“The retail environment seems so rich with possibilities for cell phones, and yet marketers are just beginning to explore ways to initiate in-store conversations with customers,” says Steve Smith in his Mobile Insider column today on MediaPost.
Mostly, he focuses on a company called PlumReward that offers a mobile loyalty program through SMS. This could replace those plastic cards that live at the bottom of your purse/wallet, or on your keychain, making you look like a penny-pinching janitor. With PlumReward, consumers can opt-in to receive marketing offers while in-store, or just log their visit.
The most interesting thing about the platform, however, is its implementation. Rather than texting in to a shortcode, customers key in their cell phone number on a PDA that sit next to the cash register. Why the extra device? Isn’t that where barcode scanners like CueCat hit snags?
Apparently it has everything to do with mobile behavior–or the lack of:
In many cases, there is alternate SMS entry offers, but “we found that customers are literally four to five times more likely to use the keypad,” [PlumRewards President Jonathan Goodyear] says. “It is much lower friction. They just put in their cell phone number and are done with it.”
In Goodyear’s early tests, it turned out that a lot of people knew how to receive and even reply to an SMS, but not to initiate one. This may seem counterintuitive to anyone under the age of 35, but it actually makes sense. Young people prefer texting to talking, so they are getting their parents to learn how. But they obviously haven’t gotten to the chapter on sending yet. They know how to read their kid’s messages (b home @6) and replying (OK).
This keypad solution might then make sense for the Sam’s Club crowd, who are the ones signing up for loyalty cards to begin with. But can’t young people handle something as simple as an SMS? And what will engage THEIR mobile behaviors–not just texting, but sharing photos, playing games, watching videos, downloading content, etc.? Teens still love going to the mall, but how can mobile make that shopping experience not just easier, but more FUN. Smith cites Access 360, who we worked with to SMS-enable its network of retail video screens, and NearbyNow, a searchable inventory management system for consumers. Both are on the right track, and we look forward to seeing what else develops in this space.
