I had the opportunity to speak with Hugh Cockwill, Chief Operating Officer of mobilize this week.   During the discussion about mobilize’s product suite, the conversation touched on two important themes that were also presented at the Mobile Commerce Summit in Las Vegas earlier this month.   The key themes are:

Mobile Ad Interruptions:  Mobile ad interruption will likely not be tolerated.  Reference the fact that 72% of Americans have registered on the US Federal ‘DO NOT CALL’ list.

Consumer Expectations:  Consumers want to receive information and content on their own terms – when & where THEY want it.  Anything falling outside of this is likely to be perceived negatively.

These data points suggest that consumer tolerance for advertising interruption on the mobile channel is lower than tradition medium, it looks like mobile advertising has its work cut out to become a mainstay on the mobile.  

There is good news for mobile advertising, however, as a number of the successful case studies presented at the conference point to a key approach to make mobile advertising effective - provide unique information at the right time and place.

Provide your target market with valuable information that they may not get through other means, and provide that information at the right time and place. (See Case Study PG Tips on mobilize site)

How do mobile advertisers determine the right time and place?

One option is to have users filter and find the adverts themselves with applications such as Coupon Sherpa (available from the Apple store).   This ensures the consumer is not spammed but it does not provide much data on consumer purchasing or if the promotion or sales campaign is effective.

Mobile coupons are great, don’t get me wrong, but how do you get the ‘right’ discount to the ‘right’ mobile user?  I may not care about cosmetics being 10% off or buy-one get-one-free promotions for cereal.   So how do you get the ‘right’ ad/discounts/promotions your consumers want without spamming them and creating friction?

Mobile loyalty solutions may provide the answer to this question.

Mobile Loyalty programs not only utilize mobile coupons as one advertising method but they also allow a deeper insight into the individual purchasing habits of a particular consumer.  This not only enables retailers to better understand when is the ‘right time and place’ to advertise to a particular consumer but also allows the measurement of the effectiveness of a sales campaign.  

Products suites like mobilize act as a closed loop mobile CRM platform and can work with existing loyalty programs, or provide a way of establishing an immediate Mobile Loyalty channel.  These solutions provide retailers or brand owners an in-depth look at what customers are purchasing and how responsive sales campaigns are.

The mobilize solution is easy for consumers to use.   Consumers register (opt-in) with an SMS and receive back an SMS with a 1D barcode and a number equivalent.  The mobile ID is linked to relevant privileges or current sales promotions and upon check out at the till the mobile is scanned along with the items.  The privileges are redeemed (cash awarded, points, discounts) and the consumer buying behavior is stored.

The stored purchasing and redemption data can then be used to make more relevant offers to that individual consumer in the future.   Thus pinpointing consumer needs and wants; hopefully making mobile advertising more acceptable to the consumer.

Additional benefits of mobile loyalty schemes:

Drive Sales and Footfall – Influence consumers through the immediacy and intimacy of mobile.

Instantaneous – Reach consumers instantly.   Promote soon to expire goods or seasonal items.  Reach consumers appropriately to their shopping occasions.

Fraud Protection – Eliminates over redemption, and mis / mal redemption.

Focused - Advertisement can be targeted to the individual.

For more information about the 3rd annual mobile commerce summit please visit
http://www.mobile-financial.com/node/1817/Mobile-Commerce-Summit-%E2%80%93-Mobile-Marketing-Workshop-Summary

For more information about mobilize products suite please visit their site at http://www.mobilize-systems.com/

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Name: Kent McNeil Title: Principal Company: DonRiver View Kent McNeil's Blog