Cellit Announces Best Practices in Mobile Marketing for Retailers

CHICAGO, Feb. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellit, a leading provider of mobile customer relationship management (CRM) systems for retailers, restaurants and other companies, announced today the release of a whitepaper, Best Practices in Mobile Marketing for Retailers: The 5Cs of Mobile Marketing.  Cellit has analyzed the more than 25 million text messages sent by various retailers and other companies to customers with the Cellit Studio technology platform to determine the keys to success of mobile marketing.  Cellit's findings are categorized under the "5Cs" of mobile marketing:

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Commitment – Mobile marketing should be an integral part of the marketing mix and not be viewed as a single event like a contest.  Integrating mobile into other marketing communications such as television commercials can actually extend the life of these other forms of marketing.  While your commercial will only last 30 seconds, by including a call to text, customers can immediately get more information, and can do so whether they are sitting at their computer or not.  Research has demonstrated that most people almost always have their phones within arm's reach, while there's little data to support that a potential customer will remember or want to go to your Facebook page hours later when they logon to their PC.

Cadence – Retailers should determine the frequency of the messages on a per customer basis. A good mobile program puts the control in the hands of the customer.  Listening to your customer will give you the answer. Taking into account prior buying behavior will also tell you what types of messages they want to receive, in addition to how frequently.  To gather this data, a strong customer analytics tool will be crucial to any mobile marketing platform.

Content – Just as "hi" is not a particularly compelling text to send to a friend, text messages to retail customers must contain a compelling enough offer to act.  The exact dollar threshold or type of offer will vary by retailer, but whatever the offer, it should be unique to those who subscribe to the retailer's mobile program in order to create a sense of exclusivity.  Analyzing what types of offers were attractive to individual customers in the past can help a retailer develop customized messages that are most likely to get a response.

Connectivity – There are many mobile carriers in the U.S. outside of the top names, and it is important that a retailer's mobile marketing platform partner be able to support them all, including the "long tail" of small, regional players.  

Compliance – There are a lot of regulations that all mobile marketers need to comply with each and every time they send a message to customers.  The carriers change the compliance requirements surrounding a mobile campaign with a great deal of frequency, so it is important that a retailer's mobile marketing platform partner is always up to speed.

"We believe that 2011 will be the year of mobile marketing and that retailers are really beginning to understand the enormous potential of the mobile platform to build customer loyalty," said David Wachs, president of Cellit.  "While online marketing or television spots might be considered sexier, mobile marketing can generate significant ROI with a reasonable investment.  Since 80% of the population has a mobile phone and most people carry their phones everywhere with them, mobile marketing campaigns ensure that your marketing is everywhere your customers are."

About Cellit

Cellit develops mobile customer relationship management (CRM) programs for retailers, restaurants and other companies who want to leverage mobile technology to create a deeper level of customer engagement.  The Cellit Studio campaign management platform empowers clients to create interactive mobile CRM programs including coupons, contests, games, surveys and alerts that inform, delight and motivate customers, increasing knowledge, loyalty and ultimately spending.  Cellit Studio seamlessly integrates with client enterprise and POS technology and provides an easy to implement and measurable way to maximize the potential of the mobile channel.  Cellit also provides custom mobile sites and phone apps to some of the largest brands in the world.  Headquartered in Chicago, Cellit was recently named to the Inc. 500 2010 list of fastest-growing private companies in the country. For more information please visit www.cellit.com.

SOURCE Cellit