Re/Max leverages QR codes to mobilize business cards - Mobile Commerce Daily

Re/Max leverages QR codes to mobilize business cards 

April 23, 2013

Re/Max real estate agents are putting QR codes on their business cards to link homebuyers to relevant information and, ultimately, help close sales.

The QR code on an agent’s business card links to a mobile optimized landing page for that agent includes information such as the agent’s contact information, Web site address, location and date where the scan happened as wells as links to the agents LinkedIn page, mortgage calculators and all of the agent’s listings. Users who scan the QR code will also find a notes section and links to common referrals such as contractors and real estate lawyers.

“There is a real challenge going on in businesses across the country and that’s that there are industries like real estate specifically that have aging workforces but younger consumers,” said James Alexander, CEO of Vizibility Inc., New York.

“The average age of a real estate broker is 57 while the average age of a first time home buyer is 30, so you have a three decade gap here,” he said. “We want to buy things form people we connect with so it is not lost on brokers and agents that they need to bridge this gap if they are going to tap into this new generational market.

“It makes a ton of sense to have a link to a communication method that’s preferred by a different generation. It is all about building credibility and enabling that trust to happen more quickly.”

Technology experts
With millennials making up an important segment of homebuyers – they have the highest lifetime value of anyone buying homes today – real estate agents need to be mobile-savvy if they want to interact with these consumers.

Re/Max agents will be able to order the printed business cards through a centralized portal run by Vizibility and have the QR code and mobile content automatically included.

The goal is to make it easy for agents of any technical ability to take advantage of the mobile offering.

“How do you get folks who maybe are more entrenched in the technologies and processes that they understand, how do you get them to use new technologies?,” Mr. Alexander said.

“Re/Max is basically saying we are not going to make all of these agents become new technology experts,” he said. “We are going to integrate the ability to get this new mobile business card as part of the business card ordering process.”

The mobile connection
Agents can choose to share a variety of content with their customers, including a vcard, virtual tours, video bios and client testimonials. They will also be able to choose from 12 different business card designs.

While agents have to pay for the business cards – which is typical in the real estate industry – the hosted Mobile Business Cards with alerts and metrics is free as long as business cards are ordered at least once a year.

The mobile business card can also be used to streamline appointment scheduling with prospects and clients.

There are over 300 Re/Max real estate officers and over 4,000 agents across regions of the country, including Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Southern Ohio and Southeastern Michigan.

QR-code enabled mobile business cards are being adopted across a variety of industries, including accounting firms, law firms and manufacturing companies, per Mr. Alexander.

“Five percent of the top law firms in the world are using Vizibility and they have QR codes on their business cards,” Mr. Alexander said.

“This is another example where you have a situation where legal professionals want to share their online identities in an easy package but they also want to be tech savvy and mobile savvy to the people who are vetting them and looking to hire their services,” he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York

Passbook is standard for mobile wallets: Sumotext exec - Payments - Mobile Commerce Daily

Passbook is standard for mobile wallets: Sumotext exec - Payments - Mobile Commerce Daily

April 23, 2013

CHICAGO – A Sumotext executive at the Results 2013: Mobile Marketing Day last week said that Apple’s Passbook is helping marketers establish industry guidelines when it comes to mobile coupons and offers.

During the “Why SMS matters for retail and CRM” session, executives from Sumotext spoke about the best mobile practices and technologies for marketers to increase their number of subscribers. Additionally, the session presented a look at how to use SMS to drive loyalty and redemption rates.

“What I do like [about Apple] is that they didn’t wait for all of the payment stuff to shake out,” said Tim Miller, CEO ofSumotext, Little Rock, AK.

“We want to stake some ground on what’s a coupon going to look like, what’s a boarding pass going to look like,” he said.

“They really got to market first with a standard, and I think it’s going to be good for all of us,” he said.

Results 2013: Mobile Marketing Day was hosted by the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing. The event was co-sponsored by Microsoft, Sumotext and Mobile Marketer.

