Mobile marketing is more effective than e-mail marketing - Essay Example

Mobile marketing is more effective than e-mail marketing This era is known as the era of information technology in view of the fact that the innovations brought by the information technology have not only modernized the ways businesses and individuals carry out their tasks but also improved the living standards. With the emergence of the Internet, the majority of people started using it for email and communication purposes. But soon it was replaced with mobile technology. Now the majority of people use mobile phones to complete their daily tasks. Seeing the increasing interest of people in mobile technology, business marketers have started using it for marketing and promotion of business contents. This paper is based on the claim “mobile marketing is more effective than email marketing”. This paper will be a comparative study of both the marketing techniques. This research will attempt to prove this claim by using the literature from the Internet and libraries. Introduction Mobile marketing is a process through which traditional marketing activities are carried out using a mobile phone. Basically, the mobile marketing is the process of using mobile phones to provide customers with location and time specific, custom-made information, which promotes goods, services and ideas (Roach). However, the question is that in this technology based era how effective is mobile marketing. This paper presents a comparison of mobile and email marketing strategies. The basic purpose of this research is to prove the claim that mobile marketing is more effective than email marketing. Literature Review According to (Roach), the current position and modern characteristics of the mobile technology as a one-to-one communication device defines that mobile marketing is evocative of an inventive kind of direct marketing. Up till now many researchers have carried out extensive research to determine the factors which have an effect on consumer acceptance of marketing contents distributed through mobile marketing. In addition, various researchers such as (Barnes and Scornavacca), (Barwise and Strong) and Leppaniemi and Karjaluoto) discuss similar ideas. Additionally, their research is based on three key components: first of all there is a need to see that the user has given their approval to take delivery of marketing contents to their mobile phone; the level of authority the service provider maintains throughout the transaction, and the level to which the mobile user has trust on the brand being marketed. In the same way, (TRAPPEY and WOODSIDE) and (Merisavo, Kajalo and Karjaluoto) also discuss the features and elements of the marketing material and distribution. They have discussed various factors driving the consumer's level of acceptability (Merisavo, Kajalo and Karjaluoto) and (TRAPPEY and WOODSIDE). On the other hand, thus far, there has been little research committed to discovering the characteristics of this medium, and whether they have an effect on a customers’ decision to agree to or refuse marketing communications delivered straightforwardly to their mobile phone (Roach). Research Methodology This research will be based on the qualitative research methodology. For this purpose, I will collect data from academic journals, marketing books, newspapers and online promotional material in an attempt to support my research. I will analyze some of basic aspects that demonstrate superiority of mobile marketing methods for business promotion. This research will qualitatively assess some of the major aspects to prove how mobile marketing is more efficient than email marketing. Results and Discussion The one of the major problems with trying to reach customers through email is that the majority of business organizations had already made use of this strategy that it can without doubt be considered as spam by the target customers. In this scenario, mobile advertising and mobile marketing are a brilliant way to reach customers, in particular when business organizations are using highly customer oriented content of their messages. Hence, the promotions sent on mobile are more likely to be accessed and noted by the targeted customers than an email from an email address that he or she does not identify. On the other hand, if a business organization is not able to attract a higher proportion of its customers to open its messages, it cannot get them to take the next steps such as it cannot attract them to view a particular promotion or message, or visit its office or store for further deals, use a mobile coupon and mortar location. In view of the fact that messages through mobile marketing are delivered instantaneously, thus they make a common sense of importance for the target customer. In fact, mobile marketing is considered as a good vehicle to distribute a limited time promotion to business customer base and give confidence to customers to take a decision rapidly. On the other hand, email has now turned into more about spam and less about communication; a large part of the population at the present does not even make use of their email any longer. In the past, almost everyone used email as a key medium of communication for completing personal and business tasks. However, with the passage of time and advancements of technology not only do people not make use of email as a key source of communication for personal use, but the majority of business organizations at the present make use of mobile technology to communicate with their staff members and consumers. As we have already discussed, the basic reason behind this change is the fact that how suitable it is to communicate via mobile technology. In addition, mobile technology can be acknowledged as a good medium for straight, clear, easy to compose, send and receive with least efforts (Chitsey; Michenfelder). Sometimes before deciding what communication medium a business organization must choose to reach its customers depends on the comparison of the percentage of people that it can reach with email marketing versus SMS mobile marketing. However, various researches show that the reach percentage is much greater for mobile marketing. In actual fact the figures are amazing when comparing with email marketing. Normally, the majority of business organizations, researches and studies demonstrate more than a 94% reach rate. In fact, these figures with mobile marketing are also the read rate. The reason behind this fact is very simple as every message gets delivered and read with mobile marketing. On the other hand, with email marketing, the reach rate is just about 50% with a read rate of between 10-25%. Therefore, from the comparison of figures it is clear that how many of the company’s messages are being read. That is why the majority of business organizations are trying mobile technology instead of email marketing (Michenfelder). One suggestion is to combine mobile and email marketing techniques to catch more customers as it will help a business organization reach mass consumers successfully. However, a firm should spend a lot of time to determine who their target customers are and which method they would have a preference for the type of marketing strategy a firm is adopting at the time. In some cases this will indicate a firm will be sending emails and others it will indicate that is reaching customers via mobile technology (Bowden2Bowden). Conclusion Mobile technology is more and more common these days, all through the world. In addition, the business marketers all through the world are developing strategies using mobile technology for their business promotion. It is simpler, easier and covariant to use. Through mobile marketing we can have better support and promotion of business. This research has assessed the effectiveness of mobile marketing over the email marketing. Works Cited Barnes, Stuart J. and Eusebio Scornavacca. "Mobile marketing: the role of permission and acceptance." International Journal of Mobile Communications, Volume 2 Issue 2 (2004): 128-139. Barwise, Patrick and Colin Strong. "Permission-based mobile advertising." Journal of Interactive Marketing, Volume 16 Issue 1 (2002): 14-24. Bowden2Bowden. email vs mobile marketing: which should your company use? 10 August 2012. 28 October 2012 . Chitsey, Carrie. SMS Campaigns More Effective Than Email Marketing (Mobile Marketing). 19 April 2012. 30 October 2012 . Leppaniemi, Matti and Heikki Karjaluoto. "Factors influencing consumers' willingness to accept mobile advertising: a conceptual model." International Journal of Mobile Communications, Volume 3 Issue 3 (2005): 197-213. Merisavo, Marko, et al. "An Empirical Study of the Drivers of Consumer Acceptance of Mobile Advertising." Journal of Interactive Advertising, Volume 7 Issue 2 (2007): 13. Michenfelder, Jonathon. Is Sms Mobile Marketing More Effective Than Email? 20 April 2012. 27 October 2012 . Roach, Gemma. "Consumer perceptions of mobile phone marketing: a direct marketing innovation." Direct Marketing: An International Journal, Volume 3 Issue 2 (2009): 124-138. TRAPPEY, RANDOLPH J. and ARCH G. WOODSIDE. "Consumer responses to interactive advertising campaigns coupling short-message-service direct marketing and TV commercials." Journal of Advertising Research, Volume 45 Issue 4 (2005): 382-401. Read More