Among many advantages mobile has over email as a marketing method is that from its inception it has been an opt-in channel. Spam is not the issue it was historically for email and is not likely to be in the future. It is so important that the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) publishes guidelines for marketers designed to ensure the channel remains one free of spam and ultimately a highly effective marketing channel. Yet, what are guidelines without consequences to breaking the rules? I pondered this question after stumbling upon a third party marketing data provider.
For relatively little money, this service offers access to nearly 25 million mobile phone subscribers who supposedly have opted into text message communications. Not only that, but the list can be acquired based on useful segmentation variables such as age, marital status, occupation and many others. When coming across this, along with assurances of compliance with Direct Marketing Association standards and examples of widespread use, I thought, “this could be the holy grail” for the mobile marketer interested in achieving the broad reach promised by text message ubiquity.
My friend at the MMA, Brooke (Locke) Morse, brought me back to Earth. According to her, anyone who purchases and uses such lists are free to do so but risk penalties at the carrier level. What this means practically speaking is that if a marketer wishes to use such lists with a mobile marketing services provider, they need to find one willing to itself risk penalties which could essentially put it out of business. Or, figure out how to go direct through carriers themselves, which simply isn’t practical for most organizations. In the event a list like this is used, it takes just one unhappy recipient to send an email to csca@ctia.org and raise a red flag.
All is not black and white, however. Marketers who follow the “letter of the law” and develop their own opted in list of mobile subscribers could immediately append their initial data with segmentation variables available in third party lists to begin creating more relevant and personalized interactions. The mobile phone number acts as a key between the two sources. Marketers may find they obtain such data over time but this represents a fast path to realizing benefits associated with building a Mobile Customer Data Asset.