Pay with mobile
There are a slew of companies including ISIS, Square and Google that are going after mobile wallets.

Apple’s Passbook is a built-in application that lets consumers store loyalty cards, tickets and mobile coupons.

There are five different types of Passbook passes that can be made — boarding passes, tickets, store cards, coupons and generic passes.

There are also applications that put the passes on other devices, such as Android or Microsoft phones.

Pick a technology
In addition to mobile wallets, Mr. Miller spoke about three other types of technologies that marketers can use to grow a database and connect with consumers.

The first technology presented was Star Star codes, which are abbreviated dial codes that trigger an audio clip and SMS message to be sent to consumers with more information when they place a call. The technology can also be used to hone in on consumers at a local area.

The next technology is geofencing, which lets marketers set up boundaries around specific geographical areas that can be used to target consumers.

“If you have lots of locations, you have to think locally,” Mr. Miller said.

“The statistical differences you can make in response rates are dramatic when you do things like local relevance,” he said.

The final technology is MMS. Since messages are short, marketers can leverage multimedia to send longer pieces of content, such as terms and conditions, objects and slideshows.

Additionally, MMS can double the redemption rates for SMS, according to Mr. Miller.

SMS tactics
Mr. Miller also gave attendees six SMS best practice tactics.

The first tactic focuses on pushing versus pulling content. Instead of pushing an offer at a consumer, marketers should pull a message to get insights into a campaign.

For example, marketers can tell how many people were interested in the offer and how many offers retailers should be prepared to have redeemed.

Marketers should also aim to get something in return for sending a message, such as email addresses.

Messages should be personalized. Mentioning a consumers’ name in the message, for example, can help increase redemption rates.

Similarly, the fourth tip mentioned in the session was around context by using time and location to create relevant messages.

Encouraging consumers to share a message to friends and family helps take content viral, per Mr. Miller.

Finally, marketers should use SMS to integrate other marketing channels. This could include either getting a text message as a receipt or sending out shipping information.

“Text is really the base to get to everybody really quickly,” said John Styers, executive vice president at Sumotext.

“It matters because we still want to collect email addresses, we still want to collect attributes, [and] we still want to know stuff about these customers so that we can create and target marketing messages that are relevant and succinct,” he said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York

Yahoo hopes for mobile magic from new iOS apps - Mobile Marketer

Yahoo hopes for mobile magic from new iOS apps 

April 23, 2013

Yahoo continues to look for some mobile magic. However, is the company just pulling rabbits out of a hat as it struggles to regain relevancy in a world becoming less focused on desktops every day?

The online company has been struggling to redefine its role for some time, which became even more evident with last year’s appointment of new CEO Marissa Mayer, who joined the company from Google and is intent on building Yahoo’s mobile presence. So far, one of the most visible parts of the strategy has been reworking the company’s mobile applications, kicking some to the curb while introducing new ones, such as a new iOS flagship app as well as a weather app and a tablet email app for iOS.

“Even if the new apps don’t fly out of the app store, this is a very good sign that Yahoo is trying to evolve,” said Dave Martin, senior vice president of media at Ignited, El Segundo, CA.

“What Yahoo has historically struggled with is a lack of innovation in social and mobile media,” he said. “It’s pretty impressive that it was able to integrate Summly so quickly.

“This is a great sign that it wants to get ahead of trends instead of chasing them.”

Adoption is keyYahoo is leveraging mobile apps to make its various services more appealing and accessible to the growing number of consumers using smartphones to check the weather, stay in touch with friends and keep up on the news.

The stronger mobile focus is already producing some positive results for Yahoo. During a recent conference call with analysts to discuss Yahoo’s first quarter financial results, Ms. Mayer said that Yahoo’s mobile services now attract about 300 million monthly visitors, up from 200 million at the end of last year.

Similar to other traditional desktop companies trying to adjust to growing mobile use, Yahoo is struggling to turn its mobile traffic into ad revenues as mobile ads typically command lower prices than desktop ads.

