Mobile Messaging in North America: A Fresh Look at Current Options for Marketers March 2012 A Mobile Marketing White Paper from Member Companies of the MMA MMA – Current State of Messaging Mobile Messaging is the most used means of consumer communication ever created – surpassing email traffic by 5x and postal traffic by 300x in 2011. Mobile messaging’s simplicity and ubiquity have enabled it to flourish as a consumer-to- consumer communication channel and offers unique benefits to marketers looking to engage their customers on their mobile devices. Over the last several years, early adopters amongst mobile marketers have been able to benefit by utilizing SMS to communicate with their customers. Today, however, there are several new and feature- rich forms of messaging to consider for marketers to take advantage of when communicating with their audiences, in addition to the ubiquitous SMS text message. The goal of this whitepaper is to breakdown each of these forms of messaging, point out the unique characteristics of each protocol and share successful examples of how marketers can leverage them to meet their marketing goals. The paper also provides a window into the future evolution of mobile messaging. What is not included in this paper is information on new types of consumer-to-consumer messaging (not used by marketers), or guidance on which form of messaging is the “right” way to send a message. There are differences in each method that affect how marketers are trying to communicate with their customers and each option offers different benefits. For additional information or questions, MMA member companies well versed in these tactics are listed at the end of the whitepaper. The Current State of Messaging – Considerations for Brand Marketers So what exactly is mobile messaging? For the last 13 years, mobile messaging meant largely SMS or, quite simply, text-only messaging. Today however, technology has evolved greatly and today marketers can use more feature-rich forms of mobile messaging and deliver them via a number of different protocols including SMS, MMS (also known as Multimedia messaging), Push Notifications, as well as email. Messaging is a two way communication medium, being both parties—the consumer and the marketer—can use it to engage and communicate with each other. If a marketer wishes to initiate communication with a consumer through messaging, as discussed later, it is important to recognize that industry best practices, and in a number of cases a legal mandate, require that the marketer receive explicit consent to send a message to a consumers device (which is also referred to as securing an opt-in). Since the marketer cannot use the messaging medium to secure the opt-in alternative marketing channels must be employed. The marketer may place calls to action in traditional media and invite the consumer to take action providing his or her consent to receive messages from the marketer. Example traditional channels include, television, radio, www.mmaglobal.com 2 ©Mobile Marketing Association 2012 MMA – Current State of Messaging billboards, print materials, online or mobile website, mobile application and more. The call to actions can invite the consumer to provide consent by calling, tapping, swiping, submitting, sending in a text picture or video message, scanning a QR codes, or even “liking” something within via social networks. The key is that the marketer provides clear and transparent notice to the consumer as to what they are consenting to receive. The Mobile Customer Journey The mobile channel is quickly becoming the first point of interaction between consumers and brands, which is driving successful marketers to identify ways to connect with their customer throughout all stages of their respective customer journey. Mobile messaging provides the connective tissue between marketers and their consumers during the customer journey as the mobile phone has become an indispensible device always in proximity to the consumer. The customer journey begins with Awareness and continues through Consideration, Engagement, Transaction and Loyalty - with new technologies now driving consumer brand advocacy. By infusing mobile appropriate experiences into each aspect of the customer journey, marketers can initiate and forge strong, long-lasting, customer relationships with their audiences. Deriving its power from the “right here, right now” opportunity to engage, mobile provides the glue to drive deeper engagement, sales and loyalty for a brand. Awareness--Customer first hears Brand Awareness about brand/product Brand Consideration—Customer interacts to Interactions/ determine if it meets their needs Acquisition Engagement--Customers take action! Driving (e.g. fill out form, signup for list, go to Engagement store, etc.) & Sales Transaction—Customer buys or completes intended task Advocacy Advocacy--Customer shares information with their network Loyalty Loyalty—Customer buys or completes another task Unlike any other communication channel, mobile messaging delivers a uniquely personal experience