Mobile ads - a game of give and take

Mobile advertising response rates are more likely to rise if an incentive is offered, according to a recent report from ABI Research, and real-world coupons and discounts are most popular.

by Helen Leggatt

Mobile marketing is, by its very nature, intrusive so your mobile marketing campaigns need to be relevant, timely and hold some value to the recipient. ABI Research’s “Mobile Marketing and Advertising” report found that incentives work especially well.

In particular, discounts for real-world local stores and services were popular with 60% of U.S. mobile phone users who were either neutral or open to potential SMS marketing. Free songs and ringtones were also popular incentives.

Overall, 37% of the consumers ABI Research surveyed said an incentive would make them more likely to respond to mobile advertising.

Just 11% said their response to mobile ads would not be swayed by an incentive.

“As more content and applications move through both messaging systems and browsers, advertisers are going to need to consider how best to package advertising,” said ABI research director Michael Wolf.

“We believe that most consumers will ultimately be amenable to limited marketing on their mobile phones, particularly that which is non-intrusive, targeted, and that can bring them some kind of value in the form of both real-world and digital media-based incentives.”