Yahoo also faces significant competition on the mobile front from Google and Facebook, which dominate a large percentage of the mobile ads being delivered.

Yahoo’s success in mobile advertising will depend on if it can continue to build its mobile user base.

“It really depends on the adoption,” Mr. Martin said. “If no one downloads or uses the new apps, it will remain a tough sell.

“Advertisers need both reach and engagement and they can’t do that without a significant installed base of users,” he said.

“That said, Summly is a very sticky technology that could lead to a lot of new native ad inventory for Yahoo.”

News summariesThe new flagship iOS app for Yahoo incorporates technology from the $30 million Summly acquisition the company made a month ago.

The new iOS app for Yahoo uses Summly’s natural-language algorithms and machine learning to deliver summaries of news articles from a variety of sources, with users able to select topics they want more of. The app also features a virtually endless newsfeed, stronger imagery and improved video and image search.

The move comes as Yahoo is reportedly looking for a closer relationship with Apple that could see the two companies integrating more products.

Yahoo also has a new weather app.

Weather apps are hugely popular with mobile users, which has helped The Weather Channel attract some big name advertisers to its mobile app.

Yahoo! Weather for iOS devices is a well-stocked app with features such as heat maps, interactive satellite displays and weather images relevant to the users area that are pulled from Flickr. This is in addition to the information users expect, such as temperatures, precipitation amounts and extended outlooks.

The latest Yahoo apps to be shown the door include Upcoming, Yahoo Deals, Yahoo SMS Alerts and Yahoo Kids.

“The release of these new and updated apps is absolutely the right track for Yahoo,” said Dan Roche, vice president of marketing at TalkPoint, New York. “It is significant for them to get real product into people’s hands and show consumers that they are dedicated to enhancing their offerings.

“Marissa Mayer has made it clear that the company is entering a new era more dedicated to creating beautiful products that are well made,” he said. “The new email and weather apps show a dedication to meeting people where they are and making their experience more enjoyable.

“In addition, by incorporating Summly into their product line, they are demonstrating progressive action and a dedication to the new.”

Final TakeChantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York 

Social Media Attracts, Drives Purchases for Moms

Social Media Attracts, Drives Purchases for Moms

April 22, 2013 by MarketingCharts staff

Mothers are 20% more likely than the general population to use social media, according to [pdf] a report from BabyCenter and comScore. Beyond major sites such as Facebook and YouTube, young mothers (18-34) have higher reach than the general online population on other platforms such as Instagram (27% vs. 15%) and Pinterest (24% vs. 15%). An accompanying survey of expectant women and mother with kids up to 8 years old finds that 59% report having bought something because a brand posted a coupon or other offer on a social network.

44% have made a purchase due to a friend liking or posting about the brand on a social network, 32% because they saw a picture on Pinterest, and almost 1 in 4 on account of seeing a sponsored ad on a social network.

Mothers who are very active on social networks (defined as the top 20% of social networking mothers aged 18-49) are indeed active online purchasers. Compared to the general online adult population, they’re 96% more likely to have made an online food and beverage purchase, 73% more likely to have spent on movies and videos, 61% more likely to have bought apparel, and 82% more likely to have made an online purchase in the toys and games category.

Marketers looking to reach mothers on social media will likely find coupons or discounts to be a good way to attract them. Expectant women and mothers with kids aged up to 8 are 42% more likely than the general online population to say they like or follow brands on social media due to coupons and discounts (78% vs. 55%). They’re also 43% more likely to follow brands because they have bought or used the brand (40% vs. 28%), and 26% more likely to do so because they want to find out about new products early on (43% vs. 34%).

Other Findings:

• Expectant women and mothers of young children are 49% more likely than the general online population sample to own a smartphone (81% vs. 54%), 30% more likely to own a tablet (52% vs. 40%), and 65% more likely to have a streaming TV subscription (49% vs. 30%).
• 73% use parenting social media for brand and product recommendations.
• 45% are communicating more through social media and emailing less frequently.
• These women are more likely to check Facebook and text messages first thing in the morning, and less likely to check their email.
• 36% of these respondents say they have more than 250 Facebook friends, compared to 23% of the general population sample.