that’s transforming the way brands are thinking about marketing as it enables a marketer to interact in a two-way dialogue with the consumer throughout the consumer journey. www.mmaglobal.com 3 ©Mobile Marketing Association 2012 MMA – Current State of Messaging It All Starts with an Integrated Marketing Strategy It is important not to think of mobile in a silo. One of the most effective ways to deploy mobile is to layer it into all of your existing marketing plans, as discussed above, and identify opportunities where smart mobile touch points can augment the value of your traditional campaigns. By integrating a mobile call-to-action on all forms of advertising, mobile messaging can bridge the gap between physical and digital, enabling marketers to appeal to consumers’ interest in a product or service at the very moment when the consumer is most engaged. A messaging call-to-action may take any number of forms, including short code, long code, action code (e.g. QR Code), application dialog or setting, button or abbreviated dial code to name a few. A key point to remember, however, is that the initial call-to- action is an invitation by the marketer to the consumer to provide consent and join in to a two-way exchange of content. Moreover, any of those interactions deliver content directly and then lead people to a website, mobile app, social network or in-store to continue the engagement. You can use mobile messaging to: Increase Awareness & Consideration: Mobile messaging can also be used to drive consideration for your product or service by presenting messaging that encourages the consumer to learn more about your products. This can be done by delivering a relevant piece of information about a product (i.e. an instructional video, offers or deals, exclusive content, etc.) through mobile messaging. Achieve Engagement and Transactions: Today’s mobile marketers are driving engagement and transactions through a wide range of messaging tactics. Using messaging, this can be achieved through several tactics, including highly engaging forms of content, time-sensitive offers (expiring today), or direct links to a commerce storefront (via the mobile web, in-app) to close the loop and complete a transaction. Empower Customers to Become Advocates: Mobile messaging enables your consumers to become your advocates as they can share the message instantly via their address books and social networks. This simple act turns your list members into full-blown company advocates. If the average Facebook user has 130 fans, each mobile-shared post dramatically increases the visibility of your message, brand and mobile messaging program. Creating & Maintaining Loyalty: Connecting with the consumer on a mobile device will arguably be the most important way for marketers to engage with their audience. Once a consumer has given permission to send them messages on www.mmaglobal.com 4 ©Mobile Marketing Association 2012 MMA – Current State of Messaging their mobile device, it is critical to reward them with valuable content in return. The mobile device is incredibly personal and that invitation to interact over this channel cannot be taken lightly. What it takes to be successful with mobile messaging Mobile messaging plays a vital role in this process of maintaining an engagement with the consumer. Mobile marketers who have built successful customer journey programs that include messaging have recognized the following elements as being critical to their success: - Be Unique: The message needs to be unique and valuable. Be creative, do not just re-hash content shared across other channels - Be Interesting: Content matters, showcase your brand by delivering content which is exciting and engaging for customers - Determine Right Frequency: Deliver messages that do not inundate your customer, but provide valuable information frequently - Be Time-sensitive: Localize your messages to match the time zone of your customers - Have a clear call to action: Be specific and concise about what you want the consumer to do. www.mmaglobal.com 5 ©Mobile Marketing Association 2012 MMA – Current State of Messaging A Fresh Look at Messaging Options As more and more brand marketers gain experience with mobile messaging, in any form, the need to be cautious with consumers is still paramount. While consumer adoption of smart phones continues to increase, with the requisite data plans, there are still far more feature phones in use around the globe. Text messaging plans among owners of feature phones can still be a financial burden, albeit perhaps diminishing, on consumers in all markets. Therefore, the brand marketer must be respectful of the cost impact any messaging program might incur on consumers, even if only the stalwart SMS and MMS approaches are deployed. There is a good reason why all such programs must carry this message: “Msg & Data Rates may apply”. SMS SMS, which stands for Short Messaging Service (also referred to as text messaging) is now the most prevalent form of communication in the world, with over eight trillion messages exchange worldwide in 2011.