Posts Tagged "Coupons"

As if it were not hard enough for marketers to know where to begin with respect to mobile marketing, companies like SnapTag and JagTag are creating confusion around one of the most talked about mobile applications: bar codes.

This January 7, 2009 post on MobileMarketingWatch.com describes an offering by a new company called JagTag that offers a very similar service to SnapTag (which we blogged about here back in October of 2009).

These services appeal to marketer’s fears about the limited reach of smartphones capable of reading bar codes.  This is due to the somewhat real issue of handsets often needing special software to interpret the codes.  When marketers think about bar codes on mobile devices, they should break down the options as follows:

• As a coupon delivery and redeeming method.
• As a replacement for plastic cards (like your grocery store loyalty or video store cards).
• As a means of communicating information and/or pointing consumers to rich mobile interactions.

What Jag and Snap Tags do is imply that by using relatively ubiquitous MMS-enabled camera phones, consumers can be called to action as follows: take a picture of a code, send it via MMS, then receive of something of value – pointers to websites, a text message, offer, coupon code, etc.

I fail to see how this adds value to an interaction in the mobile channel versus even more common SMS text messaging.  The only case I can identify is when a brand wants to create an arguably fun activity for a consumer whereby they have a chance to use the camera feature/MMS sending capability of their phone.  That is a very weak scenario in my view.

Several different articles came across my screen today, all relating to mobile couponing but from unique perspectives.  What’s interesting is that mobile couponing has yet to really “take off,” yet retailers may already be looking past couponing to higher value mobile applications.

This article today on eMarketer.com cites research into mobile coupon redemption (chart pictured in this post) suggesting real “hockey stick” growth after 2011.  The article also mentions consumers tend to be less interested in couponing than in using their mobile devices for product research “on the go” – such as “scanning images or bar codes with their mobile phone to get more information or coupons for a product.”

That quote is interesting in light of another article, this one about Google again making a move into QR, or Quick Response codes.  QR codes are two dimensional bar codes that when scanned with the camera function of a Smartphone present a variety of information about the code – the company or store it represents, links to a website or any number of details helpful to a consumer, including special offers or coupons.  Google’s strategy is to place 100,000 QR code stickers in businesses across the U.S., all of which do not require specialized software – a limiting factor in prior trials of QR codes which often required proprietary reader software.

Google’s efforts are well aligned with trends suggesting consumers are more interested in product research than coupons – even if QR codes can serve both purposes.  Widespread QR adoption may be just what retailers are seeking, based on this article today from Retailwire.com.  Although coupons are a logical mobile application, this viewpoint reveals the “necessary evil” aspect to couponing:

“The downside of mobile coupons is the back-end cost of redemption, which makes a successful promotion increasingly expensive.  Coupons are also the most basic of triggers for shopper engagement, with little long-term loyalty benefit.”

The article poses the question, “what’s next?” and goes on to suggest retailers build mobile strategies geared around an enhanced shopping experience, in and outside the store.  It’s apparent that retailers will benefit most from strategies geared around creating positive mobile customer experiences for their customers.

Widespread QR codes are just one element that will help connect consumers with retailers in value added ways – including couponing – but the greatest value will stem from targeting customers at the point of device to drive sales, cultivate loyalty or increase brand affinity – otherwise called Active Customer Engagement.

Today I came across a link on ChiefMarketer.com to a blog post titled “Coupons.com Extends iPhone Grocery App to Loyalty Cards.”  Almost daily, stories are appearing about mobile couponing and loyalty, but this one is unique in how mobile is being stitched into a coupon program strategically and ultimately in line with the customer’s point of view.

Similar to how Interactive Mediums client Newser recently extended its service to mobile via an iPhone application as part of an ongoing mobile channel strategy, Coupons.com is also making progress beyond its initial steps.

Although the notions of replacing loyalty cards with mobile devices and presenting digital coupons or bar codes at the point of sale are very sexy, in practice these face all sorts of challenges – technically and process-wise.  Coupons.com appears to have learned how to overcome them by focusing on the mobile customer experience.

“…integrating digital coupons with loyalty cards is the most practical solution to enabling downloadable discounts in busy stores where consumers often have multiple purchases eligible for discounts.”

“We’ve seen the [couponing] industry flirt with all things of digital format for some time, all the way from the absurd—the notion of presenting barcodes on phones in high-volume checkout lanes—to the legitimate and tested, including digital loading onto loyalty cards.”

With a shopping list iPhone application already under its belt, in taking its mobile strategy to the next level Coupons.com has done the following:

• Offer traditional and mobile optimized websites which allow consumers to register their loyalty cards, browse coupon offers, and elect to have certain offers digitally attached to their accounts so at the point of sale they are redeemed as a group, as opposed to one at a time.
• A revised shopping list application which allows consumers to take photos of product bar codes to automatically have items added to a grocery list.  The application also integrates with the coupon program so that eligible products are flagged for addition to the consumer’s loyalty card account.
• Recognize the difference between coupon redemption associated with multi-product purchases (grocery) versus those associated with one large purchase (restaurant).  To that end, the mobile site allows selected offers to be saved on mobile devices for presentment at checkout without need for a loyalty card or account.

The last point is notable as it recognizes that coupons and offers may not be one in the same, and can have different practical applications:

“Mobile presentment has been a technology looking for a use…Where it works best is in low-volume, high-margin transactions—consumer electronics and things like that– and at the local level. We have over 12,000 offers with restaurants, dry cleaners and professional services, and phone presentment works very well there.”

“It’s all about moving people quickly through those checkout lines…Searching for multiple coupons on your phone, then showing each one, perhaps dropping your phone in the process—those are not conducive to speed.”

What is speeding up is the rate at which mobile marketers are learning from, evolving and improving upon their initial experiences.  Exciting times for mobile marketing.

I could not agree more with an article I saw on MobileMarketer.com today titled “When it comes to mobile marketing think loyalty, not coupons.”  The author succinctly states three challenges associated with executing effective, measurable couponing programs as follows:

“Not only is the scanning equipment and point of sale integration a black hole of challenges and issues, the consumer usability issues are numerous.”

He is referring to a number of variables in this statement, including low adoption of mobile devices capable of displaying digital bar codes, limited scanning capabilities at the point of sale (POS), to say nothing of the integration between the couponing campaign and sales transactions necessary to determine ROI.  Perhaps most importantly for any such program to succeed is the customer experience, which is not enhanced by customers fumbling with their devices at the POS, a point also raised.

In this recent blog post , I raise the concept of the “integrated customer” to facilitate effective and measurable customer engagement programs such as coupons or loyalty.  The approach I describe gets to the very heart of the author’s prescription:

• Focus on SMS text because it’s most widely used, as opposed to iPhone which has a loyal but currently smaller following.
• Make the goal engagement, so that customers remain “opted in” to your program over time.
• Focus on closing the loop to understand effectiveness and ROI:   “A well developed mobile solution should provide information on member growth, redemption rates, purchasing behaviors, predictive purchasing patterns and ROI – down to the store location and individual member level.“

The author notes as well that “the devil is in the details.”  To that end, it isn’t readily apparent how a marketer could implement a measurable program in the absence of POS/transaction integration.  That is why I proposed creating an “integrated customer” to serve as that glue, by incenting them to play this role and by doing so remaining engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the marketer’s firm. In this way, marketers can accelerate the deployment of effective loyalty and couponing programs which are measurable and long lived.