Guide: Mobile Coupons With SMS
Our mobile couponing guide will answer the following questions for you in less than ten minutes:
- What is a mobile coupon?
- How can I use mobile coupons in text messages?
- How can I launch an effective mobile coupon campaign?
- What are examples of mobile coupons being used in mobile marketing campaigns?
- When you see the gear icon it means that we're getting a bit technical. If you're interested, read it. If not, skip it.
Mobile Coupons: What Are They?
Some of the most effective SMS marketing campaigns integrate mobile coupons. Some marketers even create entire mobile coupon campaigns to spur customer traffic or introduce a new product or service. Simply put, a mobile coupon allows customers to access a special deal or “coupon” on their mobile phone. A mobile coupon works exactly the same way as a traditional coupon, but you don’t have to worry about losing it in your purse, or forgetting to bring it with you when you leave the house. The coupon is mobile so you can keep it on your phone until you redeem it at the store, venue, or show!
Mobile coupons can be divided into two general categories. Some mobile marketing firms offer their customers barcode based coupons and other firms only use text message based coupons. TellMyCell Texting allows you to use either type of coupon. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of the two types of mobile coupons.
- Mobile coupons using barcodes: If you decide to launch your mobile couponing campaign using barcodes you’ll create an image of a barcode, which you then send to your customers. Mobile barcodes are popular with larger companies, as they offer enhanced tracking.
- Mobile coupons as (SMS) Text Messages: Text message coupons are very effective in reaching a large audience very quickly, and affordably. They offer the greatest consumer reach, but they do not have the same enhanced tracking abilities that barcode based coupons do.
Mobile coupons come in many, many flavors. Because there are so many kinds of mobile coupons -- from QR codes, to text messages, to LBS, to bar codes -- people are often overwhelmed. This paper sticks to the basics, so you can start mobile couponing today!
When To Use Mobile Coupons:
Most businesses decide to use mobile coupons for the same reasons they have used traditional paper coupons for decades. Examples of what you could offer in your first mobile couponing campaign would be discounts, sweepstakes entries, free products, or buy-one-get-one-free promotions. The benefits of using mobile coupons for SMS marketing are endless, but here are a few:
- Driving traffic to your store
- Enticing customers to attend a special event
- Building brand loyalty
- Targeting specific customers with custom offers
- Saving your customers money in difficult economic times
- Creating buzz for a new product launch
- Building a database of customers you can market to in the future.
How To Launch A Mobile Couponing Campaign:
Launching a text message couponing campaign is very simple. If you haven't already setup a TellMyCell’s account, check out our plans and pricing - signing up is absolutely free and it takes less than 60 seconds. We'll load your account with ten free credits so you can send out some test coupons! Deciding what you want to offer your customers will probably take you the most time! Let’s get started in 3 easy steps:
- Decide what type of mobile couponing campaign you want to run: push, pull, or both? This means you decide if you are pushing your coupons to an already established customer list, or are you pulling in new customers? Of course you can run a campaign that allows you to pull in new clients while maintaining (pushing) your existing client base.
- Next, write the text message coupon and send it out!
- After your mobile coupons are sent, you wait for your customers to redeem their special offer. Redemption typically takes place at checkout, unless your customer is shopping online and is provided with a virtual promotional code they can manually type in.
Examples Of Mobile Couponing:
Say that you are celebrating your store’s ten year anniversary. Given that your store has run successfully for ten years, you already have an established customer base. You want to send a mobile coupon blast announcing the store’s anniversary and offering a special promotion- the text message could read something like this: "Celebrate 10 years of business at Haleys Boutique! Show this text at checkout for 25% off your entire purchase until June 15th!”
Another example would be a nightclub that wants to have a big turnout for a special guest DJ. Your mobile coupon could say: “Present this coupon at the door on the night of September 15th to receive free admission to the first DJ Funk show ever!” An additional way to increase attendance for this event would be to advertise inside of the club weeks before the big show: you could ask customers to text in the keyword DJFUNK to receive free admission for his first show on September 15th. This advertisement could be anywhere in the club: a poster on the main dance floors, a standing flyer located on bar tables, and even inscribed onto drink cups.
