Reflection upon all sessions, creative drawings (see below), hallway conversations, and tweets (#MMAF2013) reveals three key themes that rose to the top for me:

1. Marketers need to make mobile an indispensable part of the marketing mix.

Countless statistics, case studies, and expert analysis illustrate that consumers use their mobile phones 24/7 and declare that marketers who fail to communicate via the mobile devices have missed the boat. Industry best-selling author Tomi Ahonen reported that consumers check their mobile phones 200 times per day. That’s once every 5 minutes (and even more for Nomophobes: people who can’t live without being connected to the mobile phone)!

The mobile phone is the first thing we check in the morning and the last thing we look at before bed. If you’re not enabling mobile to be a significant part of your marketing mix, then your customers and prospects are sailing away and you must get on board to prevent losing them.

2. Mobile engagement needs to occur throughout the consumer lifecycle.

The path to purchase is no longer a straight line. Given that consumers follow an indirect path to purchase every pre-sale touch point is extremely important. One speaker, put it well, “The path to purchase is now like a pretzel to purchase.”

Not only does the path curve and bend, but it also includes multiple screens and endless influences. Consumers cling to their devices while watching TV, in-store shopping, and even while bicycling.. This way of life also influences customer behavior after the point of purchase. How a brand handles its satisfaction surveys, both for connection (an outbound dialer vs. text interaction) and action (a closed-loop process) works to drive customer satisfaction, improve brand advocacy, and reduce churn.

3. A brand’s mobile strategy needs to be ubiquitous, not just an app or a keyword to a short code.

Many of the case studies focused on one type of mobile engagement, such as an app or text program. Several, however, noted that this type of approach isn’t actually enough. An effective mobile strategy encompasses several facets with complementary factors including voice, text, email, app, and web experiences. Consumers have preferences, and brands’ ability to know and leverage these preferences will convert prospects to customers and keep them engaged.

Mobile marketing is the next wave in consumer engagement- before, during and after the point of purchase. Take advantage of mobile’s power to forge new relationships and strengthen existing ones. Mobile makes the path to purchase one that is real-time, always on, and always engaging.

If you want to start your brand on the path to purchase using the mobile device,  download our Mobile Marketing Best Practices document.

A recent survey, “Alliance Data Mobile Moms Retail Survey” sheds light on the preferences, uses, and key drivers of mobile among mothers. The survey asked moms:

• How mobile influences shopping and buying decisions
• Which vertical industries mothers interact with via mobile
• How they value their mobile device

The survey, conducted this March, reinforces the value of mobile as a major influence in the mother’s path to purchase Retail and CPG marketers must find ways to engage with moms via mobile, delivering the right messages, driving in-store and online sales, and building brand loyalty.

According to Alliance Data Retail Services, “Mobile provides that impulse opportunity to shop. When [moms] are in-store, they are using it as a price comparison tool, and at home it is all about convenience.” When asked why moms prefer to use their mobile device, 29 percent of survey participants pick their phones to shop because it is easy and fast.

Mothers seek to make the best use of limited time and have adopted ways to optimize decisions regarding product selections and purchases. Mobile is a shortcut to this process. According to the survey:

• More than half of moms who own a mobile device report using it at least once a week as part of their shopping experience.
• 38 percent report taking a picture of a shelf tag to compare prices later.
• 56 percent of moms use their mobile devices to research or shop for clothing, followed by beauty at 47 percent.
• Moms are also likely to comparison shop using mobile devices in electronics stores and big-box retailers.
• 27 percent cited price comparisons as the leading reason for using their smartphone to shop; with 36 percent using apps to compare, and 19 percent interacting via bar codes or QR codes.

In order for marketers to break though the noise, they need to focus on asking moms what type of information they value and how they preferred to be communicated with. According to the survey, to receive marketing messages from their favorite brands, 52 percent of moms preferred text, and 44 percent chose email. As moms always tell us, “ask first,” and this should be the rule of thumb for marketers as well.

The bond between a mother and her mobile device is gaining momentum to be as strong as that with her child. Okay, maybe not that strong, but a surprising 22 percent of the moms surveyed said that they would choose to give up time with their kids for one month over not having their mobile device.

