Multichannel Retailers Upgrade – But Where’s the Mobile?

eMarketer recently posted results from a Multichannel Merchant survey titled “Outlook 2010: E-Commerce.”  The study found that two-thirds of multichannel retailers are redesigning websites to update the site’s interfaces and to improve search engine optimization.

Retailers are also eager to add social media tools, videos, recommendations and forums – but they are not looking towards mobile.

After all of the statistical evidence lined up behind the effectiveness of mobile marketing, one question comes to mind. Why not?

Of the options available to marketers, adding mobile is one of the cheapest and easiest channels to activate in an overall marketing campaign.  Of course retailers should be updating their websites and getting active in social media, because upgrading the entire marketing mix is a prudent move. But forgetting mobile is a critical error.

Four out of Five US multichannel retailers said they were not using any mobile commerce, with only 6.5% saying they have a mobile site.

Heads up, retailers – companies are having successes in mobile, either by utilizing coupons or driving customers into stores on their “down days” with text deals.  So what exactly are you waiting for?

Trendy retailer, Planet Funk turned to mobile coupons and experienced 377% ROI.  Target is now scanning barcodes from customer’s phones at check out.  Best Buy is getting more aggressive about SMS campaigns and mobile applications, as well as, refreshing its mobile website.

Forrester recently released their “US Interactive Marketing Forecast” for 2009-2014 and predicted over the next several years mobile marketing will grow by 27 percent.   The analyst attributed the continued mobile growth to the increase in mobile data usage, continued development of mobile applications and mobile maturing as a marketing medium.

The report didn’t even account for the recent surge in mobile internet usage. According to a Quantcast Mobile Trends Report mobile web usage grew 110 percent in the U.S. last year and 148 percent worldwide.

Mobile provides a hugely effective way to engage with consumers and drive sales.  Not having a mobile plan essentially amounts to retailers leaving money on the table and getting left behind.

You can read eMarketer’s full post here.

Is Multichannel 2010’s “New Black?”

I’m sure you’ve all noticed the recent activity like Exact Target acquiring CoTweet, Constant Contact acquiring NutshellMail and Unica Corp’s partnering with Mobile Messenger.

This leads me to wonder – is being multichannel the “new black?”

Waterfall Mobile works with many ESPs (e-mail service providers) and technology companies, and we frequently discuss the future of the business.  And the consensus from those conversations is, yes, marketers are expanding their focus to include more ways to digitally and directly reach consumers, so their vendors must follow suit.  It’s just smart business.

Nearly every major ESP has announced social media integration plans in one form or another, and most have selected a mobile partner or are building messaging into their platforms.

In general, and in particular for direct marketers, mobile continues to represent tremendous opportunity.  As we’ve seen with these acquisitions, the appetite for social and digital media technologies is growing.

As readers of Mobile Demystified know, we regularly make the point that marketers should have a multichannel strategy – one that includes email, online, mobile and social media.  The more opportunities you have to reach a customer, the more opportunities you have to engage with them.

So, yes – multichannel is the new black.  If you aren’t thinking about a comprehensive, cross-platform engagement strategy, you’re going to get left behind — see Forrester’s interactive marketing spend chart, below.

If you are feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to get started for your company, drop me a line at msilk@waterfallmobile.com.

Good Games and Good Campaigns

Two things we love – Good games and good campaigns (not to mention good consumer engagement).

We also love to point out people and companies that are doing cool things in mobile and social media – and of course it’s even better when one of those innovative companies is a Waterfall Mobile client.

Video game publisher and developer Ubisoft came up with an innovative digital campaign around Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction.  It’s one of the first interactive campaigns to use mobile as a means of giving away free in-game content to players.  Since that exclusive content is just a text away, this is a great way to engage with consumers and build a mobile subscriber list.

When gamers text WEAPON to 44144*, they receive a text back with a code to unlock a secret weapon in the game.  We won’t tell you what it is – you have to text in to get it – but you won’t want to miss it.

Ubisoft let its gamer community know about the game code by pushing out messaging to its email list, mobile subscribers, Facebook, and Twitter.

On the first day of the program, the company nearly doubled its mobile subscriber list.   Within the next few days the list more than tripled in subscriber numbers. The campaign was so successful that Ubisoft has decided to allow more people than originally planned to get codes to unlock the content.

This is another testament to what compelling messaging and offerings can do in terms of user engagement. Ubisoft gave gamers what they wanted, and the gamers responded.

Way to engage your community!

The result thus far have been amazing – so amazing that the company is already planning content that can be unlocked via text for future games. Next up: Prince of Persia.

You can read more about the campaign on Mashable.

* Note: Message and data rates may apply.

Cottonelle Wants to Know – Over or Under?

Cottonelle recently launched a multichannel campaign and I think they deserve some recognition for a job well done.  The campaign set out to answer one question – Over or Under?  And in doing that, they took a market (toilet paper) that is traditionally not very interactive and got people to engage with the brand and debate the question.

Well Done, Cottonelle!  You put a great multichannel campaign together that incorporated mobile, social networks, and WAP sites and you engaged the consumer.

The campaign allowed for voting via SMS, WAP, and online.  According to the brand, they found SMS to be extremely important because it allowed people to vote immediately and on the go after seeing outdoor ads (you can see an example of the outdoor ad to the right).

You could vote for yourself by texting UNDER or OVER to short code 30241, or by going online to: http://www.cottonellerollpoll.com/.

The campaign, of course, allowed for sharing your vote on Facebook and Twitter.

Additionally, Cottonelle incorporated mobile banners into the plan to drive consumers to a WAP site to vote at: http://VoteRollPoll.com.

The brand also allowed users to choose to receive the final tally announcing the winner at the end of voting – giving them another opportunity to connect with the consumer.

This is a great example of making marketing channels work together.  Other brands should take a lesson in consumer engagement done right from Cottonelle.

You can read more on the campaign at Mobile Marketer.