Campaign management key to mobile marketing
20 Jun 2008
Mobile marketing requires careful up-front planning and campaign management to ensure the best possible experience for customers. The days of crafting a message and hitting the send button to the base of customer cellphones are over. Companies need to think about what they want to say, how they are going to say it, when the campaign will roll out and managing the response from customers.
The process begins with identifying what needs to be communicated and the best way to get the message across. This includes deciding which mobile technology to use (eg SMS, MMS, mobisite) and whether the mobile marketing campaign will be integrated with other forms of marketing such as TV adverts.
Careful consideration
Should there be a call to action, careful consideration needs to be given to when the message is communicated, how it will be received and managing the response from customers.
For example, if a company sends out large scale MMS campaign to its base asking them to call the company's call centre as part of a promotion, then sending out the MMS on a Friday afternoon would not result in a high uptake on the campaign.
The campaign therefore needs to go out after 8am early in the week (so people are not bothered before they begin work) and the campaign needs to be monitored to see how many people have downloaded the MMS and read it.
The amount of MMS sent out should be monitored in line with the company's call centre capacity. If the call volume to the call centre begins to spike, then the number of MMS being sent out can be scaled back until call centre volumes drop to fall more in line with acceptable call centre capacity. Once the call centre has stabilised, then more MMS can be sent out with the sending rate being dynamically matched to the call centre's capacity.
Monitored
If the campaign involves an SMS response to a short code, then these can be monitored to see who responds via SMS. A message can then be sent back to them acknowledging their response.
If the campaign makes the base aware of the company's mobisite, then the number of people visiting the mobisite as a result can be monitored, as well as identifying which pages or content on the mobisite are most popular.
At the end of the campaign, a full report can be issued showing how many MMS were sent out, how many people called the call centre, how many people SMSed the short code and how many people visited the mobisite.
Much better understanding
From there the company is able to have a much better understanding of how the base responded, how many people unsubscribed, what messaging worked, which response method was most popular and so on.
This information can then be used in subsequent campaigns to refine the strategy to maximise the impact of future campaigns.
Whatever technology or strategy is used, the most important thing is the user experience. If people have an unpleasant experience, then they are far less likely to respond to future campaigns from the company.
