I think we’d all agree that our prospects and customers are on their mobile phones now more than ever. The consumer (that would be us!) have chosen their mobile device as their first screen. They now connect with businesses and brands in a whole new way...yet, most businesses haven’t added any form of mobile marketing or messaging to their game plan. We have the fortunate position of being able to talk to hundreds of  business owners and marketers each week about their marketing efforts. It’s afforded us the ability to really understand why businesses and marketers have yet to adopt mobile messaging and marketing, despite the obvious evidence that it's where the customer is most often. After thousands of discovery calls, sales calls and presentations at conferences, my team have found why mobile messaging for any business has not been widely adopted. Here are 8 totally outdated excuses for avoiding mobile messaging.

1. “We Don’t Want To Spam Our Customers”

What you’re really saying...

It means that you most likely don’t understand the compliance or regulatory rules and have probably heard news of companies getting sued.

What you should know.

Mobile messaging has been around for a while, and despite its evolution and revolution when MOBIT arrived on the scene in 2013, the processes and procedures are very clear. Due to the mobile messaging space being more regulated, consumers have to give you permission to receive messages from your business.  That is a massive positive and certainly not a negative. This means that your customers and prospects need to opt-in to your mobile campaigns. In all cases in the USA and Canada, they need to double opt-in. That means they are giving you permission to send them messages on the most personalize device they own. 

According to a study by Yankee Group, the majority of customers are willing to share personal information for better rewards, yet only 26% currently receive mobile messages with this sort of content. That’s mainly because businesses haven’t adopted it yet. This is where the massive opportunity lies for your business. 

2. “Text messaging is so boring. We want something newer”

What you’re really saying...

You’ve probably chased a few shiny objects in your day, and may even be caught up in the “new” “latest” trend. We get it, SMS text messaging is not “cool” because it’s short, sweet and to the point. 160 characters to be exact. Why would you use that when you can re-target your audience on facebook with cool images? MOBIT has completely and utterly changed the text messaging landscape. Your mobile messaging programs now include rich mobile pages, automation, rich content of almost every description, CRM, and integration to your business applications. 

Besides…

Your marketing doesn’t need to be ' super cool'  (but MOBIT is super cool :) in order to effectively capture more data about your customers while delivering them a rewarding experience. By creating MOBIT campaigns that offer post-click ( or should I say post-tap) experiences, a bit more engaging with coupons, games, sweepstakes and even mobile wallet programs, your  once “boring” SMS programs can become a great way to enhance your customer journey. Not only that, you’ll be communicating with your customer in a conversational tone that builds trust and gives you a chance to have ongoing future interactions.

3. “It seems difficult to measure our results”

What you’re really saying…

Is that you haven’t done your research or talked to an expert as to how they can deliver you results.

What you should know...

Mobile messaging and marketing automation is one of the fastest growing marketing channels when it comes to innovation, which makes it highly traceable, allowing you to measure success against your business objectives. When you integrate your MOBIT campaigns into your CRM, you can identify which customers are the most engaged, which converted to sales, and which offers, messages and pages got them to take action. All of the insights and data you can capture from viewing your customers behaviors through MOBIT means you can optimize in near real time to achieve your goals.

4. “I’m not interested in mobile right now as we have other priorities”

What you’re really saying…

You most likely haven’t looked into how many of your current customers are engaging with you via mobile. 8 out of every 10 retailers we talk to are experiencing 50% or more of their entire web traffic from mobile devices. Now we don't mean to burst your bubble, but after talking with close to thousands of  businesses and hearing this over and over, we can tell you that you are most likely just scared to be the one responsible for this new initiative. It’s going to be “more work” and if it fails well, you’ll be the one to blame.

What you should know…

Similar to the last point… Mobile messaging and marketing is very measurable when executed correctly. This is certainly true when you are using our platform. If you’re working with a trusted and experienced partner, your mobile messaging campaigns can be live within a matter of days. It’s also not going to cost you an arm and leg. Most companies are spending between 3%-8% of their marketing budget on mobile. It doesn’t have to be your biggest investment to get a great ROI and contribute to your bottom line. With the  real-time track-ability of MOBIT, you can quickly adapt your campaigns to improve performance, eliminating most of the risk. If you’re working with our team at MOBIT then you’ll eliminate even more of the risk.

