Archive for April, 2010

Text2Drive powers mobile campaigns at the New York International Auto Show

New Suzuki mobile marketing campaign allows interested car buyers to get quick and easy info on available cars at the last major North American new-car event of the season.

Text2Drive, the leading mobile marketing firm in the auto industry, is in the driver’s seat again – taking car information mobile for auto buyers at the New York International Auto Show. Building on the success Text2Drive achieved by powering the Chicago Auto Show in February with their Mobile Marketing Platform, Text2Drive has recently been selected to promote Suzuki’s mobile ad campaigns during the New York International Auto Show from April 2 – 11, 2010.

Suzuki is using the Text2Drive Mobile Marketing platform to offer car shoppers a very quick, easy and hassle-free method of obtaining vehicle information without the need of the Internet on their phones. Using text messaging (SMS) and picture messaging (MMS), car shoppers can take home important information on different makes and models available from Suzuki. According to Nielsen, only 30-40 percent of consumers have Internet connectivity on their phones. Text2Drive allows car shoppers to get instant information on their cell phone about a specific car including mobile website links and photos sent via MMS.

Text2Drive is powered by leading mobile marketing and mobile commerce company, QWASI, Inc. The Philadelphia-based company provides cross-market interactive solutions for fortune 500 companies, as well as SMBs (Small to Medium Businesses), across the nation.

It’s exciting to see how auto manufacturers are using the Text2Drive service at the New York Auto Show and other car shows around the country. It’s important to provide today’s car buyers with instant information that is easy to access. The power to connect with these car buyers is available through a program like Text2Drive so car manufacturers can also connect with them after the show ends.

We see more and more carmakers and dealers finally beginning to get serious about offering mobile marketing and communications at dealerships, their advertising and direct communication with their customers. Text2Drive can be found online at http://www.text2drive.com

[caption id="attachment_619" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="SX4Sportback MMS (Picture) Message"][/caption]

April 9, 2010 in Blog   |   No Comments

Mobile Messaging & Mobile Web before an App

Everyday, we at QWASI are asked by many leading brands where mobile is moving and how they should embrace mobile marketing and mobile communication. We always have to ask a simple question: What are you doing today to reach today’s mobile consumer?

The first reaction is either something like this: “Well, we’re starting to think about an iPhone App and maybe a Blackberry or Android App by the end of the year”… OR they simple respond “We have an iPhone App and we think it’s great.” It’s almost so predictable that its easy to write it down on a piece of paper before asking the question and then passing across the table and asking how close you were to guessing their response.

Here’s the problem with having just an App: it should never be the “your mobile strategy” or solution to having a mobile channel. Why? It’s simple: Mobile App usage trails mobile web and mobile messaging.

TEXT MESSAGING REIGNS SUPREME
The most popular activity for the average cell phone user is Text Messaging. It’s then followed by mobile web access and then Apps. Text Messaging reigns supreme because of two simple forces: reach and usage.

Nearly every mobile phone in the U.S. is text messaging enable. To send or receive a text message, you do not need a smart phone (Blackberry, iPhone or Android device). In the US, only 18% of all phones are smartphones. Within the next 2-3 years, Juniper Research predicts that smartphone usage worldwide will only account for just 23 percent of all new handsets sold. That means that main population in a few years will still not have enhanced capabilities of using Apps.

MULTIPLE PLATFORMS: IPHONE, BLACKBERRY, ANDROID (and SEVERAL OTHERS)
When a company considers launching an App, they typically go right to the iPhone. A recent Nielsen survey found that Apple dominates app downloads with a 25 percent market share. However, the iPhone only represents 4 percent of the entire mobile market. And in the US, it’s currently still only available on AT&T network. If you’re looking to launch an App, consider this – Nielsen has identified more than 10 major app stores for your App. That means developing across several platforms that differ in the use of libraries, code and submissions (to get the application approved and added to the app store).

USAGE
We return back to text messaging for ease of development and uniform customer experience because it is used more than Apps. According to Pinch Media, the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since it was downloaded. Just 20% of users even return to run a free application again the day after it’s downloaded. As time goes on, that decline continues, eventually settling below five percent at the one month elapsed mark and nearing zero after three months. According to Strategy Analytics (October 2009) only four to six mobile apps are used on a consistent basis.

