http://twitter.com/MobileMktg
Mobile Website / SMS Campaign Opt-in Challenge Results:

"MobileMktgBrief - A mobile marketing challenge for you http://aweber.com/b/fJkp

I decided to give the challenge a whirl - visiting 3 mobile websites using my iPhone and opting into 3 SMS 'media campaign' CSCs (common short codes).

Throughout the process (over the following week), I took notes on things I felt were the PROs and CONs of the end user experience - and have assembled those below.

A quick background on me (Matt Parzych): I'm a Silicon Valley-based software programmer with 20 years of experience in the software and mobile industries. My first experience accessing a website was over a wireless data connection in 1994. Two business partners and I started a wireless data communications company in 1996 that focused on optimizing data communications over wireless (bandwidth constrained) networks. I've more recently started turning some of my attention to the marketing side of the equation (heavily influenced by my new business partner who's in marketing). I now divide my time consulting among my eight primary customers - in the communications, wireless, apparel, event management, marketing, medical compliance, health care and restaurant industries.

One of the reasons I started the @MobileMktg Twitter account is to challenge those in the industry to start thinking 'outside the proverbial box' when it comes to mobile marketing. The other primary reason I am running @MobileMktg is to report on industry news and solutions that I believe are important, unique and insightful. So, you won't see a lot of discussion about setting up personal shortcodes (CSCs) or how to build an SMS opt-in list so a business can broadcast messages to consumers. I'm seeking modern, more personalized and creative ways to effectively reach the mobile user.

That said... here are the notes over the past week (sorry for the bulleted list format - I wasn't an English major!):

Mobile Website #1:

MLB.com / REDSOX.com (I'm originally from Massachusetts and am still, of course, a Sox fan)

PROs:

• Able to access mobile version at mlb.com (perfect!) or wap.mlb.com or at mlb.mobi -- in fact, on my iPhone I can just enter "mlb" (no quotes) on the browser address bar. Which makes me ask - why do we need .mobi? In my opinion, websites should auto-detect the client browser and auto-redirect. This is simple to do for any webmaster (plenty of free code available for various web programming languages),
• Same goes for redsox.com - auto-detected mobile browser, and redirected to mobile site,
• Loads quickly - easy to navigate - very minimal (but appropriate) use of low bandwidth-friendly graphics,
• Reasonable display of advertisements - mostly promoting their 'pay for' SMS and video alerts,
• Able to get to full-version (the non-mobile version) of website easily (Flash auto-disabled - cool!),
• Lots of consistency across the various MLB teams mobile websites - once you know the navigation for one team, visiting another team's site is a breeze,
• On brand.

CONs:

• I also subscribed to receive SMS updates (see below) - and specified I want to follow the Red Sox - it would have been nice if mlb.com could have taken that information and made Red Sox-related information (scores, news, stats, players) more readily available and personalized for me (sorted at the top of lists to prevent additonal clicks and scrolling) - sure, I could also just visit redsox.com

Mobile Website #2

VALPAK.com (I recently read about Valpak's mobile initiative in a 'Mobile Marketer' daily newsletter)

PROs:

• The Valpak mobile site uses cookies - and remembers me from visit to visit (didn't need to re-enter my zip) — definitely a bonus with mobile browsers (less keys strokes),
• Loads quickly - easy to navigate - very minimal (but appropriate) use of low bandwidth-friendly graphics,
• Coupon search results were relatively consistent (which doesn't necessarily mean they were good) between the mobile website and standard website.

CONs:

• On their standard website, Valpak has the text - "Now get your Valpak coupons on your mobile phone!" but it's not linked to anything (no more information),
• No SMS opt-in service could be found - it would have been great if I could opt-in to receive a text message when a business NEAR ME had a valuable, time-sensitive coupon (say, for a restaurant around the block),
• Zero personalization (except for remembering my zip code),
• Results of coupon searches were, in general, for businesses nowhere near where I live (30+ miles away) and once, the closest redeemable coupon was at a business approximately 500 miles away (in San Diego) — was that really worth presenting?,
• Results were not sorted based on proximity to my zip code - when I did finally find a coupon redeemable at a San Francisco business, it was listed after others that were much farther away - a feature that the standard website lets you specify (sorted search results) - a very useful select option that shouldn't have been left off the mobile website,
• To limit the amount of data transferred, it would have been great if I could have selected the maximum radius I wanted to search (like your average 'store finder' on the web),
• Some of these problems are not limited to Valpak's mobile website - their standard website has similar search result problems.

