Mobile couponing best practices and guidelines

Created by the MMA's Mobile Couponing Committee, the document is designed to provide marketers, merchants, wireless carriers and other ecosystem members with an industry-standard framework for using mobile coupons and rebates to increase sales and promote consumer loyalty.

Nearly 30% of US consumers are interested in mobile coupons, according to a recent joint study by the MMA and Synovate, its official research partner. Mobile coupons are one type of mobile price promotion, which the MMA defines as "electronic coupons or rebates that traverse the full redemption process without the requirement for conversion into a paper or other hard-copy format."

Concise overview

Mobile price promotions are distributed, discovered and redeemed through a variety of mobile technologies, including SMS, MMS, Mobile Applications, Mobile Web, Bluetooth, NFC and 1D/2D barcode scanning. Guidelines and Best Practices in Mobile Price Promotions provides a concise overview of these channels, as well as the key considerations for developing and executing these types of campaigns:

• The five stages of mobile price promotions, such as the ways that consumers can discover and redeem coupons and rebates.
  
• General best practices and principles, including transparency, good taste, privacy, opt-in/opt-out and government laws, rules and regulations.
  
• Campaign-specific best practices and principles, such as those involving contests, food, pharmaceuticals and alcohol.
  
• Tips for designing coupons, using the word "free" and creating notices such as terms and conditions.

"Our recent study with Synovate shows that consumer interest in mobile coupons is high and growing, giving brands, merchants and marketers a powerful new opportunity to establish and maintain relationships with consumers," said Greg Stuart, CEO of the MMA. "The MMA created Guidelines and Best Practices in Mobile Price Promotions to give the ecosystem an industry-standard framework for capitalising on that opportunity while protecting the consumer experience."

Chaired by Mobile Dreams Factory, the MMA's Mobile Couponing Committee includes Cellfire, Inmar, Infinian and Verizon Wireless.

For more information about Guidelines and Best Practices in Mobile Price Promotions, go to mmaglobal.com/mobilecouponguidelines.pdf. In addition, the public is encouraged to provide feedback by 28 January 2011 by sending comments to moc.labolgamm@seettimmoc.

About the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier global non-profit trade association representing all players in the mobile marketing value chain. With more than 700 member companies, the MMA is an action-oriented organisation with global focus, regional actions and local relevance. The MMA's primary focus is to establish mobile as an indispensable part of the marketing mix. The MMA works to promote, educate, measure, guide and protect the mobile marketing industry worldwide. The MMA's global headquarters are located in the United States and it has regional chapters including North America (NA), Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Latin America (LATAM) and Asia Pacific (APAC) branches. For more information, go to www.mmaglobal.com.