Shortcode SMS Still the Best Mobile Advertising Channel

Research now shows that 25% of consumers say they would be more likely to respond to an ad if they had the ability to respond to an ad if there was a response mechanism built in to the ad itself.

1,000 people were surveyed in each market, and the questions were not just about mobile advertising, but advertising in general.  The questions revolved around what advertisers could do to be more engaging with consumers.  People were interviewed in the UK, France and Germany.

Results after the break.

Text Messaging by Adults Raises 72%

A new research study has found that nearly three quarters of American Adults send text messages.

Last year research showed that about 65 percent of adults text, now research shows that 72 percent of adults text. Over the past few years text message use among adults has grown significantly. However, teens still lead in the area of text messaging. 87 percent of teens send and receive texts. The big difference between the two is usage. Teens use about 50 texts a day, compared to 10 a day for adults.

Amanda Lenhart says,

"We’ve reached a point where enough other people are texting that (adults) are drawn into using it because they can finally use it to communicate with a substantial number of their friends and family." 

This shows that text message usage has reached such a large level of usage, that people who had no interest before are now drawn into texting.

This data provides a great deal of valuable info to mobile marketers. Adults are the most valuable demographic for marketing purposes, since they make more important buying decisions than teens. So now that marketers know the percentage of adults that use texts is rising, they can formulate they strategy accordingly.

Short Codes Launched in Latin America

The common short code (CSC) initiative has reached Latin America. Mobile marketers now have access to over 500 million mobile phone subscribers across Latin America by way of text messaging. Text message marketing is a broad-reaching and inexpensive way to reach and engage customers, and is administered in Latin America by CTIA-The Wireless Association utilizing Syniverse Technologies.

68 percent of mobile users in Latin America use text messaging at least once a week, this is nearly double the rate in other regions. In fact, Latin American mobile subscribers use their mobile devices primarily for text messaging rather than voice calls.

More than 95 percent of mobile users have the ability to send and receive text messages. This makes Latin mobile users a huge untapped resource for mobile marketers. This gives marketers the potential to engage with their customers, providing a unique, interactive experience. Mobile marketing has a great potential, when used correctly, to grow brands, and create a great experience for customers, and mobile marketers are sure to invest in the Latin American market.

Before common short codes were introduced in Latin America, mobile marketing was very impractical. However, now mobile marketers have all the tools they need to reach customers in the Latin American market.

Source:  CNBC

New Common Short Code Monitoring System

New initiatives are being set into place to keep short codes spam free. This new initiative will filter text messages that customers do not want.

Common Short Codes will now be required to go through a scanning process that will require them to confirm that they are in compliance with the Consumer Best Practices, issued by the CSC Industry.

They are calling it the “Common Short Code Auditing and Monitoring Initiative”. This was developed with the help of cell phone carriers, users and businesses.

All programs must comply with the rules put forth in this new initiative, and will be given a period of time to fix anything that does not comply. If these companies do not meet the guidelines by the deadline to fix their noncompliance’s, the will not be allowed to renew or apply for any short codes until the problems have been corrected.

To prevent your business’s text campaign from being affected in the future, make sure you choose a text marketing provider that is familiar with CBP and the new CSC auditing and monitoring initiative. The mobile industry has to maintain compliancy among mobile application providers.

As long as you keep your messages within the guidelines, you will keep your customers happy and your business will continue to grow.