SMS Marketing Examples

Ignoring Details – Renders SMS Campaign Useless

This is a guest post by our friend Kelly McIvor who runs Mobile Marketing Fail, a blog solely devoted to calling out brands that screw up their mobile marketing campaigns. Definitely a fun read for anyone in the mobile marketing industry. The author’s views are entirely their own and may not reflect the views of Tatango, Inc.

As someone in the mobile marketing industry, I’m always signing up for things on my mobile phone. I’ll scan QR codes, click on URLs, and sign up for SMS marketing programs. Not long ago I signed up for iLoop Mobile’s ILOOPDEALS, which is a program that allows you to “see mobile marketing in action”. It’s a good idea, but as it turns out, can be disastrous if not done correctly. I’ve blogged about this programs shortcoming before, and let other bland experiences pass without comment… but this has gone too far, I have to comment.

iLOOP Mobile Marketing Deals

Yesterday I received their usual weekly text message marketing message. This one said:

“ILOOPDEALS: Christmas shopping? Text SAVE to 79999 to receive $5 coupon at K&J Stores Reply HELP for help. Reply STOP to cancel. Msg&DataRatesMayApply”

iLoop Mobile Marketing Campaign

Nothing wrong here. Seems fully compliant with Mobile Marketing Association’s Best Practices (as goofy as they are sometimes). Wait, the stores aren’t called K&J, they’re called K&G (K&G Fashion Superstore). Oops! Details, iLoop, details!

So of course, I text SAVE to 79999. Not that I want an SMS coupon; I really just want to see if iLoop is getting their act together. Here’s what happened… First, I received a message asking me to reply with “Y” to “receive a $5 coupon and future messages with ways to save!”. I reply with “OK” instead of “Y” just to test their system and it worked! Good catch iLoop.

In response to my “OK”, I received a text message promising me $5 off if I used a promotion code – but there was no promotion code (see pic below). The same message offered me ‘Info’ of some sort – but there was nothing there either (see pic below). Something is seriously broken here.

iLoop Mobile Marketing Message

A little while later I received another message from K&G as part of their regular program. Not a bad message/offer really. It said to reply with “WIN” to see if I “get $5, 10%, 20% or 50% off my next in-store purchase.” I replied of course, but sent the word “WON” instead of “WIN” – an easy typing error on a smartphone – something a smart SMS system should be able to handle. How did iLoop’s system do? Terrible. I got zero response. Nothing.

Usually if an SMS provider doesn’t know what to do with an inbound text message, which is the case in this instance, the mobile user would still receive a reply telling them so, and how to get help. This isn’t the case with iLoop.

This SMS campaign by iLoop is a prime example of how missing little details can render an entire mobile marketing campaign useless. What do you think the redemption rate on this SMS campaign was if the customer wasn’t even given the promotion code?

 


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