I'm No Expert, But...

...your marketing stinks. Maybe mobile can make it better.

I'm not one to question the work of the marketing whizzes at Procter & Gamble (for a variety of reasons), but I'm going to anyway. I've been seeing the ads for some wonderful new foaming dish soap they've got, and being blessed with an old house that's sans dishwasher, I'm always open to the latest and greatest in grease removal. The TV ads feature the URL for a web site for coupons, so I thought I'd check it out and use the $1 to try the new soap.

I surf on over, and find the relevant page, expecting to get a coupon to print out or something, maybe have to supply an email address. No -- they want address, birthday, gender and for me to sign up for their spam, er, newsletter. The kicker? "Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery... We are excited about your request to try this sample, and want to get your feedback on how you used this sample. By selecting this sample, you are agreeing to be contacted at least once about the current sample."

So, I wait 4-6 weeks to try it to save a buck, and you're going to contact me too? No thanks. You're lucky I still bought the soap (though I'm happy to admit it does work as well as advertised). Again, I'm no expert, but this seems pretty pointless. Somebody sees a TV ad, thinks, hey, that sounds good, I'll try it, then you want them to wait 4-6 weeks, a period after which they may or may not decide that they really do want to buy your product. Couldn't that cycle be shortened?

It seems like mobile could fit in here somewhere to make things better -- maybe have people text a shortcode to receive a text message coupon back. With that coupon, you could ask people if they want to opt in for more offers, rather than making it a condition of accepting the coupon. Instant response, the opportunity for a further relationship, and it's all opt in. Any thoughts?

Comments

[Chris]

scannable mobile coupons are clearly a far more efficient way to receive and redeem money-off offers but you have to remember that your typical coupon redeemer is not your typical 'expert' mobile user. A 45 yr old mum of three, who has gotten to grips with email and the net oer the last couple of years may not be ready for the huge consumer behaviour change that mobile redemption requires. Coupons are used for a variety of purposes - including reward of loyal brand consumers, and enticement of 'brand switchers' looking for a bargain - but only a small percentage of regular coupon users redeem web or email coupons - the bulk of redmeption is old fashioned clipped paper coupons - and the reason for this is that your typical redeemer wants it this way. A major argument for Mobile coupons is that they catalyse the use of coupons by generation-y who traditionally don't think clipping coupons is cool. We've yet to see if this will be realised but there is great promise with the results of the Jacksons in-store trial delivered by http://www.lightoffers.com.