Clear mobile strategies a must

Businesses and service providers who want to remain relevant to their now mobile empowered customers require a clear mobile strategy.

This is according to Pieter de Villiers CEO at Clickatell, who adds such a strategy is incomplete without personalised priority messaging (PPM) via SMS as an 'anchor tenant'.

He defines PPM as the use of ubiquitous, push-based mobile communication protocols to send and receive personalised mobile messages that exhibit value to the sender or receiver, as the messages are simple, contextually relevant and time-sensitive.

PPM is most effectively performed over the SMS bearer channel, he says, adding that this is because it meets all of the necessary technology requirements of push-messaging - the ability to 'wake' the handset messaging application in order to deliver the message - and two-way messaging, which is the ability to send and receive messages.

“Not every SMS message sent or received is truly PPM,” says de Villiers.

He points out the growth in PPM is being driven by key benefits and advantages over other communication channels.

Among the benefits of PPM, de Villiers singles out immediacy, noting that most PPM messages are sent or received in less than five seconds. He also points out that the system has the advantage of relevancy: ”I am able to send or receive the message where and when I am most likely to use the contents.”

The other advantage, he points out, is simplicity, as it comprises simple text messages of less than 160 characters and support for most language character sets, adding that the PPM also supports mobility, versatility, and actionability.

“There is almost no limit to the types of messages that can be sent, and messaging providers often make available APIs [application programme interface] so that text messages can be sent directly from desktop or Web-based applications.

“I can also immediately respond to a message without leaving the messaging application, or I can easily respond to a published short code,” he says.

De Villiers also notes that the SMS Gateway and its associated APIs open up endless opportunities for mobile-enabling existing customer communications with very little software programming required.

“Portio Research suggests that the global SMS text messaging market is expected to grow from $150 billion in 2009 to $233 billion by the end of 2014.

“Associated SMS text messaging traffic is projected to double from five trillion messages in 2009 to 10 trillion in 2013. A large chunk of the SMS traffic growth over this period will be PPM over the SMS channel,” he says.

In that vein, de Villiers urges companies to consider how SMS enables better and essential customer engagement.

“Medical practitioners save hundreds of thousands of rands through SMS appointment reminders. Companies can also reduce calls to the contact centres up to 20% through proactive service SMS alerts and confirmations while call centres reduce by double-digit percentage points on the cost of servicing customer queries”.

According to de Villiers, banks are saving millions through value-added mobile services and organisations can offer sales offers in service alerts, such as offering hotel discounts via mobile alert for flight status updates.

“Fee and transaction notifications and real-time receipts can improve the customer experience, as well as reduce fraud. Banks are reducing fraud by 40% in some cases.

“Businesses can improve customer loyalty by providing additional services, such as hotels offering guest services through mobile, such as reservation confirmations, event reminders and mobile coupons,” he says.

He believes that one of the biggest pieces of evidence for the viability of text messaging, as a communications medium, was the text revealing Joe Bidden as the US vice-presidential candidate as the message was delivered to 2.9 million people.

“Mobile is no longer an option; it is a must. Research from ABI shows that mobile marketing is gaining momentum as more marketers have shifted money into mobile campaigns of late, and consumers engage more with brands as they browse from their phones, use mobile applications and conduct mobile searches,” stresses de Villiers.

Moreover, he adds, advertising agency executives, technology providers, and mobile ad networks report spending increases of 25% to 30% year-over-year for mobile campaigns. Additionally, Juniper predicts mobile retail opportunities in coupons, smart posters and advertising will collectively create a market worth more than $12 billion by 2014, up from $4.1 billion in 2009.

“Those who are not emphasising a mobile strategy are missing out on significant opportunity for return of investment.”