Loyalty Apps VS Loyalty SMS

Loyalty Apps VS Loyalty SMS

Loyalty Apps vs SMS Loyalty Programs-
Before the creation of our touch screen Loyalty kiosk, mobile apps could boast that their biggest positive was it's ability to capture data, see trends, and reward customers for their loyalty based on patterns of buying. However, this benefit is rivaled by a setback almost just as startling: only 95.8 million of the 327.6 million mobile phone connections are smartphones – that’s only a 29% customer reach. The barrier of entry that a mobile app presents drastically reduces it's reach and therefore, your marketing effectiveness.

Who Competes with us?

Companies like SpotOn and Belly Card require your customers to download their app onto their phone and then scan a QR code to check in. If your customer doesn't want to download the app, they have to carry yet another plastic rewards card to scan.  Business owners are discovering that programs like this are more about SpotOn or Belly Card building loyalty to their own brand and NOT yours much like Groupon has been hammered for in the last year.

Why SMS

SMS marketing presents no barrier of entry. Your customer simply types in their cell phone number into your loyalty kiosk much like they have been conditioned to do through the years at grocery stores and gas stations, so it's something they're already accustomed to doing. It takes 7 seconds to check-in on the kiosk and your customer doesn't even have to pull out their phone, find the app, launch the app, and then scan the code. Let's face it, we are all inundated with technology in our lives, do we really want to ask our customers to do more work than necessary to show their loyalty? Over 86% of consumers send or receive text messages every week. That's a far better reach than the 29% I previously mentioned about the mobile apps. 95-98% of text messages are read within minutes. When your customer who has voluntarily opted in to receive text alerts from you gets that text, you have just engaged them in a very personal way and have done it all within your own brand name, not in the name of some other mobile app.

2013 is the year of loyalty

A lot of these loyalty app programs are priced very low compared to a local, full service mobile marketing program but as you can see from the info above, their reach, effectiveness, and value are just not comparable. If I sound biased, well, it's because I am! 2013 is on track to see tremendous growth in mobile and loyalty marketing. We have many exciting new things planned for this year and can't wait to roll them out to you. We congratulate you on being ahead of your competition already by having adopted a solid mobile marketing strategy with EngageDFW and we look forward to continuing to serve you in 2013 and beyond.