What’s Next for Text?
Nielsen predicts that by the end of next year, the number of smartphones and plain old feature phones in the U.S will be equal. Does that spell the eventual demise of text messaging, or even its gradual dropoff?
Not so, says Tom Cotney, CEO of mobile messaging service provider Air2Web. “Up to now, companies have primarily used mobile, including SMS, as a medium, to create impressions and draw eyeballs. Now we’re going to see its increased use as a channel to create value and carry on a dialogue with customers.”
Text will come to the fore as a way to handle CRM and to integrate with live agent chat and call center transaction assists, Cotney says. Using text alerts, for instance, cable companies would be able to notify consumers of delayed installers and let them reschedule appointments.
In e-commerce, tech coming to the text platform will enable the same kind of live chat Web consumers now get before abandoning a shopping cart or at other crux points in a transaction — and could even answer product questions in-store.
“A foundational benefit like a customer service app makes conversion rates on everything about mobile even better,” Cotney says. “There’s always going to be some SMS content in the conversation.” — BQ
Got a mobile marketing tip to share? Contact Brian Quinton at [email protected]
