After just a few weeks working on ExactTarget's integrated marketing platform and sitting in on various product demos for clients, I noticed a major section of the market that many companies have yet to explore. Companies are missing the ball by not doing more with mobile commerce. The playing field in marketing has become more and more sophisticated as companies strive to reach their customers with more relevant messages. The digital media age is growing and companies need to explore mobile marketing further. The use of smartphones has increased and opens up a lot of mobile capabilities for companies relating to their marketing campaigns.
This hole in the industry is something that I noticed even before I became a part of the team at ET. Each week, companies spend parts of their marketing budgets to produce advertisements filled with coupons and special offers in attempt to draw more customers to the business. This is similar to a blast email that some companies send. These types of emails and customer interactions have minimal relevance to customers and see minimal return on investment. Much of the target audience does not receive the message or coupons. Now, customers need to go out on their own and look for these special deals or offers. Why not change this so the customer receives these offers at the point of sale?
Enter: mobile commerce.
The possibilities here are endless. First, retailers could develop mobile applications that would give customers an added luxury and ease of shopping in their stores. Customers could look up additional information about products they are considering, see what special offers are available, or simply find which aisle the peanut butter is on. Going even a step further, the customer could use these B2C text messages to push customers over the edge and make a conversion on some sort of lead. Imagine being in a retail store looking at a new pair of shoes and then receiving an in-store triggered SMS which thanks you for visiting the store and gives you a coupon code for 10% off anything you purchase this visit. Interactive mobile marketing like this is simple and can make a great impact on customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Follow me on twitter: @salisbjm
This hole in the industry is something that I noticed even before I became a part of the team at ET. Each week, companies spend parts of their marketing budgets to produce advertisements filled with coupons and special offers in attempt to draw more customers to the business. This is similar to a blast email that some companies send. These types of emails and customer interactions have minimal relevance to customers and see minimal return on investment. Much of the target audience does not receive the message or coupons. Now, customers need to go out on their own and look for these special deals or offers. Why not change this so the customer receives these offers at the point of sale? Enter: mobile commerce.
The possibilities here are endless. First, retailers could develop mobile applications that would give customers an added luxury and ease of shopping in their stores. Customers could look up additional information about products they are considering, see what special offers are available, or simply find which aisle the peanut butter is on. Going even a step further, the customer could use these B2C text messages to push customers over the edge and make a conversion on some sort of lead. Imagine being in a retail store looking at a new pair of shoes and then receiving an in-store triggered SMS which thanks you for visiting the store and gives you a coupon code for 10% off anything you purchase this visit. Interactive mobile marketing like this is simple and can make a great impact on customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Follow me on twitter: @salisbjm
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