scrolls just below.
It compliments our other marketing and i think has a heap of unrealised potential – especially mms.
Hamish, we’ve been using text messages to advise when magazines and special orders come in – since 2003. Customers love it. The caampaign I blogged about is part of a purely outbound marketing experiment to extend the use of text messages.
One way to keep the customers happy is to generate a unique code for each customers and to redeem the offer by presenting this code in whatever form the customers want.
This code could be use once only if you want.
This should work with email as well.
We are playing around with this as well, a viral campaign that encourages receipients to forward the message to their friends is the goal.
We also had a fairly poor response to the same campaign that you have highlighted Mark – possibly for the reason that Jarryd higlights. I also think our offer wasnt strong enough.
Roberts codeword concept is worth a try.
Making the offer attractive enough to spark an unplanned store visit is the key.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
We are lucky that telcos here, unlike in the US & Canada don’t charge for incoming text messages and that such marketing can be taken advantage of. Majority of people seem to like it, lots more convenient for most.