The Mobile Web & SMS. Tag team vs Apps.
After our previous little post (well actually the one before that, misterdesign.nl going live was the last one) we discussed the virtues of using mobile optimized sites and why they in many cases are superior to apps. Boy, did we have heated discussions after that one. :)
Today we are going to talk about how SMS ties in to this. Like we mentioned last time, and like Tomi Ahonen tirelessly explains, SMS is the big bad boy in the mobile sphere. Its the one no one notices but has the most potential. By far.
Lets look at our consumer, the person we are trying to target. Over the course of a couple of decades, we have made transitions to pull and push type marketing. TV shows are pushed over the airwaves to people that sit on their couch and take in all the dancing and singing novelties and disney kids shows. The internet requires a person to navigate the net, it is a pull medium, people need to pull information from it.
Numbers matter
Currently, we have the internet, cell phones, smartphones, text messaging and the mobile web as the main influencers of the current generation. Yes, of course, books are still read, there is just very little advertising in the average book. Magazines fare a little better, but are confronted with diminishing returns, loss of subscribers, less advertising, etc.Now, lets do some numbers first. How many people in the world have access to the following:
TV Sets - 1.5 Billion
Internet - 1.4 Billion (including mobile access)
Newspapers - 450 Million
Cars - 800 Million
How many people actively use SMS? Over 3 Billion. Thats about 70 % of all Mobile phone users. In developed markets, the percentage of people using SMS is close to 100%. This means you can reach close to everyone in your target audience by using SMS.
Smartphone OS
Some more numbers. The estimated number of devices sold annually, smartphones, by OS:
Symbian 100 Million
Android 60 Million
iOS 32 Million
(extrapolation of Q2 2010 numbers, rounded)
You need at least 3 different apps to serve the market, of which iOS is LEAST important.
Last time we argued that its better to create a mobile site than an app in the vast majority of cases. What is even better is a combination of SMS & Mobile Web. Let me explain.
Suppose you are a developer. A real estate developer that is, and you have huge project which is making you think about how to interact with your prospective buyers. This is a very common issue, and usually the "solution" is to build a website, print a brochure and smile politely.
A better solution
Why do we not do the following. We can create a text message code, say 4111, and use that number to spread information about that project. We put up a huge billboard, or just slap a sticker on an existing billboard, and ask people to text a word to 4111, for instance, "greathomes".
So the prospective client (it is already a prospective client if someone is taking the trouble to send the text) sends the word to 4111, and receives back 1 or 2 text messages with some general info on the project he or she is standing next to. We can ask the prospect in the text message if he or she wants to have more info on Apartments, Homes, or Lofts. That way we can share tons on relevant information with a highly relevant prospect, without worrying about what type of phone he or she has.
Next, we can take it one step further. Why don't we link to a website, from the text message, so smartphone users can browse the site? Actually, why do companies not create a mobile version of the site, that behaves like an app, and can be shown on most Smartphones?
The reason companies do not, is that the people they work with have no idea how to do all of this. Fortunately, we do know how to do this.
We know how we can create compelling interactive SMS campaigns.
We know how to deal with website design so that we can have desktop and mobile versions work perfectly, at the same time, with little additional cost.
Get in touch with us to learn more.
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