September 12, 2010 by Jessica Zorawski
The New York Times recently published an article with new statistics regarding adult text messaging usage. Everyone knows that teenagers text, yet the fact that adult usage is continually increasingly is often overlooked and under reported.
Last year, 65 percent of American adults were sending and receiving text messages. That percentage has grown to almost three quarters of all Americans according to the most recent surveys. In his article, Frederic Lardinois of the New York Times reports that “about 50 percent of all adults who use text messaging send between 1 and 10 messages, 25 percent send between 11 and 50 messages a day, 10 send between 50 and 200 messages.”
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September 3, 2010 by Jessica Zorawski
A recent Infographic done by Shane Snow for Mashable sparked our interest due to its comical yet clear representation of the reality of text messaging.
The cost advantages of text messaging versus a broadband plan have drawn the attention of the entire world, and the arrival of unlimited messaging plans a couple of years ago opened the doors for mass communication in the palm of your hand. No wonder text messaging has surpassed phone, email, and face-to-face conversations as the number one communication method for teenagers!
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September 2, 2010 by Jessica Zorawski
Faith-based organizations are the latest industry to wholeheartedly embrace text messaging as the most convenient and instantaneous communication medium available. Churches, mosques, and synagogues alike have been signing up for Opt It Mobile 3.0 because they realize that their audience depends on cell phones, especially the younger generation, and that there’s no better way for them to reach their members. Being able to communicate on a large scale, as well as a one-on-one basis, has definitely caught their attention.
These organizations have also noticed an increased use of text messaging as the primary form of communication among their members. Opt It customers send prayer reminders, Bible and Qur’an quotes, donation requests, enhanced outreach efforts, community updates, and religious event notifications via text and have witnessed a great deal of acceptance within their religious communities.
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August 18, 2010 by Jessica Zorawski
In last year’s Harris Interactive report, the demographic most likely to show interest in receiving a mobile coupon was young, affluent males. Within one year, this has changed dramatically. The same study conducted in 2010 indicates that parents with younger children are the new demographic most highly interested in mobile coupons.
Adults with younger children versus adults with older kids showed varying interest levels. The most interested category of respondents was parents with children 6 or younger, with 35 percent voting “somewhat interested in receiving text alerts with coupons”. This is the same group most likely to clip and redeem paper coupons, so it makes sense that they enjoy the convenience of having a digital coupon as well. Households with older kids were close behind, with 32 percent of respondents indicating interest. Households with no children responded with a 25 percent interest level in getting opt-in text coupons, most likely due to having a larger amount of available income with no children to support.
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July 27, 2010 by Jessica Zorawski
According to a recent study conducted by Juniper Research, mobile coupons are set to generate $6 billion in global redemption value by 2014. This is due to the fact that redemption rates for mobile coupons often exceed 50 percent, whereas paper coupons will typically only produce a 0.2-2 percent redemption rate (Exposure2) – an astronomical difference!
Besides the fact that mobile coupons are green and environmentally friendly, they also save printing costs and encourage impulse purchases. No other technology delivers a coupon right into the hands of your target market while they’re in a store, already shopping. Mobile coupons are viral; they can be easily forwarded to friends, meaning that if your customers are shopping in a group, the likelihood of that message being passed along is high and expands your brand’s reach at no additional cost.
The CRM opportunity created by mobile coupons results in a substancial benefit when compared to paper coupons. When your customers text in to join your list, you are not only obtaining their phone number, but also an opportunity for two-way communication. This allows you to text your customer, asking for demographic information or sub categorize your list into specific interest groups, per person. For example, if you’re a retailer, you can establish separate lists for customers that prefer jeans, shirts or dresses, enabling you to tailor more targeted messages.
Consider creating a loyalty rewards program for customers that redeem your coupons to generate brand loyalty around your campaign. By simply integrating your CRM system to Opt It’s API, keep track of who and where your customers redeem your offers. You’ll also establish a more detailed profile of what your customers needs are to aid in targeting initiatives. This is the perfect opportunity to reward your brand insistent purchasers.
Another benefit of mobile coupons is the ability to communicate almost instantly with your customers. Use mobile messages to send out new product launches, industry news, etc. Utilize this communication channel to ask your customers what kind of coupons they would like to receive!
Altogether, mobile coupons offer you an unprecedented communication opportunity; not only can you send instantaneous coupons, but also integrate your coupons with your CRM system, create a loyalty rewards program, and communicate quicker than ever before. In addition, you’ll be getting green and helping the environment by ditching paper coupons.- Try it for yourself!