TXT4 Blog

Meshing mobile campaigns and digital signage

Posted on 07. Sep, 2010 by admin in Blog, CRM, Company Info, Mobile Marketing, TXT4 Events

http://www.digitalsignagetoday.com/article.php?id=25138

Great blog article by Bill Yachey on mobile and digital signage. Interview with Carrie Chitsey, CEO of TXT4CRM and Matt Schmitt, CEO of Reflect Systems.

Reflect Systems Announces Partnership with TXT4CRM

Posted on 31. Aug, 2010 by admin in Blog, CRM, Company Info, Mobile Marketing, TXT4 Events

Reflect Announces Partnership with TXT4CRM

Adds Mobile Engagement Solutions to Arsenal of Full-Service In-Store Digital Media Offerings

 DALLAS, August 31, 2010 – Reflect Systems, a leading, national full-service provider of in-store digital media solutions including digital signage, today announced a strategic partnership with TXT4CRM, a technology platform and service provider of comprehensive mobile marketing engagement solutions. The alliance enables both companies to equip their clients for the future of retailing, by offering multi-channel customer engagement solutions that change customer behavior through optimized merchandising and produce sales results.  

“We partnered with Reflect because they have the technology, the experience and the trust of some of the largest U.S. retailers,” said Carrie Chitsey, chief executive officer of TXT4CRM. “By developing more cohesive mobile and in-store media platforms with Reflect, we’ll provide enhanced results for clients and help them achieve stronger connections with the shopper at the point of sale and beyond.”

 Using Reflect’s market-leading ReflectView platform in conjunction with TXT4CRM’s mobile solutions, retailers and brands can now easily present and manage mobile engagement programs through in-store digital displays and interactive kiosks, in addition to delivering messages via text. The cohesion of in-store digital media (point of sale) solutions with mobile marketing (anytime, anywhere) solutions, allows companies to more effectively provide timely and targeted engagement with shoppers on their in-store and post-store shopping journeys.

“We’re excited to join forces with TXT4CRM and look forward to advancing cutting edge solutions together,” said Matt Schmitt, co-founder and chief executive officer of Reflect. “Our respective solutions are unique and proven game-changers, and combining the two strategies will be pivotal for our clients.”

About Reflect

Founded in 2001, Reflect is a leading, national full-service provider of in-store digital media solutions including digital signage, interactivity applications and assisted shopping features; and ReflectView, the most flexible, scalable and proven digital media merchandising solution on the market. Headquartered in Dallas, Reflect has nearly a decade of industry experience gained from developing some of the largest digital media networks in North America, including Best Buy, GameStop, Target and Verizon Wireless. Reflect serves mid- to large-size companies, specializing in retail, banking/finance, hospitality, entertainment and quick service restaurants (QSR).  For more information about Reflect, please visit www.reflectsystems.com.

 About TXT4CRM

TXT4CRM is a mobile engagement company that provides a proven mobile engagement software platform and consulting services to enable companies to rapidly design, deploy and analyze a variety of innovative mobile marketing engagement solutions that drive revenue, build relationships and capture operational efficiencies.  Used by leading brands, retailers, advertising agencies and other software providers, TXT4CRM processes millions of mobile interactions a month.  Our software and services span the entire mobile marketing spectrum form SMS/MMS to mobile web and mobile application development. For more information about TXT4CRM, please visit www.txt4crm.com.

GMI Announces Mobile Market Research in Partnership with TXT4CRM

Posted on 25. Aug, 2010 by admin in Blog, Company Info, TXT4 Events

I’ve very happy about this partnership and the way this is going to change the way to capture market research information and the immediacy of it. -Carrie Chitsey 

Bellevue, WA – August 25, 2010 -GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), a provider of technology-enabled solutions for global market research, is partnering with TXT4CRM, the mobile engagement company, to offer mobile market research solutions.
 
GMI announces GMI Mobile beta, with short SMS-based diary tracking, customer satisfaction, polling and purchase intent studies to augment traditional market research.  Market researchers can choose to run traditional online studies and follow up with a subset of mobile subscribers. GMI Mobile also enables researchers to develop short standalone studies specifically designed for mobile phones when fast turnaround is required.  With over 270 million mobile subscribers in the US and over 100 million projected to access the web on their mobile device by the end of 2010, GMI can extend the reach of market research to improve the quality and reliability of the information. Mobile respondents want their voice to be heard and they may prefer to use a cell phone to communicate their opinions. “From the initial conversation with our customers to the completion of a research project, we combine our technology and processes to make sure we provide access to the right people at the right time to deliver the right results,” said Mike Brochu, CEO at GMI.

