SMS marketing has been revealed as the most popular way for subscribers to BP’s platform to receive deals.
The platform, Today’s Offers, which offers daily offers to BP customers via partners such as Coca-Cola, Carlsberg, Mars and Walkers and offers discounts on food, drink, entertainment and car related products is a new initiative aimed at increasing sales and gauging invaluable customer insight.
Consumers can choose how they receive their discount codes. They can print the discount code, have it emailed to them or have the offer sent to them via an SMS. By signing up onsite consumers can be notified of daily deals relevant to their interests as well as to their locality.
The scheme, which is less than one month old, already shows that SMS campaigns are the most popular way for customers to redeem their offers.
The BP initiative highlights increasing moves by both brands and consumers to communicate via SMS services. For example, O2 More, the mobile marketing platform launched by O2, has increased its customer base from 2 million in March, to 6 million now, indicating that consumers are becoming increasingly willing to receive messages from advertisers and brands via an SMS campaign on their phones, provided they can see the benefit.
The benefits for brands in using SMS are clear. Not only is SMS affordable compared to other marketing channels, it also works. Research from MMA and Lightspeed in 2010 found that opt-in SMS marketing gets the best results from all mobile marketing channels.
SMS software, which usually lets business customers send SMS from PC devices, also increases opportunities for dialogue and engagement to take place between brands and their customers.
For example, by creating a platform such as BP’s Today’s Offers, brands are presented with a multitude of customer data, often at the point of purchase, that can help them compile accurate customer profiles, gain market insights and plan future marketing initiatives. Try doing that with a print advert!