Furthermore, if you create an iPhone App, you will be one of over 180,000 Apps available in the Apple App Store (as of March 2010). It’s such a competitive share of mindshare and space is limited on the phone’s screen. The iPhone for example offers 10 pages of Apps, but many people never make it past their third screen to even get to your app if it’s not up front. I would argue that we’ve hit the saturation point for most users. Why? Because of a simple litmus test called utility. If your App provides utlity to the end user, they will continue to use it to connect to people, places, information and entertainment. An App with a few stars or a low rating really does indicate how most end users will think and use the app.

SIMPLE IS OFTEN BEST
Most companies dismiss SMS or Text Messaging for two reasons: simplicity and cost. Let’s examine each.

First, a text message is limited to 160 characters. Every space counts. Creative wording is often required to communicate the message. However, it can also include a phone number or link to a mobile website or information page optimized for mobile phones. In it’s simplicity lies it’s strength.

• Delivered – each SMS using carrier-grade messaging is delivered

• Read – almost 95% or all text messages are read by end users

• Direct – often provides a preview w/o reading the entire message

• Concise – read and take action in seconds

• Easy-to-Read – most of the message fits on the screen

• Link-Enabled – ability to point to a Mobile Website

• Call-Enabled – include a phone number to call

More reasons why simple is often best. A single text message can easily be forwarded to a friend or posted to a social network. SMS can be interactive providing two-way messaging features included information on demand, mobile coupons, mobile ticketing, surveys, voting and polling. Finally, with a list of opt-in users, messaging can be sent out to users via blasts, notifications and alerts.

The other hesitancy by brands in using text messaging for marketing is the cost factor of an SMS. Companies often are quick to sign off on large budgets to build mobile Apps, yet never conduct a full cost analysis of SMS and Text Messaging to evaluate how it scales over a longer period of time while achieving greater usage and take up. Sure, a text message can cost a few pennies per message, however, during an ROI analysis, it’s easy to see how it pays itself back with the value it provides customers to connect with the Brand in building some of the strongest one-to-one relationships possible.

MOBILE METHODOLOGY (see the QWASI Mobile Methodology)
Don’t be so quick to rule out Text Message Marketing (SMS) or the Mobile Web.

Build out your mobile site. Offer Mobile Messaging. Then build specialty apps that provide usefulness for your customer. And don’t neglect voice as part of your mobile strategy.

Let QWASI help you build out your mobile channel today.

About the Author:
David Geipel is COO & Founder of QWASI (http://www.qwasi.com). You can reach him at dgeipel at qwasi.com or chat with him – text DAVE to 79274 (QWASI).

April 5, 2010 in Blog   |   1 Comment

Apple and the new frontier of iCommerce

How Apple created and continues to innovate the digital marketplace of tomorrow.

COMMENTARY: I loved my Zune 30 – a music device introduced by Microsoft in 2006. It was a great MP3 player. The first generation Zune was a 30GB model in black. I loved it so much that I ended up buying one for my wife, in white, the next year. After purchasing my Zune, I then proceeded to spend just as much on accessorizing it as I did on the device itself! As we all know, accessories alone- from gels to screen protectors- are multi-billion-dollar industries. From there, the focus shifts to power sources, because of course you need a power cord for your computer (USB) and for your car so you don’t run out of juice. Speaking of your car – where you listen to your tunes- you’ll need an adapter for the audio system (unless your car has an accessory jack and AUX input, in which case you will need yet another cord). And finally, you’ll want to be able to listen to your tunes in your office or around the house. You don’t want to be rude and walk around the house jamming to the latest download with your headphones. However, if you’re a teen, then not having a pair of headphone in your ears probably never occurred to you.

Aside from all of these “additions” that I did not consider prior to my purchase, I could not have been happier with my Zune. I liked the interface, software and storage it offered, which is appropriate because at the time I was considered a full-fledged PC guy. Until one day, when my Zune took a swim in the reservoir of my coffee pot. It was all downhill from there.

Today, as I type this on my silver Macbook Pro, I should clarify that my “full conversion” to a MAC Guy began with my iPhone. While deciding whether or not to replace my beloved Zune, I was enticed to consider the iPod. I ended up with an iPhone instead, converted to iTunes (proprietary formats and interface) and eventually purchased said Macbook. See, I told you it was a slippery slope.

I had fought getting a Mac for years. I use my laptop for more than 12 hours a day, causing me to chew through one a year, regardless of brand or price range. My experience with the longevity of my iPhone is what ultimately led me to consider the Macbook, and I will never look back. Call this my brief testimonial for Apple; a simple story of how one PC Guy became a Mac Guy and a diehard Apple fan. I attribute 80% of my Apple conversion to the iPhone. Without my iPhone, I would still not understand why everyone has become so gaga over Apple. Now, anything Apple releases, I have to contemplate adding it to my wish list, considering how it will make my work and play easier and more enjoyable.