GMI is combining its balancing and sampling technologies with TXT4CRM’s SMS/MMS platform & mobile engagement expertise to offer researchers statistically valid insights with comprehensive views from online and mobile studies. “Our enterprise class platform offers interactive customer dialogs, notifications and polling to complement GMI’s market research technology and expertise.” said Carrie Chitsey, CEO of TXT4CRM.

 
GMI’s technology suite supports the delivery of a high-quality and representative on-line sample, plus the security of enhanced respondent source validation, fraud and location detection. “When we combine these assets with GMI’s GlobalTestMarket Panel and the mobile engagement expertise from TXT4CRM, we are delivering mobile market research done right” said Brochu.

The initial launch of GMI Mobile is for the United States only, with plans to expand to other countries as the market develops.

About GMI

GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.) provides access to the right people at the right time to deliver the right results, empowering researchers and marketers worldwide to generate reliable, consistent and actionable information that enhances their decision making capability. Founded in 1999 with global headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, GMI has operations in America, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit us online at www.gmi-mr.com or email us.

About TXT4CRM

TXT4CRM provides an enterprise-class mobile engagement software platform and professional consulting services to enable companies to rapidly deploy and analyze mobile marketing and business solutions. TXT4CRM works with leading brands, retailers, advertising agencies and other software providers, offering solutions that span the entire mobile marketing spectrum form SMS/MMS to mobile web and mobile application development. For more information about TXT4CRM, please visit www.txt4crm.com.

Call Center Webinar Scheduled For May 5th

Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by Chris in Blog, Company Info, TXT4 Events

Cell Phones: The 7th Mass Media

Posted on 08. Apr, 2010 by Chris in Blog, Mobile Marketing

Ad Agency Webinar on April 7

Posted on 25. Mar, 2010 by Chris in Blog, Company Info, Mobile Marketing, TXT4 Events

We invite any advertising agency representatives to our upcoming webinar on April 7.

Update:  A video of the webinar is available for those of you who couldn’t attend.  Please contact Mike Dismore of David Glenn at TXT4CRM to view.

Austin Contact Center Alliance Presentation

Posted on 23. Mar, 2010 by Carrie Chitsey in Blog, Mobile Marketing, TXT4 Events

Here’s the video from my “Making Text Work For Your Company” presentation to the Austin Contact Center Alliance earlier this month.  I come from a call center background and know first hand the dramatic impact text messaging can have to both reduce costs and improve the customer experience.

I welcome your feedback.

Target’s Mobile Couponing Misses Target

Posted on 12. Mar, 2010 by Carrie Chitsey in Blog, Mobile Marketing, POV

Target announced a few days ago that they had rolled out a mobile coupon program to all their stores nationally and were one of the first retailers to do so. While that’s great news for mobile marketing and others will follow, I’m disappointed that their strategy wasn’t more fully baked.

So here’s the details of their program:

• You can text the word COUPONS to 827438 (TARGET).

• Or go to m.target.com

• You get a coupon about once per month (no initial coupon)

• You get your first coupon two weeks after signup

• You are notified via text message to go to a link to get your coupon. No text coupon delivery.

• The coupon is a barcode that is scanned with “new” hand-held readers at Target.

Let’s talk about the texting part first:

#1:  I text in and don’t get a coupon immediately for texting in, this doesn’t engage me? Major missed opportunity.

#2: I text in to sign up (you captured my phone number when I text in), why are you giving me a link to go sign up and asking for my cell phone number again, you just duplicated this process and now I’m a frustrated customer. I didn’t even sign up when I had to go to your mobile web link b/c I thought I have already signed up via text, Target, you are going to have a big drop off rate.

#3: PS: you forgot MMA compliance: TXT STOP 2 END or HELP for HELP

Now to the Mobile Web:

#1: The link you have included on your marketing materials and in my text message is m.target.com. The mobile web technology today allows for me to just type in target.com from my cell phone browsers and it should recognize that I have an iPhone and redirect me to m.target.com. It should also render the proper screen for my proper handset.

