The Mobile Marketing Blog - TellMyCell

Push Techniques for Your Mobile Campaign

Mobile marketing campaigns use a combination of push and pull tactics to optimize consumer engagement. While each approach has its benefits, push techniques have to be devised with close attention to the needs of your audience. A badly executed push campaign can come across as spammy, so it’s crucial that you go about it the right way from the very start.

Because of the difficulties in creating a solid push strategy, many marketers prefer to avoid it altogether, instead focusing on pull tactics such as responsive web design, mobile optimization and apps. That’s fine, and it’s undoubtedly true that a push campaign is a riskier strategy – but that’s exactly why it pays off so well if done right.

For a good example of a well-executed push campaign, take a look at flash-sale website Rue La La’s 2012 effort, which saw them use push notifications to grow mobile sales to a point where they exceeded desktop sales. By adopting a measured approach to push tactics, Rue La La kept the conversation between brand and consumer going, and it paid dividends.

Bear in mind, thought that push notifications can be switched off. Smartphone owners won’t hesitate to switch notifications off if they feel they’re being bombarded with alerts. To avoid this, make your communications a low priority for customers looking to switch notifications off. The most straightforward way to achieve this is to keep your messages to a minimum. It’s a fine line to walk: remaining visible but not annoying the recipient. As long as the notifications you do send offer something of value each and every time, contacts will be less inclined to include your brand in their monthly alert cull.

Despite the risks, push notifications are an incredibly effective method of engaging an audience. They come with an implicit sense of urgency attached because they go straight to mobile devices, which are usually with the recipient at all times. If you balance your push campaign with some tried and tested pull techniques, and link it up to your social media campaign, brand engagement and retention rates will increase, and ultimately translate into more conversions.

 

 

Apple Recycle Program Drops Prices

Earlier this summer, Apple made some important changes to its oft-criticized Resuse and Recycle program – and it’s taken a long time for word to dribble out to the general public. So what is it that Apple are not so keen for you to know about? Well, the tech giant unceremoniously lowered the top rate they will pay to buy used phones from customers; the most Canadian and American iPhone users will get for trading in their handset is $225.

This is a significant enough drop from the most recent top valuation of $270. It’s considerably les than the $345 offered for a pristine phone two years ago, when the iPhone 4S was the latest model. In fact, this is the lowest pricing plan since the program’s launch.

Customers won’t be happy, but then, the recycling scheme was never the most popular aspect of Apple’s business. Indeed, many iPhone owners don’t even know it exists. 

If you’re still interested in trading an old phone, just go to an Apple Store and request a trade in for a new, on-contract model. A rep will key in your existing details on the EasyPay mobile touch screen device, and your old phone will be given a valuation based on that information. Metrics include button quality, hardware damage, liquid damage and display quality.

Once a value has been assigned to your device, you will be made aware that you cannot get the original phone back and be advised to back up all info you need. Then you get a new iPhone and gift card with the agreed upon value (up to $225) preloaded.

Despite Apple keeping fairly tight-lipped about the program, they’ve not ruled out expanding to international markets. Right now, recycled iPhones are only re-sold in the United States, and even here it’s one of the least widely-known aspects of Apple’s business. 

Group Text Opt Out Coming to iOS 8

 

This month’s Worldwide Development Conference keynote saw Apple unveil several new features coming to iOS 8. The trick that’s prompted the most enthusiastic response from the Twittersphere (and beyond) isn’t the improved photo storage. It isn’t even the ability to turn your phone into a remote control for your entire home. No, the thing that’s got the internet all aflutter is Apple’s announcement that users will now be able to leave group text messages.

There was celebration from anyone sick of hearing the constant vibrations from their partner’s handset as the family group text about the current episode of Game of Thrones rumbles on. Short of hiding the phone in a closet, nothing could be done to quell the nightmarish spectre of endless back and forth texting. The update allows users to mute the notifications if they want to catch up on the conversation later, or just leave the group chat altogether.

The fuss surrounding the opt out option has more to do with the fact it’s taken this long to add such a simple feature than because of any great technical innovation. For that, iPhone users are looking to some of the other new features coming to their devices as the fall release date approaches. Features like app icons popping up on the lock screen according to location, allowing users to easily access, say, the Starbucks app while in store. It’s not just major retailers - one Twitter reporter saw a lock screen-displayed app for a train station while standing on the platform.

Other improvements include Healthkit, a developer API that gathers and consolidates users’ health information from multiple fitness apps like Fitbit. The tool will help users accurately monitor health metrics by pooling date from third party apps. Healthkit has been tested with the assistance of the Mayo Clinic, giving it a doctor-approved credibility whilst helping to bridge the gap between patients, physicians and health-tracking wearables and software.

