Did you know that nearly 4% of all text messages received by Canadians are sent by brands using a Canadian short code? One of those brands utilizing SMS marketing in Canada is the retailer Hudson’s Bay Company.

While we’ve seen a lot of brands using their websites to opt-in consumers, this is the first time we’ve seen a brand ask which language (English or French) a consumer would like to receive their SMS messages in. If you ask me, that’s pretty cool!

Are you in Canada, opt-in to Hudson’s Bay Mobile program by texting ONEDAY to 22322 on your mobile phone. Are you a brand in Canada looking to launch your own text messaging campaign? Contact us at Tatango and let us help you setup your own Canadian short code.

Are you a restaurant that’s looking to grow your email subscriber database? If you are, have you ever considered using text message marketing to collecting new email addresses from your customers? Did you know that 5% of all emails collected by Chuck E. Cheese come from customers texting their email addresses to the SMS short code 35505? It’s true!

We recently found another restaurant collecting email addresses through the use of a text message marketing campaign, and this time it was Applebee’s. The text message call-to-action appears in their menu, instructing customers to text their zip code and email address to the random SMS short code 22337. By doing so, they’re opting-in to receive emails from Applebee’s regarding their latest news, offers and a FREE treat on your birthday. You can see the text message advertisement in the menu below.

When you text message your zip code and email address to the SMS short code 22337, you’ll receive the following text message response from Applebee’s.

While text messaging is surely a great way to grow a restaurant’s email subscribers, restaurants have to make a decision upfront about what they’re going to do with their customer’s mobile phone numbers. In the case of Chuck E. Cheese, they decided that they only wanted to use the customer’s mobile phone number as a method to opt customers more easily into their email program.

In the case of Applebee’s, their intent changes, as their call-to-action in the menu tells customers that by texting their zip code and email address to the SMS short code 22337, customers are opting-in to receive emails from Applebee’s regarding their latest news, offers and a FREE treat on your birthday. What Applebee’s isn’t telling their customers is that by texting their zip code and email address to the SMS short code 22337, they’re also opting in to receive up to 4 text messages from the restaurant per month, as it says in the text message received by the customer.

While I doubt Applebee’s is trying to mislead their customers, there’s a big disconnect between what the call-to-action is telling customers, and what actually happens when they interact with the short code 22337. This type of confusion can lead to CTIA short code audits, or even a Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuit, as customers that interacted with the short code 22337, never gave their permission to be sent text message advertisements.

If Applebee’s was a client of mine, and they weren’t able to re-print their menus, I’d most likely recommend that the response received when a customer text messages their zip code and email address to the SMS short code 22337, be an SMS auto-reply. This type of SMS campaign doesn’t opt customers into receiving future SMS advertisements. If Applebee’s was still interested in collecting customer’s mobile phone numbers, I’d have them instruct customers in the SMS auto-reply, to reply with another keyword, or some type of affirmative (YES, Y, etc.), which would then opt the customer into receiving future SMS advertisements from Applebee’s. Applebee’s may even want to throw in some sort of incentive for customers to opt-in for future messages, like 10% of their next meal, as we’ve seen this is one of the fastest ways to grow new SMS subscribers. By separating the email opt-in from the SMS opt-in, Applebee’s is making it very clear to their customers what exactly they’re giving their consent for. This method is further explained in a video I did awhile back, which can be viewed here.

This issue illustrates a good point in that there’s usually two parts to an SMS marketing campaign, the call-to-action for the SMS marketing campaign (usually displayed in print, web, email, social, radio, television, etc.), and the actual text messages that make up the SMS marketing campaign. Most brands will consult with an SMS marketing expert on the copy that is placed within a text message, but I’ve seen time and time again that many brands forget to get consult that same SMS marketing expert on the call-to-action. If an SMS marketing expert isn’t involved in crafting both the call-to-action and the text messaging copy, issues like we see here with Applebee’s are surely bound to happen.

When it comes to advertising your SMS contest, the more visible the contest call-to-action is, the better. Check out a recent SMS contest run by BODYARMOR, which was strategically placed in-store above the fridge that hold drinks for sale. In the SMS contest call-to-action BODYARMOR instructs consumers to text 27super to the SMS short code 63566 to be entered to win a Mike Trout signed baseball.

Looking case studies on how brands are using an SMS contest to engage consumers? Check out how Provident Films used their SMS contest powered by Tatango to generate 50,000 entries, or how the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas achieved a 60% opt-in rate from consumers engaging with their SMS contest.

One of the biggest questions we get asked by marketers at Tatango is where they should be advertising their SMS promotions? The simple answer is everywhere, but some marketers need some examples to get their creative juices flowing. Luckily for them, we have a pretty good example today to share with our readers from our friends at Seamless, who took to the streets of New York City when advertising their new SMS promotion.

