Despite U.S. consumers’ negative perceptions of mobile marketing campaigns, they’ll respond positively to them as long as they fit the medium and deliver value, according to a recent report by Forrester Research.
Seventy nine percent of online consumers said they find the idea of ads on their mobile phones annoying, according to the report. Also, just 3% of U.S. consumers said they trust text ads on their mobile phones and just 1% said they would be influenced by those ads.
However, some marketers have been achieving success with their mobile marketing efforts by focusing on the unique attributes of the channel, according to the report written by analyst Charles Golvin.
For example, McDonald’s placed mobile ads on wireless sites frequented by young consumers, such as Match.com, and achieved higher than average click-through rates by offering coupons good for one night only from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., according to the report.
Also, Broadway Marketplace, a small Cambridge, MA-based grocer replaced its card-based loyalty program with a mobile-phone-based effort, allowing the grocer to deliver offers directly to customers’ phones based on their shopping behavior.
Eighty two percent of Broadway’s shoppers belong to the program and 64% participate on a regular basis, according to Forrester.
Successful mobile marketing campaigns are brief, simple to respond to, and focus on adding value to respondents, according to Forrester. Also, good mobile marketing campaigns are not interruptive, the report said.
“Successful mobile marketing campaigns require marketers to abandon classic marketing techniques and embrace the benefits—and peculiarities—of the medium,” the report said.