Siri is receiving the usual slew of updates. She is now available on voice command (with the phrase “Hey, Siri”) and has also added the popular Shazam song recognition software, 22 new dictation languages and streaming voice recognition. App security has been radically improved, too. Developers will now be able to access Touch ID for the first time.

Despite these major leaps forward, the subject on everyone’s lips is the ability to leave group messages. It just goes to show, you can come up with the most sophisticated voice recognition tool in history, but if you really want to impress your customers, give them the simple thing they’ve been asking for all these years. If it means they can switch off their family text marathon, they’ll be eternally grateful.

 

 

 

Apple CarPlay: Is it Safe?

Earlier this month, Apple unveiled CarPlay, which allows drivers to operate their in-dash display using their iPhone. A number of manufacturers - including Volvo, Mercedez and Ferarri - have already integrated the technology into their latest models.

Mobile marketing strategists are understandably excited about the possibilities for communicating data to consumers. Some uses are immediately obvious: linking auto diagnostic information to the web could guide drivers to the nearest repair shop in the event of a technical failure, for instance.

In the midst of all the buzz, safety groups have expressed concern that the bells and whistles of the technology may be a distraction to drivers. In an interview with CNN, David Teater, senior director at the nonprofit National Safety Council, said he was ‘very, very concerned’ by the technology. He described the rise of infotainment dashboards created by car manufacturers and tools developed by the electronics industry as ‘an arms race to see how we can enable drivers to do stuff other than driving.’

Phone use has been identified as the main factor in the majority of distracted driving incidents. Naturally, Apple claims to be making us safer by allowing almost every function to be performed with Siri voice commands. But a number of studies dispute the notion that hands-free phone usage is safer. Research conducted at Texas A & M Transportation Institute found driver reaction times doubled if they were texting – irrespective of whether it was hands-free or manual. A University of Utah study came to similar conclusions.

A few states have tried to tackle the problem by introducing phone bans, but such legislation is notoriously hard to enforce. Carmakers and tech companies suggest more technology is needed to improve safety, not less. Systems have already been developed to automatically brake cars or pull them back into the right lane. ‘Vehicle-to-vehicle’ technology promises to cut accident rates by allowing drivers to communicate with each other.

Another argument coming from pro-tech corners is that advances like CarPlay actually wallow passengers to help drivers concentrate on the road. Where second parties are in the vehicle, all navigation and other duties can fall to them. This, perhaps, could be where the potential lies for mobile marketing strategies.

Whichever side you’re on, and whatever the law in your state is, be safe on the roads: don’t text while driving.

Smartphone Adoption Close to 100% Among Young South Koreans

With a booming economy ranked 15^th in the world - and much of that wealth generated by technology - it’s hardly surprising that South Korea is a nation of plugged-in, tech-savvy citizens. But recent reports from the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and Google indicate just how pervasive web-enabled devices have become in South Korean society, and especially among the youth demographic.

According to KISA, smartphone penetration among 18-59 year-olds had leapt from 39.2% in 2011 to 78.5% the following year. This year, a Google poll surveyed South Korean internet users and found that nearly 98% of 18-24 year-olds own a smartphone. Market penetration remained high in the next two categories, with 95% of 25-34 year-olds and nearly 90% of 35-44 year olds saying they owned a smartphone. The figures drop off in the older demographic, with only 25% of over-55’s having a smartphone.

In another report – published recently in emarketer – DMC Media looked at the ways in which South Korean smartphone owners use their devices. The survey polled web-enabled mobile device users between the ages of 19 and 59, and found that 64% of respondents used smartphones primarily to send mobile messages, with social media (43.4%), email (26.2%) and web browsing (25.2%) accounting for the remainder of main uses.

Samsung Surge

The high uptake of smartphone usage in South Korea is a reflection of the country’s booming tech sector. At the vanguard of this boom is Samsung, a world-leader in smartphone development. India-based news channel the Deccan Chronicle recently reported a third-quarter surge of 26% for the company – another new record for Samsung, which has posted record profits in six of the past seven quarters.

This upsurge in fortunes is largely attributable to the Seoul firm’s reinvigorated memory chip business, which has seen global profits double to 2.06 trillion won, the highest figure in three years. Samsung’s Galaxy devices still have some way to go to match iPhone sales, but the company’s mobile division nevertheless reported profits of 6.7 trillion won.

Clearly, mobile technology is at the forefront of South Korean culture and commerce and as a world-leader in terms of tech development and consumer uptake, that situation is unlikely to change anytime soon…

What Are iOS and Android Gamers Spending Money On?

