An interesting article by Evan Schuman on his Storefrontbacktalk site describes how Wal-Mart’s highly secretive testing of SMS marketing in Dec-07 highlighted two important lessons:
- SMS messages are supposed to be punchy: don’t try and cram too much in
- Our mobile phones are also very personal: don’t abuse this by sending too many messages.
One Wal-Mart employee was quoted as saying:
“We were sending 10-15 (offers) in about three or four text messages. We learned that three messages is where the consumer says, ‘I’ve heard enough from you, Mr. Retailer,’.”
Two interesting points:
- The sheer scale of the “test”. Wal-Mart, never one to do things by half, signed up hundreds of thousands of people to the program
- This was in the US, surely yet another sign that the States is opening up to the opportunities for business messaging.