#2: You are asking me to fill this out with my mobile # again? You just captured it via text message, sign me up please without the duplicate steps.

And you are not going to send me my first coupon for 2 weeks? What about now?

You didn’t ask me any questions on my preferences, what coupons I want to receive, just what time I want them delivered and my time zone. Really, what market research showed that these were two good data questions to ask?

I really don’t care when I get my offers however, I want them to be relevant. And given the article where you say they aren’t going to be personalized or targeted, this means I could get a diaper coupon as a single person. Your redemption rate is going to be very low. If you would have asked me a couple of relevant questions you might see 15% redemption rates.

Here is the other disturbing thing. You are going to send me a text message that says I need to go to this weblink in two weeks to retrieve my coupon. Now, why didn’t you just send me the coupon via text? You now want me to pay to go get the coupon.

Remember there are only 16.9% of Smart Phones in the US, only 25% of those are iPhones (hence your new iPhone app), which means the majority of Target shoppers will have to pay 3 times on their data plan to get a coupon:  1) view your coupon , 2) access it again to find the product in store 3) show it at the register. This is not a good customer experience and it just cost me 3 times.

Ok, so you are using hand held devices to scan these new barcode digital coupons. Let’s do the math: there are about 1800 Target stores, approximately 20 or so registers (on the low end) per location. So that’s 36,000 registers that now have hand held devices. Hand held devices that can scan barcodes range from $200-450 per scanner. Well go with $200 per hand held X 36,000, did you really invest over $7 million dollars just for this.

Here are some recent numbers (March 10, 2010) from ComScore a global leader in digital world market research. In the month of November through January 2010, of the 270 million cell phone subscribers, 63.5 percent used text messaging and only 28.6 percent used browsers on their phone.

So how could have you done this much better with the right strategy and technology?

1. Allow me to sign up via text messaging only (broaden your base)
2. Send me an immediate coupon when I sign up, don’t wait two weeks.
3. Ask me proper questions (2-3) via text message to target your coupons
4. Allow users to get coupons via text without having to the mobile web to get the coupon
5. Send me a unique coupon code via text message and get rid of the bar code or give customers both options not just one
6. Begin with the end in mind: what is the strategy? You are just building a mass database with no personalize information about me as a customer? How are you going to track coupon redemption back to an individual? How are you going to learn from what coupons I view or redeem to tailor future offers to me?
7. On the mobile website, ask me 2-3 questions to allow targeted coupons.
8. Have an integrated solution SMS+mobile web, you have developed two different solutions that are not integrated. You should have integrated solution and integrated reporting.

So the net-net, I give Target an A for effort but a D for a good mobile strategy. The good news is it’s not too late to implement the right strategy.

“Texting & Call Centers” Presentation

Posted on 11. Mar, 2010 by Carrie Chitsey in Blog, Company Info

I’m speaking today to the Austin Contact Center Alliance about how text messaging can be used to reduce costs while increasing customer satisfaction.

“Call center expert Carrie Chitsey, CEO of Austin-based TXT4 CRM, a former call center owner and partner in KPMG Global CRM practice will share how forward thinking call centers are dramatically reducing call center costs while improving customer satisfaction.  Using real world examples from our industry, our speaker will help you understand how your center can integrate text with your IVR and WFM systems as part of a CRM and ERM (employee relationship management) strategy.

-Contact Centers are integrating text with their WFM system to allow employees to report attendance or bid on schedules
-Government contact centers are broadcasting weather or power outage updates via planned text blasts
-Banks send alerts about account activity to protect against fraud and identity theft
-Law Enforcement agencies are using text to make it easier for citizens to assist with information reporting”

If you’re interested in having a copy of the presentation, send me an email.

Handset OEM & Smart Phone OS Market Share-Jan ‘10

Posted on 10. Mar, 2010 by Chris in Blog, Mobile Marketing

comScore has released the January update on mobile handset OEM market share in the U.S.  These numbers always shock our clients who are expecting Apple (who dominates mind share) to be near the top.  The installed base of mobile phones has become a three way race between Motorola, LG and Samsung.

The Smart phone (operating system) market share is still (surprisingly to some!) dominated by RIM with Apple accounting for only a 25% share of the estimated 42.7mm U.S. smart phone users.  Of note is the strong gains made by phones using Google’s Android platform.