We’ve seen the mobile marketing bait-n-switch before with RadioShack’s Facebook advertising, but today we found another guilty company, Dazbog Coffee.
What is the mobile marketing bait-n-switch? In Dazbog Coffee’s case, they advertised a free $4.00 mobile gift card when a customer texts the word “FREEDAZ” to 466622. Nothing wrong there, but the mobile marketing bait-n-switch comes when you realize after the fact, that by texting “FREEDAZ” to 466622 you are also giving permission for them to opt you into their ongoing mobile marketing campaign. This means you are going to receive mobile marketing SMS messages about offers, news, store openings, etc.
* To clarify, they do tell you this information at the bottom of the advertisement, in the small, barely legible font.
Pulling a mobile marketing bait-n-switch like this is a gross violation of the Mobile Marketing Assococation’s U.S. Consumer Best Practices, as it’s clearly stated that “Program advertising or its placement must not be deceptive about the functionality, features, or content of the underlying program (section 1.2-3). By placing this information at the bottom of the advertisement in a barely legible font, Dazbog Coffee is clearly not being upfront about the functionality of this mobile marketing campaign.
How would I fix this? There are two different options that I would present to Dazbog Coffee to become compliant with the MMA Consumer Best Practices.
1) Change the wording on the mobile marketing call to action – Replace the current wording with something like “Get a free Dazbog $4.00 mobile gift card when you join our exclusive SMS club.”
2) Use a mobile marketing double opt-in – Keep the same wording on the call to action, then in the text message with the free $4.00 gift card, ask them to join your SMS club to receive future SMS promotions. As we’ve seen in the past, you can expect up to a 60% conversion with this method (average is 38%). I’ve mocked up what this would look like below.
On a side note, this is a good example of a business trusting their SMS marketing campaign to a provider that doesn’t specialize in SMS marketing. In addition to their usage of the mobile marketing bait-n-switch, this campaign is missing all of the following within the mobile opt-in text message, again violating the Mobile Marketing Assococation’s U.S. Consumer Best Practices.
- Additional carrier costs (Msg&Data Rates May Apply)
- Frequency of Messaging
- Customer Support Information (Text HELP)
- Opt-Out Information (Text STOP)
As we always say here at Tatango, if you’re thinking about running an SMS marketing campaign, find a provider that ONLY focuses on SMS marketing campaigns. This way, these types of mistakes made by Dazbog coffee can be easily avoided with the expert guidance that our team of experts here at Tatango provide.