Many ask me if I like my iTunes software compared to Zune. The answer is a resounding “NO.” While Microsoft seems to have every step of the process ironed out and has proved to be successful, iTunes remains difficult for first-timers to navigate through even simple tasks. However, once you master iTunes on your computer or iPhone, making a purchase is simple and repeat purchases are even easier with a click of a button. In my opinion, Apple still needs to fix some snags before iTunes grows into an even larger online marketplace.

So how does Apple continue to grow despite a weak application called iTunes? Simple: sexy devices that you can’t put down and great marketing. They are smooth, slick, and intuitive, impressive to almost everyone. And they are driving commerce. The iTunes software can only improve, and I have confidence that as it evolves with new downloads and digital content, purchases will increase, as will Apple’s dominance as a retailer.

Let’s take a look at a brief history on how Apple (and the iPod) revolutionized digital purchases.

The iPod came on the scene in 2001 (and was met with great skepticism regarding Apple and their business model). By 2009, the skeptics long since silenced, iPod and iTunes sales added more than $12 Billion to Apple’s revenue. What Apple accomplished helped to change the way music is bought and sold. Remember the days you could go to the mall and buy the latest cassette tape and then CD from a “record store” such as Coconuts, Strawberries, Planet Music or Tower Records? And while you can still find a few F.Y.E and Suncoast stores at some malls, I wonder for how long. With the introduction of the iPhone, physical media has been dealt the final blow and is becoming obsolete. Apple developed an empire that created a new segment of the market: highly interactive phones that included touch screens and mobile marketplaces for Music, Books and Apps.

In September 2009, Apple announced that it has sold more than 30,000,000 iPhones. Over 2 billion app downloads, with 100 million accounts with credit cards and 8.5 billion songs sold. Apple currently has 73.8 percent of the Music Device market (followed by 18 percent held by “other,” SanDisk with around 7.2 percent and Microsoft about 1.1 percent share). Apple has also shown, with its own data, that 50 percent of new iPod sales are to new customers (those who haven’t previously owned one) and the total number of iPods sold is closing in on 225 million units.

So how does this story about my Zune and iPhone continue as we begin this new decade?

With the launch date of the Apple iPad upon us, the same company that dominates the music device category is looking to do the same with tablet or slate devices. Their digital sales will continue to propel their business, as others like Amazon and Microsoft (don’t count them out….yet) work to overthrow the Apple empire. The battle is really not about music, books or movies. For Apple, it’s all about iCommerce.

So what’s on the horizon? High definition investments in each home have significantly driven the bottom line for companies like Best Buy and WalMart. And it hasn’t escaped the attention of those who deliver content to your home, such as cable companies and even Verizon (with their FIOS service).

Xfinity (Comcast) is working on new technology to further exploit their relationships with subscribers (a brilliant subscription model). They are actively working on new ways to provide an even better experience for those people adding new devices to their televisions, ranging from networked Blu-ray players to computers running Windows 7 Media Center equipped with a cable card. Verizon’s FIOS now sports Facebook and Twitter integrated into their service so you can multi-task and tweet or post a status update. And don’t forget leveraging TV content through online and device distribution.

A recent DirectTV commercial that showed a bank hold-up with a guy on the floor using his phone to tell his TV to record a show is a great example of the power of mobile access. That’s one example of building a ubiquitous network. What about activating each device the cable subscriber uses in and outside the home from the computer to mobile phone to their new iPad? Now that’s bringing it all together. It’s quickly moving into the “cloud” and a device like the iPad is helping to make that push and thrust for the industry with Touch, Social Connections, Location-based, Tablet, Wireless and Commerce.

The battle now is brewing over devices and distribution of all kinds from advertising to content. And yes, including video – even your TV will soon reclaim center stage appearances again as it becomes more interactive and connected. You will see that the new frontier will be centered around connected devices. And who can we count on to be right in the middle of the commerce war? Why Apple, of course.

And may the best one win – the consumer!

THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN MOBILE MARKETER. Read it here.

About the Author:
David Geipel is COO & Founder of QWASI (http://www.qwasi.com). You can reach him at dgeipel at qwasi.com or chat with him – text DAVE to 79274 (QWASI).

NOTE: This is not an endorsement for Apple. We consider them to be the leading innovator today for consumer adoption of interactive commerce. The iPad debuts at Apple stores on April 3, 2010. Start standing in line now.

April 1, 2010 in Blog   |   No Comments