Mobile Opt-in Retention – Rules of Engagement

The following is a guest post by Paul Faherty, Managing Partner at Text2VIP, an Atlantic City based Text Message Marketing Firm.  He can be reached at 888-813-8398 ext 701 or Paul@text2VIP.com

When it comes to SMS Marketing, conversation touch points generally center around acquiring the opt-in and building the database.  While placing a clear and enticing call to action—where it’s sure to be seen seems simple enough,  there remains a large number of do-it-yourself businesses who seem to struggle with this.  However, page two in my would-be-operator’s-manual would outline techniques for retaining the mobile consumer’s opt-in and include a rules-of-the-road on what types of subsequent SMS to send, and when not to send them.

Best practices necessitate that the SMS campaign should start by abiding to the message frequency they’ve outlined in their call to action.  Telling me I should expect to receive 4 messages a month, then sending me 3 in the first 48 hours will find me running for the nearest proverbial text club exit.  Awaking on a Saturday morning to a text from a business telling me they are now open late on Mondays isn’t going to win me over either.  At Text2VIP, we are constantly reminding clients that their customers have granted them permission to be marketed to – through the most immediate and personal channel marketers have ever known.  This privilege should be respected or it’s destined to be short-lived.

A great example of a well executed SMS campaign is that of a Moe’s Southwest Grill location in South Florida.  This Text2VIP client offered a Free Fountain Drink at the point of purchase to acquire nearly 5,000 opt-ins.  They cap their frequency of touches at 4 per month, and always offer something of value.  On July 4^th, 2011, this particular Moe’s location offered a burrito, chips, and drink combination at a $3 discount.  Achieving 10% redemption, they drove nearly 500 customers through their door and broke same store sales records for Independence Day.  Most tellingly though, may just be that of the nearly 5,000 messages sent, only one subscriber opted-out of their campaign.  I largely attribute this to the quality of offer, timeliness of delivery, and restraint of messaging frequency.  Not seeing the other 90% redeem an offer on what is generally considered a slow holiday isn’t the end of the world.  Losing the opportunity to market to them again next week because you’ve abused your privilege-that’s another story.