Reality Check: Mobile marketing’s rules of engagement

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.
Mobile marketing is a fantastic tool for value exchange and consumer engagement; however, if there’s one thing that brands and agencies should remember when developing and executing a mobile marketing campaign, it’s this: Protect the consumer, and you protect the opportunity.
Protecting the consumer refers to protecting the consumer’s privacy, giving the consumer choice in terms of the timing and model of engagement, providing the consumer with clear and conspicuous notice of what they can expect when they engage in your marketing program and being clear about how they can opt-out of your program(s) when they want. In other words, let the consumer be in control and follow the rules of engagement.
One of the first rules of engagement is to have a privacy policy in place, as well as clear terms and conditions for each of your programs. A privacy policy essentially lays out the ground rules on how you’ll use and protect the consumer’s personal identifiable and non-identifiable information when interacting (across all marketing channels, including the eight mobile medial paths).
On the other hand, a mobile marketing program’s terms and conditions specifically spell out the details, such as time, opt-in, opt-out rules, who’s allowed to participate, the consideration to be offered to each party (i.e. the consumer and the marketer) during the course of the program. For example, the consumer may give you the right to contact them in the future and you agree to give the consumer a coupon. The terms and conditions must also spell out any fees that may apply, including those from third parties, such as data-usage charges from the consumer’s wireless carrier.
The second rule of engagement is: Don’t assume that the consumer’s decision to opt in for one program gives you carte blanche to engage them in other programs or on an ongoing basis. For example, if you later launch a mobile campaign for another product, don’t assume that the consumer wants to participate in that campaign, too.
Sound complicated? Maybe so, but it’s only your brand riding on it. Drop the ball on something as fundamental as consumer choice and control, and you may lose the trust of your audience and your program could backlash – creating customer dissatisfaction, rather than boosting sales, generating awareness for your brand or whatever your objective may be.
Where’s the rulebook?
The good news is that there are plenty of step-by-step resources to help brands, agencies and other mobile marketers understand how to create good opt-in policies and other key pieces of a successful mobile campaign. One place to start is the Mobile Marketing Association’s Code of Conduct, which provides five fundamental principles that all members of the mobile ecosystem – including advertisers, content providers, publishers and carriers – can use to create campaigns that protect the consumer experience:
–Notice: Include an easily understandable and quickly discoverable description of the campaign’s terms and conditions so users can make informed decisions.
–Choice and consent: Ask for an explicit opt-in and opt-out. The opt-out process should be easy for users to find and act on. Here’s an example that reiterates the fee and explains how users can opt out: “Welcome! You’re subscribed to Weather Pro’s Daily Weather Alerts at $4.99/mo. 1st alert will arrive shortly. To end alerts text ‘STOP’.”
–Customization and constraint: Take reasonable steps to ensure that user information they collect for the purpose of delivering targeted advertising is handled responsibly, sensitively and in compliance with applicable law. Campaigns also should target and limit messages to avoid inundating users, who might respond to the flood by simply opting out.
–Security: Implement reasonable technical, administrative and physical procedures to protect user information from unauthorized use, alteration, disclosure, distribution or access. “By opting into your campaign, consumers are entrusting you with both their personal information and a way to access them immediately, anytime anywhere,” says Alan Chapell, chair of the MMA’s Privacy & Advocacy Committee. “Mobile marketers owe it to consumers – as well as the industry as whole – to protect that information and access.”
–Enforcement and accountability: Comply with the “Code of Conduct” and other guidelines that the MMA has developed to help the industry self-regulate itself.
“When it comes to engaging people through the mobile channel, opportunities for integrated marketing, promotions and customer relations must be approached with the utmost care and attention to consumer best practices,“ says Gabe Karp, EVP and General Counsel at ePrize L.L.C. “The most effective, sustainable mobile campaigns follow MMA’s code of conduct, which includes strong consumer privacy standards, and reflect the industry’s established best practices for planning, execution and measurement.”
Another useful guide is the MMA’s “U.S. Consumer Best Practices (CBP) Guidelines for Cross-Carrier Mobile Content Services,” which provides technical information and tips for implementing the principles in the Code of Conduct.
The CBP minimizes confusion for brands and consumers alike. For example, the CBP provides the consolidate guidelines for the four largest U.S. wireless carriers – Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. – so brands, agencies and marketers don’t have to master four separate carrier “playbooks.”
The CBP also provides standardized language – such as “Msg & Data Rates May Apply” – that helps reduce consumer confusion. Over time, consumers become conditioned to expect mobile campaigns to use certain terms, and when they encounter one that doesn’t, they’re likely to perceive it as a rogue offer and avoid it.
Mobile marketers also should identify and follow the government regulations that affect their particular campaign. One challenge is that there are so many laws at the local, state and federal levels, and which one(s) apply depends on a variety of factors. Some laws – such as the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 – are far-reaching in terms of the types of campaigns and geographic locations.
Others are more specific. For example, if the teenagers are the campaign’s focus, the COPPA Act applies, while voice-centric campaigns fall partly under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
Successful protections
Mobile marketers also can learn the rules of consumer engagement by studying campaigns that have been successful both in terms of achieving their goals and protecting the consumer experience.
For example, in its stores, Best Buy has a placard on electronics such as TVs that provide product information. These placards also advertise a short code where shoppers can send a text message to receive information such as customer product ratings. These ads clearly state, “Standard text messaging rates apply to all messages sent and received,” so shoppers aren’t left wondering, for example, whether Best Buy pays for the cost of sending and receiving each text. You can also take a look at what Coca-Cola, Western Union, The Weather Channel, CNN, Steve Madden and others are doing, to name just a few.
These examples illus
trate how mobile campaigns can make it easy for consumers to understand the fundamental aspects, such as how to opt out and whether there are any fees. In the process, they help further the industry’s collective goal of protecting the opportunity by protecting consumers.
Michael Becker is the North America Managing Director for the Mobile Marketing Association and is a leader in the mobile marketing industry, assuming the roles of industry entrepreneur, volunteer and academic. Becker founded and most recently held the position of VP Mobile Strategies at an industry-leading mobile marketing solutions provider, iLoop Mobile, which earned the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) Innovation of the Year Award in 2007. Prior to assuming the role of Manager Director of North America, Becker served on the MMA Global Board of Directors (2008, Director at Large; 2009, Global Board Vice Chair) and served on the MMA North American Board of Directors (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009). He founded and co-chaired both the award-winning MMA Academic Outreach Committee and the MMA International Journal of Mobile Marketing. He is also a member of the dotMobi Mobile Advisory Group Steering Committee and member of the Direct Marketing Association’s Annual Programming Advisory and Mobile councils.