This Sunday many moms may be receiving new mobile devices for Mother’s Day. Retail and CPG marketers need to leverage the immediacy and personalization of mobile, enabling moms to control preferences of how they engage with brands while providing relevant content all year round. I wish you all a happy Mother’s Day, and remember to call your mother as text may not be her preferred channel on this day.

At the heart of the matter, the court ruled that calls to mobile phones must be done manually and not via any system with the capacity to make automated dials.  The challenge itself is quite simple.  How does an organization, charged with recovering debt from consumers, make enough ‘manual’ phone calls to a growing mobile population to reach enough consumers to actually make any money?

That is a pretty tough pill to swallow given that I can pick up my mobile phone and use a one touch speed dial to launch calls, or even download apps that allow for lists of numbers to be autodialed. Additionally, many phone systems built in the last 20 years have a similar capacity to autodial.  Although it seems nearly impossible to ensure that any call you make, from virtually any system or device, would not be launched from a system with the capacity to autodial; SoundBite provides a configuration with its telephony servers that will ONLY support manual dialing.  Furthermore, SoundBite enables its clients to keep the database that stores the numbers separate from the telephony components that are used to place the calls.

The solutions provided by SoundBite and other vendors are responses to the ruling, similar to those made years ago when preview dialing was first introduced.  Today, we are able to take this a step further.  Separation of servers, combined with the manual act of launching a call and requiring the agent to manage this call from ring to answer, may put these solutions in a position to provide protection in the event of litigation related to this ruling.  The question collections organizations will need to ask is whether or not they can be as productive having agents physically pick up a phone and dial versus using a solution that helps make the process more efficient and provides better reporting and tracking.

SoundBite continues to provide its clients with tools and solutions to help address today’s evolving compliance needs.  Learn more about SoundBite’s Compliance Suite and Cloud Predictive Dialer.

Retailers such as Meijer Supercenters and Kroger have significantly incorporated mobile into their customer communications and loyalty programs, and they have experienced excellent customer participation and high program ROI. Mobile marketing is a cost efficient, personalized addition to traditional marketing, such as print media, email, free standing insert (FSI), and direct mail marketing campaigns. Mobile’s most notable impact is on coupons, where 62% percent of consumers said they are now redeeming grocery and consumer retail goods-based coupons via mobile.

Mobile is unique as it requires a contact database of customers that have opted in to participate. By promoting mobile participation through text messaging, QR codes, mobile coupons, and in-store events, grocer marketers can drive more in-store traffic.

Mobile is a dynamic channel where a promotional campaign can be conceived and launched in minutes, not days or weeks like print and direct mail. This allows marketers to respond to their organizations’ unique demands and influence both store traffic and in-store purchase behavior, while leveraging the immediacy and location-based connectivity of a customer’s mobile phone.

Text is still more popular and reaches more users than push notifications within smartphone applications, offering a nearly universally-utilized channel with which to contact and influence consumers. A recent study by RadiumOne reports that 42% of consumers prefer text-based coupons over bar code scanning and push notifications.

Finally, mobile offers a great way to create a positive customer experience with proactive communications, such as recall notices, delivery notifications, and holiday store hours. Extending customer service beyond the walls of a store not only differentiates grocers, but creates a sense of care and convenience with shoppers that strengthen their loyalty.

As you shop the marketing aisles for ideas and decide from among the many campaign choices available, proceed to “check out” how mobile marketing can fill your cart. For grocers seeking to evolve to the next level of customer connectivity and receptivity, extend promotional reach, build greater engagement and loyalty among customers, and breathe new life into traditional marketing campaigns, mobile offers an abundance of choices. SoundBite works with many grocer marketers to identify, capture, incent, engage, and retain shoppers regardless of where they are, all based on the power of the mobile device.

A top tier mobile carrier in the US has been running a successful NPS campaign to improve customer satisfaction, identify detractors, and mitigate churn.  Using SoundBite’s Cross-Channel Survey Solution they are   delivering over 1 Million NPS surveys monthly via interactive text messages.  Customers that respond to the survey are segmented by their satisfaction levels, with low scored segments being escalated to SoundBite’s cloud predictive dialer.  This allows agents to be presented the consumers to dial that require quick resolution of their concerns and issues, therefore “closing the loop.” The survey has achieved a 21% response rate, with 97% of the responses received in the first 24 hours.  This enables prompt follow up with valued customers and the conversion of detractors into promoters.  To get started on your own closed-loop survey, follow the steps below.

