New research by the Direct Marketing Agency (DMA) has found more than one third of mobile users prefer SMS marketing promotions, beating its rival – mobile web.
In total, 38% of consumers named SMS promotions as preferable to mobile web marketing which was lagging behind with a figure of less than half of this (just 15%).
The research demonstrated how when it comes to redeeming vouchers and receiving promotions, consumers are more than happy to be contacted via SMS.
In total, 40% of UK respondents said they were interested in being contacted by advertisers in this manner, giving them easy access to discounts, offers and news of products.
Of course, advertisers have to be careful about how they approach mobile users in order to achieve a successful marketing campaign.
Commenting on this, the Chair of the DMA Marketing Council, Mark Brill, explained that “the key to acceptable mobile marketing is to understand the target audience’s preferences to ensure they engage with consumers in the way they want to be contacted.”
With SMS proving a popular favourite amongst Brits (just under half of those asked revealed that they would like to be contacted in this way) it is likely that mobile marketing will continue to develop.
In total, 75% of Brits are happy to be contacted about promotions and offers via their mobile – a figure which is much higher than that experienced in other developed nations.
According to the DMA’s data, Americans were the closest to Brits in terms of mobile marketing support with 72% of them feeling the same as our 75%. This figure fell drastically for nations such as France and Germany, however, who experienced results of just 50% and 46% respectively.
The report also revealed that one of the main reasons why some are hesitant to use mobile offers is because they wrongly believe they are charged for their service. This was said to affect one in four Americans and one in seven Brits.
With this in mind it’s important that advertisers help consumers understand that SMS campaigns, vouchers and promotions are not sent at a cost to the end user.
If you’re thinking about setting up an SMS campaign and would like some tips, you might be interested in reading: 10 fantastic mobile campaign ideas for marketers!
