Mobile Couponing on the Grow
People like saving money; people like cell phones. So they’ll love the two together, right?
Not necessarily. Users see their cell phones as personal space and say they want to keep them ad-free. That’s a problem for carriers, who need to monetize their data services but see paid content downloads slackening.
But there are signs that users will come around to accepting mobile ads as growing numbers get exposed to them. And offering relevant coupons on handsets might be the bait that brings them around, says marketing professor Michael Hanley of Indiana’s Ball State University.
For the last three years, Hanley has conducted a semiannual survey of college students’ exposure to mobile ads. The most recent study, completed in February, found that 64% of college students were open to getting cell phone ads if given an incentive in return. For many that involved free talk time, but 28% said they’d also approve of coupons or rebates. The most prized mobile offers on campus were for sit-down restaurants, fast food, entertainment and dry cleaning.
Hanley says other general research he’s done on couponing shows that almost three-quarters of 18- to 24-year-olds use coupons of some type, so it makes sense that mobile coupons are making early inroads among that group.
“Coupons could be a key to opening up wireless users to ad-supported models,” he says. “They may not always be needed — no reason to worry about getting locked into discounting — but at this early stage, coupons can help make clear the value and relevance of cell-phone ads.”
Setting up a mobile coupon program can be complicated, both at the carrier end and at point-of-sale redemption. Many merchants look to mobile coupon service providers for help.
Cellfire runs mobile coupon programs for national chains such as Hardee’s, Hollywood Video, and Peet’s Cofee & Tea. In April it worked with McDonald’s regional operators in Utah and Nevada to run a mobile coupon test for free iced drinks.
Cellfire’s business model has been to get users to opt in for coupons by setting up online accounts. But the company recently took steps to help users get print offers and Web discounts sent to their phones, via deals with direct coupon packager Money Mailer and with platform enhancements that let users text a short code in a Web ad to get a mobile version of the offer.
Meanwhile, printable deal site Coupons.com announced a pact last month to put clients on the Yahoo Go mobile content platform. To help build momentum for mobile coupons, the company will offer some 800 reputed brand clients the chance to use its mobile APIs free for the next 12 months. At press time only Papa John’s Pizza had made the leap from print to wireless offer.
“This will allow any marketer who wants to experiment with mobile coupons to use the Coupons Inc. platform without risk,” says CEO Steve Boal. “We’ll just take the next 12 months and let everybody learn.”