4 Steps to an Effective Closed-Loop Survey Strategy

1. Implement a survey via the channel your customer has indicated he prefers.  Text, voice, email and web are all viable options.
2. Have business rules in place within your communications platform that will automatically segment out responses that fall under a specified satisfaction level.  These are your detractors who will need resolution from your “save team.”
3. Categorize the negative responses into separate programs by any number of filters: keywords, NPS score, etc. and deliver these detractors to live agents that can best service that consumer.  Detractors can be delivered in real-time to live agents, or after a set time period depending on the issue.
4. Use dialer technology like SoundBite’s cloud predictive dialer for live agents to follow up directly with the detractors.  The Agent Voice Portal contains specific customer data and can be enhanced with customized agent scripting.  Based on the program that the detractor is related to, the agent then has the language and customer details necessary to ensure the best possible chance to resolve the customer’s issue and retain their business.

Organizations that are focused on maximizing the customer experience are realizing that closed-loop surveys, featuring a dialer and a live agent to reach the detractors, is integral to protecting brand value.  Providing cross-channel customer service in the way that customers want to receive it will ultimately result in long-term customer satisfaction.  Try it yourself – text GSURVEY to 70650 to demo an interactive text survey. Standard message and data rates may apply.

Last week I spoke at the Telecommunications Risk Management Association (TRMA) Spring Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. My panel focused on TCPA and the audience’s questions ran the gamut: what is considered compliant under TCPA, what should companies be doing to remain compliant, the latest information about pending lawsuits, and finally, what the industry should do in an effort towards modernizing TCPA . The questions were inspired by lots of uncertainty and confusion still remaining in the industry. Despite the uncertainty, below are two things about TCPA that are fairly clear:

Question: Can I dial mobile numbers on an ATDS for informational purposes?
Answer: Informational and other calls that do not involve telemarketing can continue to be made under current rules of consent for calls made to wireless phones. Calls made by a wireless carrier to its own customers, without a charge for the call, remain exempt as well.

Question: Can I dial mobile numbers on an ATDS for sales and marketing purposes?
Answer: There is a Written Consent Requirement which requires callers to obtain prior express written consent from the called party before placing an autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing call to a wireless phone number.

If you are seeking clarity outside of the consent requirements above, or risk-free strategies, I am of the opinion that it does not exist in today’s environment. We are all hyper-focused on the question of “system capacity”. Show me a PBX that does not have the capacity to store telephone numbers or dial them, better yet, show me a smartphone that cannot do the same . . . Is this what is intended under 47 U.S.C. § 227? I think not.

The world was a very different place when the TCPA was passed by congress. A lot has changed since 1991 – communications being a big part of that change as there are more mobile phones in this country than there are people. I believe that although the TCPA is designed with the right purpose in mind – to strike a balance between protecting the rights of consumers and allowing businesses to use technology effectively – it is time to call for the modernization of these laws. It is time to stop calling consumers 1000 times and leaving 100 messages. It is time to make sure you have the right phone number and follow deactivation rules. It is time to allow technological advancements to be used in calling the most commonly contacted numbers on the planet, those belonging to mobile phones. It is time to find a new reality – and get with the times.

Disclaimer – John Tallarico is not an attorney and the views stated above are not intended as legal advice, guidance or opinion.

The CEM market that SoundBite now participates in is a result of our continued transformation. SoundBite has evolved our offerings over the last few years to enable our clients to take advantage of multi- and cross-channel communications to increase customer engagements, deliver a better overall customer experience and establish long term, profitable relationships with their consumers. Preference Management continues to be a strategic area of focus for the company as well capturing stated preferences, learning from observed behaviors, and delivering a better, more intelligent communication.

In addition to the conversation on CEM and Preference Management, we also posted another clip that goes a little deeper into some of the strategic initiatives covered in our Annual Report released last week and available on our website. Over the next few weeks you will be able to see additional clips of my conversation with Jim covering topics such as cross-channel surveys, mobile marketing in retail, and our focus on compliant communications.

