Watch our latest Fun U video: Using Register Receipts to Boost Mobile Opt-Ins by Adam Lavine.
Despite the amazing growth of smartphones and mobile web, SMS still remains as one of the most effective mobile marketing tools. A mobile opt-in customer—a customer who has given marketers permission to send them targeted promotional SMS messages—will:
- Read and respond to a promotional message within 4 minutes of receipt.
- Redeem coupons and promotions 10x more than others.
Nearly 50% of all Americans have already opted into some form of SMS campaign, while the average unsubscribe rate for retail SMS marketing stands at 3.7%. Needless to say, mobile opt-in customers add measurable value to a business. Before you can start an SMS marketing campaign, however, you must grow your list of mobile opt-in consumers (without breaking any FCC laws) which you can then segment around age, location, gender, previous campaign response, customer loyalty, communication preferences, etc.
How do you grow that list?
Increase Mobile Opt-Ins, Keep Your Customers Coming Back, and Turn a Sunk Cost into a Revenue Stream.
There are many ways to grow your mobile opt-in list. It’s a best practice, though, to do a combination of many or all of them. One such way is to add a marketing message at the bottom of your customers’ receipts, offering something of value in exchange for opting them into receiving marketing messages. This is a tried and true loyalty marketing tactic that turns a sunk cost—your receipts—into a source of revenue. This will only work, however, if the consumer perceives the offer to be valuable enough to exchange for their personal information.
More than anything else, your customers use their smartphones for personal communication. So unless they’re given a strong incentive to opt-in — like a high value mobile coupon — they’ll be unlikely to do so.
Here’s an example of a retailer using customer receipts for mobile marketing purposes:
Here’s the same example with a more effective offer:
It’s a subtle difference but it’s very effective in driving opt-ins. Consumers want great deals and they want them to be convenient. Promising a reward and then rewarding them right after they’ve opted-in is the best way to earn your customer’s loyalty and trust which ensures they stay opted-in and engaged.