About the Data: The study describes its methodology as follows:

“The findings in BabyCenter’s 2013 Social Mom Report are the result of qualitative research including social media diaries, in-depth survey research among over 1,480 moms and other online adults, and a behavioral and secondary analysis with comScore covering e-commerce habits and social analytics. Fourteen new and expectant moms were recruited from across the United States via Facebook, Twitter, and BabyCenter and asked to keep social media diaries documenting their daily online activities and how much time was spent. BabyCenter also held in-home friendship groups in Chicago and San Francisco. Additionally, BabyCenter partnered with Socratic Forum to field an in-depth survey of more than 1,480 individuals including 928 expectant women or moms with kids up to 8 years old as well as 552 other online adults (referred to as general population) using Socratic’s online panel. Finally, comScore analyzed online behaviors of moms 18 to 34 and the top 20% of social moms age 18 to 49 compared to internet users 18+ (general population) in terms of e-commerce online spending by category, as well as social analytics including social brand exposure and referrals.”

QR codes may not be visually appealing but they work

QR codes may not be visually appealing but they work

Though people don’t typically like the way they look, they are still scanning them, study.

QR codes are being used on a rapidly increasing basis for mobile marketing purposes, and the results of a recently conducted study have shown that as much as people don’t find them attractive, they are still using them.

The results of this research are in direct contrast to many who doubt the effectiveness of the barcodes.

Among the various industries where there has been the highest use of QR codes by mobile marketers and yet the largest amount of controversy, is tourism. While some marketers are fully convinced that the barcodes are a cost effective marketing tool that is appealing to consumers and that produces results, others feel that they are simply a fad that is not worthy of being included in their advertising.

A recent trial program for QR codes was just implemented to help to judge their effectiveness.

In order to be able to judge the effectiveness of using QR codes, Ruidoso Tourism started to test them using two different methods. The first method was including them in print advertising in order to help to draw attention to the launch of the company’s new website. The barcodes were issued in various different publications, and depending on the publication in which they were printed, the themes of the ads themselves were different.

Some of the QR codes were linked to outdoor activities such as winter sports, trails, or attractions. For instance, the barcode that was published in Wild West magazine linked to the Lincoln County History page. Those print ads generated 1000 scans, which was well within the success bracket designated by the marketers.

The other barcodes were printed on restaurant menus. Their goal was to promote restaurants within specific areas. A page was created for a range of different restaurants at the destinations, and each one was assigned its own unique QR codes. When the barcodes were scanned, they led to reviews and images of the meals, as well as additional information about the restaurants such as their specific locations. At the high point of the marketing campaign, there were 35 restaurants included in the listings. Within the designated time period, those barcodes were scanned more than 1,500 times.

Chico’s drives engagement, charitable giving via mobile-optimized microsite - Mobile Commerce Daily

Chico’s drives engagement, charitable giving via mobile-optimized microsite 

April 22, 2013

Chico’s FAS Inc. is driving engagement for its Chico’s, White House Black Market, Soma Intimates and Boston Proper retail brands, while also raising funds for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals via a new multichannel campaign that includes a mobile-optimized microsite.

On the Send a Smile microsite as well as on the Facebook page for each brand, users can create a card that will be printed and delivered to a child being treated in a local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Chico’s FAS will donate $1 for every card created up to $50,000.

“We aspire to leverage all of our digital capabilities – Web sites, social, mobile – whenever possible,” said Jessica Well, vice president of social marketing at Chico’s FAS, New York.

“We want our customers to be able Send A Smile anytime, anywhere,” she said. “The interactive card creator feature of the campaign has been scaled to fit the small screen for ease of use and convenience.

“With this campaign, we believe that you don’t have to be on your desktop to do good.”