SoundBite has been growing its Hosted Predictive Dialer business, both as a full replacement to traditional on-premise dialers as well as a complementary channel to Automated Voice Messaging and Interactive Mobile Messaging deployments. Many of the RFPs for dialers that we encounter now specify a cloud deployment model as optional or mandatory.

The ability to effectively and efficiently blend and escalate different types of calling, including predictive, preview or manual calling, across multiple channels (voice, text, web and email), provides clients with powerful strategies aimed at increasing consumer outreach and improving customer experience.

All of this supports the trend towards a Hybrid Contact Center, especially in larger companies that have made substantial investments in areas such as ACDs, IVRs and Workforce Management applications. Even in smaller companies or divisions of larger companies, a Hybrid Contact Center is a viable option since the core “nervous system”, aka the ACD/CTI infrastructure, may already be working effectively and be tightly integrated into the company’s core transactional systems.

SoundBite provides modules to integrate our multi-channel communications platform, SoundBite Engage^TM, into the CTI layer of Cisco, Genesys, and Avaya contact center infrastructures so that these investments are preserved and enhanced.

The Hybrid Contact Center has not only arrived, it is becoming the trend. If you would like to learn more, watch the video on our Contact Center Text Messaging Solution or visit SoundBite’s website.

There are still a lot of marketers out there who admit that they don’t know what they don’t know about mobile.  I overheard mobile being called “creepy,” by a rather high-ranking executive of an industry-leading brand. During my session, Laying the Mobile Foundation: Creating and Utilizing Mobile Databases for Loyalty Programs, I addressed this directly stating that mobile is NOT creepy as long as brands and providers comply with business rules, external regulations, and customer preferences.  This starts with gaining express consent, or opt-in, prior to messaging customers.

Watch how mobile opt-in for a loyalty program can be captured in this SoundBite User Experience Screencast I showed at the event:

I was asked during my session why some brands are apprehensive about mobile marketing, and my answer was:  resources. Internal resources are sparse, and sometimes things that should be a priority are not.  That is why working with a partner who can provide guidance and act as an extension of your team is so valuable.

To learn more about building a compliant opt-in mobile database, attend our webinar this Thursday, April 4^th, Maximizing Reach and Minimizing Risk: Compliance in Mobile Marketing.  Register here. http://www.sndb.it/1aeog.

But the truth of the matter is that before you can get to the cool, the cutting edge, and the engaging, you need to understand the foundation upon which your mobile marketing programs are built. When dealing with a marketing channel, like text, where there is financial risk in breaking the rules, the importance of understanding that foundation only increases.

Below I have broken down three major aspects of your mobile marketing campaigns that you should be focusing on from a compliance perspective:

1) Opt-In:  You would think that in 2013 the matter of obtaining express written consent from your customers would be something that was well understood by every company.  Unfortunately, as this $250 Million lawsuit against Papa John’s shows, that’s not always the case.  If you send a customer an email without the appropriate consent, you risk the email being deleted and negatively affecting their customer experience.   But if you send just one customer a text message without express written consent, not only will you risk their relationship with your brand, but also very real financial liabilities.

 2) Messaging Compliance:  Just obtaining opt-in from your customers is not enough. Whether you are aware of it or not, in the mobile world every single customer interaction has a set of rules and regulations that it must follow.  I won’t bore you with the whole list here, but you should become very familiar with this document.  If the mobile marketing platform you use does not explicitly enforce these rules, or if the vendor you work with seems unaware of these rules and can’t help advise you, it’s time to find another partner.

 3) Active Database Management:  Once you have obtained express written consent from your customers to communicate with them, you may think you’re in the clear.  But did you know that over 500,000 mobile numbers are deactivated, transferred, or recycled every single day in the U.S. alone?  That means that the mobile number that was opted into your campaign last month may now belong to a different individual, and if you deliver a message to it, you may be messaging someone who never gave you permission to message them at all.  Without actively managing your database against this daily list of deactivated numbers, the potential risk of being out of compliance significantly increases.

Want to learn more?  Along with a few others from the SoundBite team, I will be hosting a webinar with the MMA on the 4th of April titled Maximizing Reach and Minimizing Risk: Compliance in Mobile Marketing.  Register here. http://www.sndb.it/1aeog.