As you’ll see in the two images below,  Seamless advertised their SMS promotion, which was an offer to receive $5 off food delivery in the New York City area, on the digital screens in the back of New York City taxi cabs. The advertisement told taxi riders to text “DISH” to the SMS short code 467467 to receive the SMS promotion.

Speaking of SMS and app marketing, have you checked out our guest post on HasOffers, where we explain how to track app downloads from traditional advertising? It’s a good read for an app marketer looking to not only increase app downloads, but more importantly track the source of each app download.

When it comes to promoting your SMS marketing campaign, there’s no better place than in the middle of New York City’s Times Square. Reader’s Digest knows this, so when it came time to advertise their SMS marketing campaign, they did so on a billboard in Times Square.

The billboard is below, and instructs people to text “ReadUp” to 51684 on their mobile phone for a free digital issue of Reader’s Digest.

When people text the SMS keyword “ReadUp”, to the SMS short code 51684, they’re sent an SMS auto-reply, which you can see below. This SMS auto-reply links the person to http://www.rd/free, where they can get their free digital issue of Reader’s Digest.

This SMS marketing campaign is a great example of a brand using Smart Keywords, as both “ReadUp” without a space, and “Read Up” with a space are recognized, and trigger the SMS auto-reply. With 9% of consumers putting a space between two words used in an SMS keyword, it’s essential that your SMS provider utilizes Smart Keywords to make sure everyone can participate in your SMS marketing campaign.

At Tatango we’re constantly asked about why we blog so much. While we love to share news about Tatango, the SMS marketing industry, our clients, etc., the biggest reason why we blog is to teach marketers about SMS marketing. This allows marketers that read our blog, to benefit from the lessons learned from the SMS marketing campaigns that have come before. One of the most frustrating parts though about blogging for this reason, is that many of the mistakes we’ve written about in the past, are still being made by marketers. For example, New York & Company.

New York & Company actually made two very common SMS marketing mistakes, both of which we’ve written about numerous times in the past on this blog.

Below is the advertisement for New York & Company’s SMS marketing campaign, which was posted on their Facebook fan page, which you can find here.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you should be able to quickly point out their two SMS marketing mistakes, but for new readers, i’ll break it down for you below.

#1 Mistake – Using letters instead of numbers when advertising your SMS short code, which we’ve written about in the past here. Brands have to remember that SMS marketing is still a new concept for many consumers, and telling customers to text a word to a word, can can be very confusing, especially for newbies. Our advice, always use number when advertising your short code to avoid any confusion.

#2 Mistake - Putting quotation marks around your SMS keyword when advertising the call-to-action, or if you’re going to use quotation marks, be sure that your SMS platform accepts keywords with and without quotation marks. Why is this important? Well if you’re advertising your SMS keyword with quotation marks around it, you can be sure that a percentage of consumers will be texting your SMS keyword with those same quotation marks around it.

If your SMS marketing platform isn’t smart enough to recognize this, like you can see below in the screenshot I took when I texted “SAVE” to 697895, you’re going to missing out on new SMS subscribers, as they will be unable to opt-in. With retailers reporting an average of $529 in increased annual sales for each new SMS subscriber, brands don’t want to be missing out on new subscribers because of the fact that they used quotation marks in their SMS keyword, or their SMS platform isn’t smart enough to recognize that they’re all one in the same. Tatango clients don’t need to worry about this though, as we were the first ones to implement this type of smart opt-in keyword technology.

Since we’re talking about common SMS marketing advertising mistakes that we’ve written about in the past, lets review some of the others, to make sure you don’t make these same mistakes when advertising your own campaign.

#1 Don’t combine two words to make an SMS keyword, or if you’re going to do it, make sure your SMS marketing platform is smart enough to know that those two words with, or without a space, should trigger the same opt-in. Why? We found that 9% of consumers opting into an SMS campaign will put a space between two words used as an SMS keyword, even if it’s advertised as one word without a space. Tatango clients don’t need to worry about this, as we were the first ones to implement this technology on our platform.

#2 Be mindful of the autocorrect when selecting an SMS keyword. Read more.

#3 Be sure to give a reason in the call-to-action as to why consumers would want to interact with your SMS marketing campaign. Read more.

#4 Don’t use confusing characters in your SMS keyword. See example.

#5 Make sure you watch this video to learn the five basic strategies for picking an SMS keyword.

#6 Avoid selecting a vanity SMS short code with three consecutive numbers. Learn why this can be disastrous to your SMS marketing campaign.

#7 Always incentive an opt-in by doing some type of promotion. Don’t believe us? See how Julep used this method to gain 5,000 new SMS subscribers in only 24 hours.

#8 Never… Never… Never ever, pull an SMS marketing bait-n-switch on your customers. Want some examples of brands that have done this, check out Dazbog Coffee, or Pro Cuts.

As we said above, the reason we love to blog here at Tatango is to make sure brands can learn from the mistakes of past SMS marketing campaigns, so as to not repeat them in the future. Hopefully you’ve learned a thing or two here that will help you with your own SMS marketing campaign. If you still have questions, or need advice on launching your own SMS marketing campaign, be sure to contact us.

