Over the last couple weeks I’ve signed up for a few different SMS experiences to see how they would pan out. None of them seemed to warrant a single post, so I thought I would roll two of them together – Target and Tully’s — to try to make a few generalizations.
Target seems to have covered its bases in its mobile strategy. On its website it advertises shopping apps (Android, iPhone, and iPad), as well as a mobile web site and text alerts. I chose the latter. You sign up on the website. There were three options—mobile coupons and weekly ads for the store and daily deals for Target.com . I settled on mobile coupons.
Target mobile coupons arrive on Sunday. There are 5-10 coupons each time, though nothing has sent me in a mad dash to the store. For instance, there was 30 cents off Suave shampoo or $1 off Pizza Hut Express in the food area. For Black Friday and Saturday, some of the deals were better but the items were pricier. One coupon offered $10 off a Guitar Hero Warrior of Rock video game bundle, another $20 off a ceramic bakeware set. If any of these items were on Santa’s list in our house, maybe I would break my vow to steer clear of big-box stores the weekend after Thanksgiving. But, alas, they weren’t.
Tully’s is a Seattle-based coffee retailer. Although it is dwarfed by another locally based coffee chain, it has 100 stores in the Puget Sound region, as well as in other states. Recently, when I was at a Tully’s, I noticed, on a TV screen above the barista area, an ad for a Tully’s Text Club. I texted to the short code and got an immediate response asking me to stay tuned for my first offer.
A few days later, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I got my first text from Tully’s at 12:30 p.m., offering me 25 percent off a Peppermint Mocha from 3-6 p.m. First, I’m not a flavored mocha fan. But if I was, that window of using the coupon seems small. There is not a Tully’s in every neighborhood as there is a Starbuck’s. Maybe Tully’s was trying to drive traffic to the store during a slow time, or maybe it was to trying to promote holiday drinks? It’s hard to know since I’ve only gotten one text so far.
Presumably, Target and Tully’s are trying to build biz through their text campaigns. What would make me more likely to take advantage of their deals?
1.Make the coupons relevant to my interests or preferences. Perhaps at signup you could be asked if you wanted to fill out a survey where you could specify the types of deals that would interest you. At Target, for instance, I mainly shop for kids’ stuff and housewares. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to see the other deals, but I’m more likely to go to the store if I have one good coupon. And getting people in the store is the point, right? I always make a few impulsive purchases at Target, and I’m sure I’m not alone.
2.Make the deal good. If I’m going to drive somewhere, it has to be worth the gas price. (Maybe Groupon has ruined us, as Kelly suggested in class.)
3.Get the timing right. There must be a sweet spot between sending too many text messages (annoying, costly) and sending too few (forgot you signed up). Target’s once-a-week schedule is fine since I usually don’t go there more than a couple times a month. But Tully’s could perhaps step up the frequency, or offer a bigger window for getting the deal. Drinking coffee is a daily thing. Give me a good discount at the right time and I’m there.
I noticed the same thing about the Target coupons. None of the offers seemed particularly relevant. I’m at risk of canceling the service for this reason. I did notice, though, that the SMS were used to drive you to the coupon. That is, the coupon wasn’t in the SMS itself but on the mobile web page you’re taken to once you click the link.
I like the Tully’s service. I’m not receiving these promotions (I don’t care for their coffee) but it seems like they are trying to drive business in the non-peak hours with offers that are relatively good (25% off).
Your three points are right-on. Of these, it would seem relevance could be the harder one to do but could really pay off.