Mobile analytics provider Flurry just published a study that examines the rapdily growing mobile gaming market. How fast?

Last month, we published two posts about iOS and Android freemium game revenue.  The first showed that, over the first half of 2011, game revenue in the App Store shifted dramatically from premium to freemium, with 65% of all revenue generated among the top 100 games now coming freemium games.  In fact, at the time of writing this blog post, all of the top 5 titles in the App Store top grossing category were freemium games, and 22 of the top grossing 25 were games.  The second post revealed that consumers spend an average of $14 per transaction when making in-app purchases in freemium games.

Today they're looking a bit deeper:

With in-app purchases in freemium games driving the bulk of revenue generation in the iOS and Android app economy, Flurry devotes this post to what consumers actually spend their real dollars on.  With over a year’s worth of data, Flurry categorized over 57 million purchase transactions across a set of freemium iOS and Android games that averaged over 2 million daily active users.

And the results:

The chart shows that over two-thirds of all items purchased in iOS and Android freemium games are consumable, goods that users deplete.  Measured another way, approximately half of all real dollars spent within all apps are for game items consumers don’t keep.  Based on our data, the most popular virtual purchase, consumable or otherwise, is for “premium” in-game currency

...

Next, durable items represent 30% of all in-app purchases in freemium games.  From a game design standpoint, it's important to have a good selection of durable items in a game as it offers important variety to the consumer with respect to the core gameplay, such as erecting buildings in a city.

For the entire report, head over to Flurry's blog.

Horace Dediu On The fate Of Mobile Phone Brands

The always interesting ASYMCO blog has some great insights (with charts!) on the mobile phone industry. It's well known that Apple takes the lion's share of profits when it comes to mobile phones - but what about marketshare? More specifically, what can we learn by look at the past few years:

The violence with which new platforms have displaced incumbent mobile vendor fortunes continues to surprise.

• Nokia’s Symbian platform has gone from 47% share to 16% in three years
• Microsoft’s phone platforms have gone from 12% to 1%
• Other platforms have gone from 21% to zero
• Although far less dramatic, RIM’s decline from 17% to 12%  is causing acute pain and anxiety

This while entrants have grown share in spectacular fashion:

• Android from zero to 48% (A two year period)
• iOS from 2% to 19%
• Bada from zero to 4% (two quarters only)

Head over to ASYMCO for more charts and analysis.

Is Google Bringing A Digital Newsstand To Android?

As we we get ready for CES, 4G deployments, and perhaps the long awaited CDMA (Verizon/Sprint) iPhones, intomobile reports on an interesting development in the Android end of the mobile universe:

The Google newsstand will allow those using Android phones and tablets to purchase digital magazines and newspapers all from one place. People familiar with the matter said that Big G has approached publishers like Time Warner, Condé Nast and Hearst Corp for their upcoming service. It’s rumored that Google could be willing to take a smaller percentage of every purchase, and may give users’ behavioral data to the publishers to help with marketing campaigns.

Although its become conventional wisdom that iPad magazines haven't worked out as well as hoped, Mashable recently took a second look at the data:

When you compare digital sales to print newsstand sales, however, it becomes clear that digital sales numbers aren’t nearly as poor as they first appear. In fact, after an initial spike, the sales performance of issues on the iPad and iPhone roughly correlate their performance on the newsstand (note that except for Wired, sales data is relative):

Head over to Mashable for a thorough analysis.

300,000 Thousand iOS Apps And Counting (Infographic)

Who doesn't love a good infographic? Mobile App 'Discovery Engine' App Of The Day has put together a gigantic infographic reporting the state of the iOS app ecosystem as it stands at the end of 2010.

Don't Forget SMS - 75% Of Americans Still Don't Own A Smartphone!

The number of Americans with smartphones is growing - quickly - but don't confuse what the marketplace will look like in a couple of years with its current state. If you're thinking about launching a mobile marketing campaign only SMS can deliver 100% of consumers.

A whopping 60.7 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in October, up 14 percent from the preceding three month period, representing one out of every four mobile subscribers.

And if you're thinking about building an iPhone app, make sure to consider the data:

RIM was the leading mobile smartphone platform in the U.S. with 35.8 percent share of U.S. smartphone subscribers, followed by Apple with 24.6 percent share (up 0.8 percentage points).

Google Android saw another month of strong growth, rising 6.5 percentage points to capture 23.5 percent of smartphone subscribers.

Read more at Mobile Marketer.

Learn more about marketing with text messages at TellMyCell.