Comments on: Target’s Mobile Marketing Disconnect

By: Houston, we have a problem: Are retail mobile strategies doomed to fail? | Hello Mobile!

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 01:03:50 +0000

[...] am referring to this blog post I came across from March of this year, in which the author cites his experience with Target’s [...]

By: Josh Gordon

Josh Gordon — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:04:09 +0000

Hi Dale, thanks for the comment. You're exactly right that SMS is a conversation, and if any mobile marketing company tries to sell it in any other way they are misleading. There is a lot to think about when selecting a good mobile marketing software partner. But, no consideration should come at the expense of developing content that suits the medium and adds value to the consumer's experience.

To your cost point... good providers do not have a pricing structure that steep. They aggregate messages across all of their mobile customers to bring down message rates for everyone. They still make money on delivery, but the value for the marketer is unlocked in how great the software is.

The last point I'll make - anything is possible, provided consumers demand it!

By: Dale

Dale — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:13:59 +0000

Yup, you’re right. Target (and others) are thinking that SMS is a newspaper coupon.

SMS is a conversation. It requires a bit of back and forth to drill down to a consumer interest and need.

It can actually function as an “emotion detection” engine (with the right tools, it can be a great CRM device).

But, that requires some fresh thinking. How do people use SMS? How can Brands add value to that space and experience, not fill it up with junk?

The problem is that SMS has a price tag to deliver, particularly for “conversation,” where 5-10 exchanges in a session might really add value to the End User, but, that’s a .25-.50 cent delivery charge to some SMS Gateway.

Mobile web and chat? Sure. Do-able and not a bad reach. Or, when Google and/or Twitter decide that they will bear the brunt of SMS costs and deliver it at no cost (volume)? Not this year. The overlooked IM access to most phones? Interesting, if you could get an IM client to launch from a QR tag (I don’t think that’s possible).