SMS Is The Most Popular Mobile Channel For Consumer Offers

Your customers want to get offers like coupons and discounts from you, and they want to get them on their phone. And how exactly would they like to receive them? Via text message marketing of course:

One-third of American consumers prefer to receive offers on their mobile device via text message, ahead of mobile web, including email (21%), mobile application (11%), and voicemail (8%), according to [download page] a survey released in January 2012 by the UK Direct Marketing Association (DMA), sponsored by Velti.

Check the chart:

Learn more about mobile coupons at Club Texting.

New Code Samples For New API Functionality

If you're a regular user of the Club Texting APIs we've got a quick holiday gift for you. A few weeks ago we added the ability to pay for credit purchases and Keyword rentals via API using a credit card that you have stored in your Club Texting account. At the time we posted some PHP samples, but we now have JSON & XML samples for five other languages. Check it out:

C#
Java
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby

Looking for documentation about using stored credit cards? Check the REST API documentation.

New Feature: Multiple Auto-Replies For Your Keywords

We recently released a commonly requested feature - alternate autoreplies for subsequent Keyword opt-ins. If you've been waiting for this feature, check it out now. If that first sentence confused you, allow us to explain.

When someone texts your keyword to our short code we send the auto-reply that you've setup and we add them to your contact list. But...what happens if they text your Keyword again? Whenever someone texts your Keyword the carriers and the Mobile Marketing association require that we send an automatic response. Going forward you can now customize those subsequent responses. So how does it work?

 

We're Tripling The Referral Bonus For August

We've been powering text message marketing campaigns since 2006, and in that time we've gone through more than a few websites. Today we're launching a long overdue redesign. You can check it out now. We wanted to make it easier for you to find the wealth of content that at times took multiple clicks to get to. For example - our four Getting Started Guides were difficult to locate. Now, just head over to http://www.clubtexting.com/getting-started/ and you'll find the basic guide, along with clear links to our advanced guides (Facebook Widgets, Uploading Contacts & Keywords).

To celebrate the launch of our new website we've tripled the number of free credits you can get each time you refer a friend to Club Texting. Until August 31st, for every new client you refer, we'll load your account with 600 message credits. Once you've logged into your account, just click Refer A Friend and we'll handles the rest: from importing contacts from popular email services (Gmail, Yahoo, Etc.) to pre-written tweets.

Want to learn more? Click for more details about the referral program.

Track Your Text Messaging Campaigns With Our Reporting Tools

If you haven't logged into your Club Texting in the past few weeks we urge you to log in and check out our new reporting tools. They are available in the Advanced Features section of the menu inside your account.

What sort of tools are available? Look for trends in your incoming and outgoing messages. See when you added contacts and discover how they joined your contact list. Looks for short term and long term trends and even track spikes in opt-outs (we know they happen from time to time - knowing when they occured is the first step to making sure you don't see a spike again).

 

Check Out Club Texting's Mobile Site Optimized For Your Smartphone

We're always trying to make Club Texting as easy to use as possible - and having seen smartphone usage explode over the last couple of years we're glad to announce a new mobile-optimized version of Club Texting. How does it work? Very simple - if you're using a smartphone (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, etc.) and you visit app.clubtexting.com we'll automatically redirect you to the mobile-optimized version of Club Texting.

Once you login to your account you can use many of our most popular features - like sending messages, checking replies, and even buying credits if you're running low. Check it out now @ app.clubtexting.com. If you prefer to use the full version of Club Texting on your mobile phone just click Full Site and we'll redirect you back to the traditional version of Club Texting.

Refer Your Friends To Club Texting To Earn FREE Message Credits!

Last week we launched our referral program. It's pretty simple, refer a friend to Club Texting using our refer-a-friend tool and as soon as they make a purchase we'll add 200 credits to your account. You can easily import contacts from popular webmail services like Gmail, Yahoo and others. We'll track everything automatically.

You can watch your referrals as they move from invited to signed up to having made a purchase in a table on the refer-a-friend page inside your account.

The best part? You can invite as many friends as you want, which means you can a lot of credits.

Head over to Club Texting to learn more or login now to get started.

"The Vast Majority of Marketers Will Utilize Mobile Marketing In 2011"

If you didn't already know, mobile marketing has become an essential tool in any marketers belt. The MMA and The Association of National Advertisers have a new report out confirm this:

The vast majority of client-side marketers – 88 percent – say they will utilize mobile marketing in 2011. Seventy-five percent plan to increase their spending on mobile marketing initiatives by an average of 59 percent versus 2010, according to a new survey from the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) in partnership with the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association).

Survey findings showed that in 2010, 62 percent of marketers used some form of mobile marketing for their brands. An additional 26 percent reported their intention to begin doing so this year, elevating the expected 2011 utilization rate to the near-universal 88 percent level.

Read more at The MMA Website.

Report: Text Messaging Will Still Be Dominating Mobile Marketing In 2015

Text messages may be short, but consumers love them, and you shouldn't expect them to cede their lead among all mobile marketing channels anytime soon:

The data shows 58% of those surveyed predicted that SMS- and MMS-based messaging would be the second most widely accepted form of mobile marketing in the next five years, followed by search with 45%.  The research reveals that users in 2015 are thought to be “more likely to utilize mobile marketing or advertising promotions that are sent to them via their mobile phones than those generated through search, display or navigation.”  Put simply, the carriers are banking on mobile messaging remaining the primary form of mobile marketing for the foreseeable future, which to me is an obvious assumption.

Read more @ Mobile Marketing Watch

Glamour Magazine’s New Application Allows Readers To Access The Magazine Anywhere They Are.

Glamour magazine has recently launched a new iPhone, iPod and iPad application to allow readers access to their favorite blogs anywhere they are! This free application allows customers to read up on their favorite articles and save their favorite fashion items in one place. It even provides information about where and how to buy that item!

“We think that this is the right time for this product. We want our readers to be able to enjoy Glamour content however they want — in print, on the Web or with the use of this app.” said Ben Berentson the online managing director at Glamour, New York.

To read the entire article, click here.

To find out more ways to use mobile marketing for magazines, click here.