The majority of the planet has a phone. According to Bank My Cell, 91% of the total global population are mobile phone owners. That’s roughly 7.26 billion people interconnected through a network of mobile communications. There’s quite literally the whole world at our fingertips.
But, we’ve noticed a chasm between all of the available customer data and the channels through which customers interact with brands. We call this the activation gap and, historically, it’s been a difficult gap for brands to close. Every marketing channel contributes to shrinking the activation gap—especially mobile marketing.
We’ve seen brands that agree on the importance of mobile marketing but then, when attempting to dive headfirst into a mobile strategy, only to run into common obstacles. These obstacles include lack of resources and budget for an SMS program, uncertainty around which marketing channel is right for each user, and avoidance altogether due to complex pricing models.
So, we decided to do something about it.
New Mobile Capabilities to Drive Revenue and Loyalty
With this latest release, we’re providing solutions to these exact mobile marketing problems (and more) with a whole slew of new features being added to Iterable’s capabilities. If you’re looking for a rundown of each feature, you’ve come to the right place.
Get the Message Across With SMS
Short Message Service (SMS), more commonly referred to as “texting,” is an incredibly valuable mobile marketing channel. It’s highly responsive (SMS messages have an average open rate of 98%), but under-used by brands. In fact, of the brands we analyzed in 2020, only 20% sent SMS messages as part of their marketing strategy.
Why is a channel that’s easy to personalize, can target individual customers, and has such high engagement rates not being utilized by more brands? Because SMS data has historically wound up in its own silo, not connecting to the customer data being received from other marketing channels.
With Iterable SMS, brands can close the activation gap by connecting real-time customer data, experience design, channel orchestration, and market-leading SMS functionality.
Iterable SMS features include:
- Combining SMS with email, web, and other mobile channels with a simple drag and drop journey orchestration interface in Iterable Studio
- Triggering SMS campaigns based on customers’ actions, behaviors, and preferences across all brand touchpoints.
- Sending via Journeys, API calls, or as one-time or recurring blast campaigns
- In-flight testing to easily add A/B testing to standalone or multichannel SMS campaigns to optimize business outcomes without pausing the live campaign
- Observing compliance and privacy requirements like TCPA compliant opt-ins and quiet hours, CTIA compliant program details, and CAN-SPAM compliant opt-outs
- A powerful native shortlink builder, allowing you to attribute revenue to SMS campaigns
- Support and services to assist in building your brand’s SMS playbook
“The power of providing an SMS channel for our guests is immense. It allows us to engage the guests when and how they would like to receive information, while providing a seamless experience for them to enjoy the aquarium without having to navigate through multiple channels.”
– Josh Cherfoli, Senior Director of Marketing and Digital Engagement @ Georgia Aquarium
AI-Powered Channel Optimization
Adding SMS to your mobile marketing mix may seem overwhelming. It can be difficult to know how the channels interact, which channels your customers prefer, and therefore, which channel to use for future communications. Consumer channel preferences and behaviors can change over time making it challenging to optimize the right delivery channel for each message.
While there are manual ways of analyzing performance through reports and analytics, Iterable’s Channel Optimization can automate this process for marketers and allow you to reach your customers on the channel they are most likely to engage on.
Channel Optimization is part of our AI Optimization Suite. Features include:
- Leveraging historical data to determine which channel to send the message based on each user’s likelihood to engage with the message
- Optimizing across email, push, and SMS
- Integrating with Iterable Studio
- Increasing personalization and satisfaction, resulting in more authentic interactions
In-Browser Messaging
In-browser messages are another highly valuable communication channel that falls under the mobile marketing umbrella. Did you know that over 60% of web visitors are on a mobile device? Mobile In-browser messaging gives brands the ability to send personalized, targeted communications to these mobile users and ultimately drive business outcomes. Plus, these messages can be part of a larger mobile communication strategy and work cohesively with other mobile marketing messages.
For example, Because no opt-in is required for in-browser messaging, this channel is the perfect avenue for encouraging SMS opt-in. While users are on your mobile site, they may be more inclined to sign up for an exclusive coupon only available through SMS. They’re already on their phone, so an in-browser message offering a coupon with SMS opt-in can be the gentle nudge customers need.
In-browser messaging can lead to:
- Higher website conversion rates. No more dead-ends.
- Increase in goal conversions
- Increased customer satisfaction by helping direct them to the information they want/need instead of leaving them to fend for themselves
- Increased reach of programs and campaigns with ability to capture web and web/app audiences
- Increased in-browser engagement
A Simplified Pricing Model
This all sounds great, but we’re guessing you’re probably worried about the cost—we don’t blame you. SMS pricing can quickly become complex. With multiple message types, phone numbers, and carriers, budget constraints can often override marketing priorities.
Iterable’s pricing model allows marketers to send messages that best fit their customer needs, without worrying about the budget. You can eliminate duplicate data storage fees with our integrated platform fees that include all channels.
Bring Mobile Into the Fold
With a handful of hurdles posing challenges for marketers, we wanted to be able to provide solutions that not only make marketers’ jobs easier, but deliver results. With the new capabilities in Iterable’s Fall Product Showcase and SMS launch, marketers, like you, will be able to confidently add mobile channels to their marketing mix.
Curious to learn more about our fall release? Join us for the Product Showcase where we’ll dive deep into the above and so much more.
