If you listen to Millennials, it’s an easy decision not to send commercial messages on their mobile phone. Most Millennials pay for their text messages. As Marty Predd, Research Associate at Brand Amplitude puts it, “They ration text messages like bread in WWII.”
Yet, SMS has powerful potential for delivering just the right message at the right time. The sheer volume of text messages is impressive. The average text messager sends or receives an average of 357 text messages per month, the average teen, 1752 messages a month. That’s more than the number of phone calls. (“Realizing Potential“).
What about advertising messages? The numbers here are also impressive. Well over half of all U.S. cell phone users have a text message plan and 16% of texters in the U.S. see some form of text-message advertising each month. (The number shoots up to 35% for teens). Consumers are not only seeing text message ads, Nielsen says 45% have responded in some way. The most popular response to mobile advertising (text, video, Internet, etc.) is sending another text-message; one-quarter of responders sent another text-message. These figures make a compelling case for figuring out how to overcome Millennial’s barriers to text marketing messages.
There are some successful cases worth looking at. A subsequent Nielsen report (“The Short Code Opportunity“) points out that President-Elect Barack Obama’s “V.P. pick” text message remains the most notable example of short code marketing in the U.S., the campaign attempted to announce Joe Biden as the vice presidential candidate over SMS text message. Nielsen estimates that the Biden text was received by 2.9 million mobile phone users in the U.S. over the course of that weekend. The next most prominent example of a text message-based effort is is Coca-Cola’s My Coke Rewards program. This program had engaged 1.1 million AT&T and Verizon Wireless customers.
“Through My Coke Rewards, Coca-Cola customers collect unique codes found on various Coca-Cola products and enter them into an account they’ve registered at mycokerewards.com. When they reach certain point levels, they are able to redeem points for rewards. The mobile component of the program allows consumers to enter the codes over their mobile phone on the go. Coca-Cola’s mobile users typically send and receive about 32 messages a month to Coca-Cola.
Importantly, it’s not just kids or teens who are an active audience for short code marketing. In the Coca-Cola example, nearly half (47 percent) of users were 35 or older. That age diversity is not unique to Coca-Cola either. Overall, 53 percent of those engaging with free (standard rate) short codes, such as those used by brands in marketing, are sent by texters 35 and older.”
Subway, Arby’s, Jiffy Lube, BestBuy, Papa Johns, Village Inn, and other major brands have also provided special offers through text and multimedia messaging.
Papa Johns, Domino’s Pizza and Pizza Hut all allow customers to register ordering details online and then order pizzas over text message. Nielsen estimates that 552,000 AT&T and Verizon Wireless subscribers texted with Domino’s Pizza, 279,000 texted with Pizza Hut and 182,000 texted with Papa John’s in Q3 2008
Foot Locker sends special offers to its “VIP program” participants—they sent those texts to approximately 306,000 AT&T and Verizon Wireless subscribers.
Subway’s FRESHBUZZ service allows Subway customers to receive news and promotions via text message. Nielsen estimates that Subway sent these sandwich deals and news flashes to 212,000 AT&T and Verizon Wireless subscribers in Q3 2008.
Short codes are not limited to brand marketing. Traditional media is also using text messaging to enhance participation (e.g.“American Idol”). In radio, Nielsen’s tracking of short codes showed more than a million transactions with the short code “A-L-I-C-E” (or 25423), a short code assigned to the station Alice 97.3 KLLC-FM in San Francisco. Alice listeners are invited to send text messages directly to the studio to make requests, win prizes, and enter polls.
Given Millennials adamant stance against text message ads, any marketer considering using SMS should take a cautious approach and make sure that the messages are both useful and welcome. But these marketers have shown it can be done.