Easy participation
Chico’s FAS created the multi-faceted campaign as a call-to-action for new and existing customers, recognizing that mobile and social media make it easier participate in programs such as this.

Participants who create a card on Send a Smile site can share the experience via Facebook, Twitter, email, Google+ and Pinterest.

Users can also tap a button on the site to watch a video about the Children’s Miracle Network from their mobile device.

The campaign is being promoted via posts on social sites, the retailer’s branded ecommerce sites, via email and with in-store signage and handouts.

The Send A Smile campaign was launched in partnership with digital engagement agency ePrize. This is the second year Chico’s is running the program.

“As with many of today’s campaigns – whether for a social cause, product promotion, or educational purpose – to stay competitive you must be mobile,” said David Wachs, senior vice president of mobile at ePrize, Chicago.

“With that in mind, clearly mobile plays a major role in the overall ‘Send a Smile’ campaign,” he said. “Mobile helps to make the participation process incredibly convenient for the consumer.

“You can send a card with 4 easy touches or clicks, and do that on the go. Send a Smile’s mobility makes for a campaign that is easy, fun and seamless for consumers to use anytime, anywhere.”

Mobile a requirement
Last year, Chico’s hit its 50,000 card and $50,000 donation goal for the Send A Smile campaign in just two weeks.

The Send a Smile microsite is part of a larger effort designed to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals during April and May. This is Chico’s third May is for Miracles campaign.

The campaign also includes an in-store element, with Chico’s selling a limited-edition Miracle Bracelet starting April 18 that is available in boutiques, outlets and online for $20, with $10 from the sale benefitting local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. White House Black Market is also joining in with its own Creating Miracles Bracelet.

Additionally, Soma Intimates will donate 50 percent of the proceeds from sales of its Sensualities Collection during May to local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals while Boston Proper will donate 10 percent of proceeds from its Travel Collection.

Last year, Chico’s FAS raised over $1.3 million for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Chico’s FAS operates 611 Chico’s boutiques and 100 outlets as well as 406 White House Black Market boutiques and 48 outlets, 197 Soma Intimates boutiques and 16 outlets and 2 Boston Proper boutiques.

“Mobile is a major component, especially related to usability and accessibility,” Ms. Wells said.

“Mobile and tablet adoption is nearly ubiquitous at this point, so ensuring that the microsite experience is seamless on mobile is not a nice to have, it’s a requirement,” she said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York

How To Make Your Field Workforce Truly Mobile

How To Make Your Field Workforce Truly Mobile

by Jen Cohen Compton

From utility and telecommunications professionals, to engineers, retail associates and professional services, field workforce personnel are more than just what you think of in terms of a typical cable person. Field service professionals can work in a variety of industries and because of their offsite work style, going mobile can do more than just provide convenience.

According to the predictions of industry experts, technicians with wireless access to a formal packaged field service management solution in a large enterprise will increase to approximately 50 percent by the end of 2013. This observation is largely based on the spectrum of benefits that accompany CRM and Work manager mobile apps that can reduce costs, boost service levels, and increase service revenue.

If you’re thinking of deploying a Field Service Mobile Strategy, here are ten questions to ask that will help you know if you should make the leap.

• Do you have a portion of your workforce working outside of the office?

• Does your out-of-the-office workforce need to communicate with the back office for projects and service delivery?

• Do your field workers ever get lost or need assistance finding job sites?

• Do your field service workers need to report their time and travel, and submit expense reports?

• Is your field service profitability affected by the rising costs of fuel and/or vehicle maintenance?

• Could your field service workforce benefit from collaboration with those in the office and other field service workers?

• Would specific data collected onsite at projects be helpful to improve your business functions or bottom line?

• Do you need to quickly document projects and provide documentation to the office and end-user?

• Do you currently use a customer relationship management tool (CRM)?

• Would you like to collect instant feedback from clients and completed projects?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you may have an urgent need to support your field service workers with a mobile strategy and full-service solution.