Qr Code Couponing

This morning while thumbing through the magazine REAL SIMPLE, I came across a Qr Code at the bottom of an ad for Reach toothbrushes and decided to give it a try with my Motorola Droid.

These codes are popping up throughout more and more pages as a way to engage readers in the ad, and probably measure impressions and ad effectiveness to some extent.    (Sidenote: The placement of these codes at the bottom corner seems to be a case of the brand manager winning an argument with the sales promotion team - not good.)

The call to action was simple:  scan the code to save $1 on the new toothbrush design.

My first shot at activating the Qr Code failed to work with Microsoft's Tag Reader.  I then tried it with Clic2C by Mobile Data Systems, Inc. which worked and launched the ad's mobile site.

A smart move by Reach was the optional SMS language to the right of the code allowing consumers to text ART to 30333 to receive the $1 Off coupon. However, this resulted in a similar disconnect I discovered through the use of the Qr Code and discuss below.

The Qr Code took me to a mobile site for more details on this new product along with another link to get the coupon.  At this point a web form requested first name and email so the coupon could be emailed to you.

After hitting submit, I immediately received the coupon and opened it up, and this is where the disconnect occurred.  The coupon states that I need to print the coupon. This completely ends the mobile experience and killed the likelihood for redemption and trial of this product. 

What's more, I gave the SMS route a try to see how that worked on my Blackberry 8100. After texting the keyword to the shortcode, I received a message with a link to the same mobile site as I visited through the Qr Code which worked fine on his device. However, when I clicked on the link for the coupon, I was denied access with a SSL Request Error.

Experiments with mobile resulting in what I experienced today will continue to stall mobile marketing's efforts to grow in the U.S.  and consumers will not adopt.  I'm certain this effort by Reach will fail to produce results for the brand manager and the technology written off as ineffective.

If your going to do anything with mobile, you must create an entire mobile experience.  A better process with this ad would have been to avoid the mobile site landing page and deliver immediate access to a scannable digital coupon which could be downloaded, bookmarked, or emailed and presented at POS for redemption.

Many say offline retail isn't ready to redeem digital coupons.  If mobile coupons can't be redeemed through your distribution channels, then I recommend avoiding this type of promotional offer.

The mobile experience must be mobile from beginning to end.

Location-based Marketing

Not only are consumers becoming less concerned with how much marketers know about them, but now they are comfortable letting you know their whereabouts.

With the growing use of location-based mobile applications such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, and various mapping programs, marketers can now present shoppers with timely messages to drive traffic and sales.

In addition to sales promotion, I see LBS as an opportunity for pre-, current, and post-visit customer service. Marketers should be able to tap into the LBS data to trigger a "how can we help you" or "how was your visit" email or SMS to customers in a brand's crm database.

As with many smart phone based applications, the timing is still premature for those requiring a huge ROI, but the time is right to start identifying the opportunities and building the strategy to leverage LBS. On the other hand, maybe the time is tright, is there ever a wrong time for great customer service?

Mobile is for one-to-one engagement

When it comes to opting in to receive SMS/text messages, Mobile Marketing has witnessed a low rate of consumer adoption.

Maybe this is a result of SMS marketing programs being created with the mass media model - Build a large audience and interupt with a semi relevant message.

Social has reached a tipping point, and as a result consumers expect a conversation. Therefore mobile should look to create or continue the dialogue in a personalized manner.

How to Drive a Positive ROI with Social Media

Below are thoughts on how your brand should utilize social media

* Approach it as social marketing to individuals, not social media to the masses

* Drive participation from all employees, don't make it a single departmental function

* Create profiles of real people that work in the organization. People want to connect with real people, not your brand

* Engage through dialogue, not broadcasting posts

* Get online to observe, react, and engage in a manner that drives incremental sales

* Don't let corporate culture, peers, or departmental fear drive social marketing efforts that are not 100% authentic

The Home Depot

Every time I go to The Home Depot it takes me twice as long as it should to find anything. Not only do I have trouble finding the product, but I can't find anyone willing to help me find it.

If you're not going to have the helpful staff this DYI needs, let me at least turn to my phone.

Let me text a product keyword or brand name and have the isle number sent back to me. Let me text HELP, and have someone ask me what I'm looking for by SMS or even a phone call.

Can Your Brand Affect Consumer Behavior on Facebook?

You created a Facebook fan page and now have thousands of fans. How are are you interacting with them?

Telling them about discounts even non-fans get? Stop, give unique codes for discounts above and beyond what's in-market, or have them text in to get a code sent to their mobile phone so they have access to it whether they make their next shopping trip online or offline.

Speaking to the entire fan-base? Stop, speak to someone individually. Call him out by name. Ask her specifically what she thinks, when they're going shopping next, how you can help her specifically.

Most brands I see on FB, as well as Twitter, are taking a mass media approach. If you can't interact with them like they're your friends, what's the point? Only by engaging a fan as an individual, will you truly affect consumer behavior.

iPhone and iTouch Apps

Before getting too excited about iPhone apps, it's important to look at the potential ROI.

Reach-
How many people have an iPhone or iTouch? Recent reports say 13MM iPhones and 18MM iTouches have been sold. If 35MM devices are in the market, how many users fit your target audience? And for the offline retailer, how many users in your target market are in your trade area?

Consumer Engagement-
Let's say a retailer has locations in the top 10 DMA's and 80% of iPhone or iTouch devices are used in these markets and keeping things simple, iPhone and iTouch user's are spread evenly across each market with 2.8 million devices are used in each market. Of the 2.8 million iPhone or iTouch users per market, how many are likely to download your app? 0.1%? That's 2,800 downloads per market. I would estimate that about 2,800 visits would occur each month (50% of users will access the app twice per month.)

Cost-
Depending on the scope of the app and who creates it, the cost will vary. For most retailers, I'm guessing an agency would be used to create the app and it would cost between $45,000 and $90,000 to develop with monthly maintenance costs of $5,000 to $10,000.

Cost per Engagement (CPE)-
Amortizing the initial costs to create the app over 12 months, your looking at a monthly cost of $8,750 to $17,500. Based on 2,800 uses per month per market, the CPE of this particular example would be $3.13 to $6.25. How does this CPE compare to other media used to engage your target audience?

ROI-
To determine ROI, you'll need to bring conversion into the equation. How many uses of the app did it take before the user purchased your product or service, and what is the profit on that sale? Was the profit on the sale greater than the total CPE?