Mobile Website #3

UNITED.com (I fly United Airlines quite a bit)

PROs:

• Near as I can tell, United's mobile website is http://ua.flightlookup.com/ (it looks like they've outsourced the site to flightlookup.com),
• This site - assuming it's United's (and it appears to be), has everything I need when I'm traveling - flight status (important), flight availability, my itineraries, schedules, Mileage Plus® summary, contact info, weather info, etc. — without the 'heaviness' that their standard site possesses.
• Loads quickly - easy to navigate - very minimal (but appropriate) use of low bandwidth-friendly graphics.

CONs:

• No mention of their mobile website on their standard website's home page (I had to Google it to find it - an extra step),
• No auto-detection that I'm coming from a mobile browser and no auto-redirection to their mobile website,
• m.united.com, wap.united.com and united.mobi DNS lookups all failed - it's as if the mobile version does not exist (perhaps Untited is not actively promoting it),
• No cookies.

SMS Opt-In #1

BOSTON RED SOX TEAM ALERTS (MLB.com)

PROs:

• I could opt-in via their standard website - no annoying CSC and keyword combination to remember and type in,
• I can manage and customize the text messages I receive by logging into the account created for me via the standard website's 'mobile dashboard',
• The website suggested I have an unlimited text message plan on my mobile phone - as I could expect to receive 15-20 text messages/week (great to get a sense of what to expect),
• There appeared to be a clear list of the types of messages I would receive (end of game summaries, home runs, post 7th inning lead changes),
• Clear instructions of what to do once I submitted my mobile #,
• Messages arrive in a timely fashion (within a few minutes of end of game and home runs),
• Website instructions regarding what to do to opt-out at any time.

CONs:

• Way too many messages back and forth to complete the opt-in -- even though I was able to skip the initial mobile originate, I still had to send/receive a total of 5 messages (would have been 6 had I not originally opted-in via the website) - major hassle (good thing I have a text message plan, or that would have cost me $1.25),
• Text message links do not start with the http:// prefix - and are therefore not recognized as web links by my phone's text message reader,
• Immediately received an advertisement-only text message (before I even received a single game result!) promoting additional MLB SMS opt-in services -- couldn't that wait, or better yet, be bundled in at the end of another message? Game score messages don't need to be long: Red Sox 5, Yankees 0 leaves plenty of room for an advertisement - that could have helped offset the cost of opting-in in the first place -- so, I have to pay for the service AND I receive ads? That makes zero sense to me,
• By default, I was opted in to receive WAY too many text messages (well beyond what was advertised when I originally opted in),
• I consistently received information (news) regarding players on other teams - this certainly was not my expectation when I signed up for the RED SOX team alerts. I had to log into my dashboard and turn off breaking player news. It was annoying to have to log in to disable extraneous alerts when I was very clear I was signing up for Red Sox team alerts,
• The service costs $3.99/month - all I really wanted were end of game alerts (notifications of who won) - and I can get that with other SMS services for free, in exchange for receiving an ad as part of the text message (so, I'll be opting-out before the end of the month). Both the standard MLB.com and REDSOX.com websites have plenty of advertisers - has noone figured out a way to advertise effectively in text messages? Are no advertisers interested in extending their brand's reach to the lowest common denominator/most popular mobile phone application?,
• I don't consistently receive information regarding how to opt-out in each message received -- I have to remember the cryptic CSC and keyword to mobile originate to opt-out -- luckily, STOP should work - haven't tried it (yet).

SMS Opt-In #2

LIFT Network - Mobile promotions

After reading this article in the trade press: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/International-Card-Establishment-Inc-971398.html I sent the keyword Launch to CSC 59925 (based on the instructions in the 2nd paragraph).

I received the response:

"Businesses can send text alerts coupons or messages directly to its customers mobile phones. Powered by LIFT Network Txt STOP 2 End. Std Msg Chrs Apply

I didn't understand the point of this transaction. What's the call-to-action? What do I do next? I have no idea. I'm left wondering - why did I just do that? Is LIFT trying to simply demonstrate that they can reply to a mobile originated message? I haven't received any follow-up messages since. I would think if a business would bother to put a CSC and keyword combo call to action in a press release, that there would be something more significant behind it.
Done with this one.
Note to self: be sure to opt-out soon.

SMS Opt-In #3

4INFO (I've read about this company quite a bit over the years in the trade press and more about their search functionality)

First, a little background on how I came to choose this one...

