Mobile Consumers Shop Online
Are you ready for mobile marketing? You may think you have lots of time and other “fish to kill”. But, eMarketers recently released study show that more and more US companies are adding mobile marketing into their advertising plans. According to the study, the US is the largest single market for mobile advertising, even though it lags both Europe and Asia in terms of mobile penetration.
It’s not just teens texting any more. The mobile market has grown significantly in the last couple of years. In fact, about 77 percent of the 259 million U.S. mobile phone users subscribe to or purchase text message capability, Nielsen Mobile recently reported. Text messaging has become so pervasive, according to the research firm, that U.S. mobile subscribers now send and receive more text messages in a month than they do phone calls – an average of 357 per month in second quarter compared with 204 phone calls.
On top of that, many text messagers shop on the Web. About 20 percent of them, or 51.8 million, spend more than $1,000 online annually versus 17 percent of all mobile phone users, Scarborough Research reports.
You may not think you’re ready, but leading companies like Amazon, Burger King, Victoria Secret, and the Fox Network are developing and executing aggressive mobile SMS campaigns that are producing significant results. Now is the time for you to start laying the groundwork — building a database of mobile numbers and thinking about how you can integrate this medium into your customers communications plans. Some key things to remember:
- Get your consumers consent in writing. Ask them to specifically opt-in for SMS . Don’t use pre-checked boxes or a text message asking for opt-in. Use other channels like online or in-person registration to initiate the opt-in process.
- Give consumers options on how to opt-out. One option is have consumers go online at your cusotmer communications Preference Center. A second option is to let consumers text “STOP” to opt out of receiving SMS messages.
Bottom line, you need to make it easy for the consumer to choose to receive SMS messages and just easy to opt out.
Filed under: Mobile Marketing