It’s time for another guest post here on Mobile Europe. This time around we hear from Velti’s Stephen Upstone on the topic of mobile marketing. Although mobile marketing is a well-worn topic within the industry, it has still lacked wider adoption and recognition, Upstone says.
But that could be about to change, according to Upstone: the successes that mobile operators have had with mobile marketing campaigns will generate wider knowledge and interest in mobile marketing, leading to major brands entering the market.
“At the moment, the operators Velti is working with are getting a return on their investment for an annual campaign within the first three months – the rest is profit,” Upstone says in his post. “Providing campaigns are timely and relevant, users increasingly participate and around 30% of customers redeem the promotional codes.”
Mobile marketing is big and it’s only going to get bigger
by Stephen Upstone, VP Sales and Business Development, Velti.
The mobile industry has long heralded the advantages of mobile marketing. But more often than not, it has been preaching to the converted so to speak. People that work in the mobile industry are more than familiar with the benefits of mobile marketing, however, up until recently major brands have been somewhat reluctant to dip a toe in to the mobile waters. This is all about to change and it’s thanks to the success mobile operators have enjoyed from mobile marketing campaigns.
Velti works with a number of operators that want to increase the number of top-ups and improve loyalty and general loyalty to the brand. In order to help do this, Velti runs different reward and engagement initiatives with operators around the world, such as Orange Spain.
These programmes go beyond the initial price-based incentives to include emotional engagements with customers and provide them with real, relevant promotions. Things that touch the consumer’s life outside of telecommunications.
ROI and measurement
Campaigns are continuously growing with operators seeing more and more of a return on their investment. Providing campaigns are timely and relevant, users increasingly participate and around 30% of customers redeem the promotional codes. If you consider the power of marketing, to have 30% of customers opening, reviewing and redeeming promotions on a different platform, on a regular basis, it just goes to show the power of mobile.
Mobile is a hugely effective channel and as it can be entirely measurable, it is possible to drill right down past the click, to see the detailed elements of each campaign. TV and print campaigns are based on audience figures – i.e. X million people tune in to watch a popular TV show, which therefore reflects the cost of advertising and in theory gives a brand exposure to a high number of people. However, you can never really be sure of how many people saw the campaign or how many people responded to the call to action from that specific ad.
With mobile however, it’s possible to focus on exactly how effective campaigns are, looking in to which consumers in what locations, reacted to the campaign at a certain time and exactly what action they took or perhaps what element proved to be a stumbling block. This kind of insight, coupled with the fact that each part of the campaign is manageable, provides brands with measurable data and return on investment for each marketing initiative.
Velti has managed more than 100 campaigns including LSC’s, loyalty and permission-based marketing, for over 50 operators across four continents including eight out of the top 10 globally. Some of which have been run to subscriber bases of around 50 million.
Through its campaigns with partners, Velti has demonstrated the success that mobile marketing campaigns can bring, but some other notable results include:
• Over 28M SMS sent in a campaign
• Over 6M customers participating in one campaign
• Over $24M total revenues generated in a campaign
• Successfully received 980k customer originated messages from one project in a single day
• 19% penetration for one campaign
• Achieving an average of over 28 SMS per user in for a campaign
Mobile network operators have been the main benefactors of mobile marketing, which isn’t really surprising. Consumers expect their operator to communicate with them through their mobile. At the moment, the operators Velti is working with are getting a return on their investment for an annual campaign within the first three months – the rest is profit. What network operators are doing with mobile marketing today, global brands will be doing tomorrow. The sheer amount of data and profit points are starting to drip through to the world outside the mobile ecosystem.
Velti is now working with a number of media companies, including two of the UK’s top three publishing groups, one of which reaches over 10 million customers online a week through over 400 titles, generating a multi-million pound revenue stream.
The flexibility, scale and depth of control of mobile marketing, naturally works in its favour. Whether campaigns are for stimulating top-ups, buying travel insurance from a bank or purchasing a movie through pay-per-view or rental company, each can be optimised by being relevant to users and having mobile at the heart.
With mobile payments finally coming together and looking to enter the mainstream through SMS and NFC (Near Field Communications) mobile commerce is about to accelerate. Brands need to in a position where they can provide a consumer with a seamless experience, from advertisement to delivery, otherwise they could be left behind as many were with internet shopping. For many it will be survival of the quickest.