Even though I live right in the heart of downtown San Francisco, I don't see many, if any, mobile campaign promotions. It might be due to downtown's lack of billboards and city "beautification" rules. When Kim posted this mobile marketing challenge, I started thinking about where I usually see mobile campaign promotions. The first thing I thought of was - I sometimes see one on a billboard out by AT&T Park - by the Giants Stadium - when I'm out for a run and thought, "OK, I'll opt-in to one of those". Trouble is - I don't run carrying my mobile phone, and by the time I returned home, (even though I really tried!) I could not remember the cryptic combination of the CSC (shortcode) and keyword I had seen 30 minutes ago. I've got to figure this is true for most people driving their cars that see the billboards too — by the time they've arrived at their destination, the shortcode and keyword combo is long gone. It's too bad CSCs aren't easy to remember - like most domain names. The second source I could think of was some of the free newspapers available downtown. I've noticed ads in the papers inviting users to join a mobile campaign - but, to be honest, I sure wouldn't want to give my mobile # to some of the (how should I call them?) less desirable advertisers making use of a CSC. And, I'm sure not interested in receiving a 'joke of the day', daily horoscope or weather alert.

So, it was actually a bit of a challenge to find a shortcode to opt into. Since I've read and heard quite a bit about 4INFO over the years (the mobile search company) - I headed to their website. As it turns out, 4INFO has plenty of daily SMS type campaigns for you to select from - most, if not all are free and are sent with short advertisements. I have to say, there were not many, if any, I was interested in receiving (except the free baseball scores - see above discussion) - but as I was already signed up to receive those, I opted-in to receive daily HEALTH TIP ALERTS. I had to create an account and provide demographic information - and I provided accurate information - specifically as a test to see how targeted the ads would be (they make it pretty clear on their website that you will get the messages for 'free' - aside from standard text message rates - and that they can offer it for free because you'll be receiving ads as part of the messages).

OK, I'm relatively interested - so I dive in...

PROs

• There is quite a bit of mobile content to choose from (NOTE: this does NOT necessarily mean quality content),
• Instructions on how to opt-in were pretty clear,
• I really liked the ability to pick and choose which days of the week I will receive the text messages, and at what time - cool! And, it works - I get my daily health message Mon-Fri at 9 AM PT,
• I like the fact that I have an account on 4INFO - from which I can easily manage all my options,
• I didn't have to perform the first mobile originate to a CSC - I could just opt-in directly from the website,
• I don't receive any ads in messages separate from the content I requested.

CONs

• The first message I received instructed me to enter the 5 digit code on the website. I received the code U2Y92 -- I'm not sure how that's could represent 5 "digits" ... but, OK, I'm in it seems,
• The ads are poorly targeted - they're actually a pretty good source of daily humor - which is why I'll probably stay opted-in (even thought I said earlier I didn't want 'joke of the day'). I signed up for Health Tips - and I'm receiving ads for Taco Bell. I indicated I'm a male, 40 years old - and I'm receiving ads that target ways for teenagers to make money and messages that inform me that eating walnuts may help reduce my chances of getting breast cancer. This leads me to believe that the only advertisers 4INFO has are very interested in the teen market, and that 4INFO and their advertisers don't expect 40 year olds to be opting in to these type of messages. On the other hand, the 4INFO.com website is not overly teen-oriented or branded. It seems to appeal to people of all ages - younger, yes — but not just teens,
• I don't find the selection of information available on the 4INFO site (except for the sports scores) to be the kind of information I need to know NOW - that I want to be first to know. There's nothing with a call to action, there's little (if any) web link tie-in, and there's little compelling reason (for me) to receive this kind of information on my phone.

Summary -

You've likely gathered from my notes above that I like the merging of the two worlds - the wired web and mobile data communications. I believe the best solutions are those that integrate the two well — building on each other's strengths. I'm not a big believer in CSC (common short codes) or .mobi domain names (which I believe are totally unnecessary, hurt the industry more than they help it, and confuse the consumer).

I hear alot of talk about "it's mobile marketing's time" - or "2009 is THE year for mobile marketing" - I've been hearing that for years. What's going to make mobile marketing take off, in my opinion, is when the mobile experience becomes a very natural, complementary and beneficial extension of the wired web experience. It's going to take a lot of attention-to-detail when developing mobile solutions. Things need to be simpler. I see an industry in which the consumer has a lot of doubt and skepticism. Simple, mutually beneficial, honest solutions are the ones that have the best chance to take off. However, I believe mobile marketing is currently too focused on just generating advertising revenue versus first and foremost delivering useful solutions and viable business practices - extending the brand to mobile first, and figuring out how best to monetarily capitalize on it later.

I believe a lot of great things have been accomplished over the past few years (things I've been waiting a long time to emerge): mobile phones with built in web browsers, mobile website development, the iPhone, iPhone apps, QWERTY keyboards, touch screens and mobile phones with WiFi. Stay tuned as even better solutions are around the corner!