5. “This is for companies that discount a lot”

What you’re really saying…

We don’t consider ourselves discounters so this won’t work for us.

What you should know…

The vast majority of companies do not use mobile messaging for coupons. Mobile messaging and marketing campaigns are all about engagement. Some use coupons with great effect and ROI, but you don't have to. You can run promotions, publicize your live events (online or on-stage) and use offers strategically to get customers to visit more frequently and spend more money. This will all lead to incremental sales. Think of mobile messaging and marketing as a new intimate and an exclusive way for you to communicate with your customers and prospects. Working with the MOBIT team, we'll identify creative ways for you to get your message in front of more prospects that will ultimately add more revenue to your business.

6. “It seems expensive and how will I know how many messages I’ll be sending each month”.

What you’re really saying…

I’m scared of investing money to send messages because it can add up quickly. 

What you should know…

There are many ways to determine how big you can grow your mobile list based on your existing customer base and reach. Understanding the size of your potential list will help you determine how many messages you’d send on a monthly basis. Additionally, if you’re leveraging strategic offers that drive more visits and sales you’ll find a mobile subscriber can be worth far more than the few cents it cost to reach them. Pete’s Ace Hardware found that one mobile subscriber was worth $427 in new sales on a yearly basis. Now imagine they had just 1,000 subscribers… That’s $427,000 per year in new sales generated by the mobile program.

7. “We don’t want to build a database of contacts we already have on our email list, we want new customers”.

What you’re really saying...

We think that the fastest way to grow is with new customers not getting existing customers to spend more.

What you should know…

For most small businesses, 80% of their revenue comes from 20% of  customers— existing customers. It’s been reported that it costs five times more to acquire new customers than to get existing ones to return. When launching your new mobile messaging program, it’s wise to start with your existing customers. Why? Despite having an email list, most (90%) will never receive your message.  This is due to a number of factors, lot least being, spam filters, mail marshals, junk and promotions filters, and finally, the sheer volume of emails that simply go unread. 

if you are very lucky, your email open rates will be around 12-20% open rates. If you have a list of 15,000 customers, only 1800 or so could actually be getting your emails.  Most will never read them even if they do receive them. 

If you had a mobile list of 3,000 subscribers, 2,940 of them would see your message, as 98% of messages are opened and 90% are read within 3 minutes.

Despite having a growing Facebook or Twitter presence, only 2% (if that) are seeing your content on social media due to Facebook’s algorithm. If you’re using something like Facebook Ads, that’s a bit of a different story, but your organic reach is super low. At the end of the day, some of your customers might just want to hear from you in a more convenient way such as mobile messages. As for getting new customers… By integrating your mobile call-to-action throughout your existing media assets,  you’ll most likely acquire new people that prefer that channel. So while mobile messaging isn’t always guaranteed to drive all new prospects, it tends to be a nice little side effect of growing your mobile database by leveraging cross-channel promotions.

8. “It seems confusing and too much to deal with right now”

What you’re really saying...

You’re really busy as a small business owner and are already taking on more than you can chew.

What you should know…

You don’t have to (and shouldn’t) dive into mobile marketing alone. Working with our team you’ll get the education, technology ,and guidance you need to get started with mobile messaging and marketing. We even have programs whereby we can run your whole program for you. You also don’t need to go from zero to 100 in a week. With our clients, we focus on a crawl, walk, run, fly approach so that you can learn how mobile fits into your business as it’s growing and becoming a part of your marketing mix.

Start Thinking About How Mobile Can Enhance Your Omni-Channel Experience

It’s time you stopped brushing off mobile messaging. When implemented correctly, it can easily become a key component in your marketing strategy and contribute to your bottom line goals. Move beyond the “old way” of doing things and start to experience how a mobile messaging campaign can help you learn more about  your customers so that you can send more relevant messages, resulting in higher engagement and conversion.