Like many retailer brands, Macy’s has a mobile app. Unlike many retailers though, Macy’s is using text messaging to make the app download process easier on their customers.

As you can see below, Macy’s is instructing customers on their website that are interested in downloading their app, to text the SMS keyword “APP” to the short code 62297.

When a customer does this, they receive an SMS auto-reply with a link to find and download the app on their mobile device. The text message that is received in response to texting “APP” to 62297 is below. Macy’s isn’t new to text message marketing either, check out this post we did last year about a text-to-win campaign they were running in-store, in conjunction with NBC’s Fashion Star television show. 

Looking for other examples of brands using text messaging to make the app download process more simple for consumers? First check out this post we did on 29 brands that are using text messaging on their websites to make the app download process easier. Then check out the following brands using text messaging in traditional media to gain additional downloads of their apps. Then once you’ve absorbed all of that, read this article I wrote for HasOffers, on how to use text messaging to track ROI of marketing spend in traditional advertising for mobile apps.

• Pirq
• Turner Sports
• RetailMeNot
• ShopKick
• Target

Looking for examples of brands using text message marketing? If so, this is your lucky day! The team at Tatango has created this blog post to highlight the top 100 text message marketing campaigns, and how to opt-in to each one. This list includes text message marketing campaigns from restaurants, retailers, hotels & casinos, news outlets, nonprofits and many other industries. So without further ado…

#01 - Abercrombie & Fitch

Text JOIN to 231892 to receive Abercrombie & Fitch’s text messages.
website, terms, etc.

#02 - Aerie

Text FRIENDS to 23743 to receive Aerie’s text messages.
website, terms, etc.

#03 - Aeropostale

Text JOIN to 237687 (AERO87) to receive Aeropostale’s text messages.
website, terms, etc.

This is a pretty cool use of text messaging by DIRECTV. When a viewer stumbles across a TV channel that they don’t have access to, or they’re interested in a pay-per-view movie or event, one of the options given to viewers is to text the word “ORDER” to 22322.

When interested viewers text “ORDER” to 22322 on their mobile phone, they’re sent back an SMS auto-reply, asking for information about what they’re interested in purchasing, and the phone number associated with their account. Pretty cool way to use an SMS autoresponse!

Staples, the office supply chain store, with over 2,000 stores worldwide in 26 countries has just launched their own text message marketing campaign. While other office supply chain stores like Office Depot and OfficeMax have had text message marketing campaigns for awhile now, this is the first text message marketing campaign for Staples.You can see Staples text message marketing advertisement found in-store below.

When a customer texts JOIN to 555444, they’ll receive the following text message, prompting them to visit a mobile website to complete the opt-in process.

By clicking on the link within the text message, customers are taken to a mobile website asking for the customer’s first name, last name, email address, and to agree to their text message marketing terms & conditions. After a customer fills in the required information on the mobile website, they’re sent a text message confirmation, which you can see below. Then after 24 hours, the new SMS subscriber is sent the coupon, which gives them $5 off their next purchase of $25 or more, which you can also see below.

Like Staples has done with their text message marketing campaign, it’s always important to offer some sort of incentive for customers to opt-in to the text message marketing program. In the case of Staples, they offered a $5 discount, on a purchase of $25 or more for customers that opted-in to their text message marketing campaign. Should Staples be concerned about customers opting in, then opting out after receiving the initial promotion? From past campaigns we’ve run at Tatango, we’ve found that this only happens on average with 2.3% of mobile subscribers. This is a small price to pay when each and every new mobile subscribers can generate a significant amount of new sales for a business. Take for example Ace Hardware, where each and every new mobile subscriber generates up to $529 in new yearly sales for their business.

Thinking about using MMS marketing to reach your customers? Before you hit send on your MMS marketing campaign, please check for one common mistake, which we continue to see brands making when using MMS marketing.

As you can see below, Avenue, a clothing retailer sent out the following MMS promotion.

When a customer clicks on the image, it displays the following.

See the link in the bottom right of the screen that we highlighted, which says “SHOP NOW”? The problem is that MMS messages are images, and unlike websites, MMS images aren’t clickable, therefore this “link” isn’t clickable. The image used in this MMS message is most likely an image they used on their mobile website, where a customer could click on the link, but they didn’t think to change the image when sending it in their MMS message. So the lesson here is, always review the images/videos you send in an MMS message, as you can’t be instructing customers to click on anything to take action.

Another great thing to remember with MMS marketing is that just because you have the option to send an image, doesn’t mean you have to. For an example of brand that didn’t learn this lesson, check out this blog post.

Are you looking for an SMS marketing case study from an online retailer? Look no further, as Mainline Menswear has been using SMS promotions to increase website traffic, and the results they’ve been able to achieve have been pretty impressive.One SMS promotion in particular that Mainline Menswear sent to customers regarding their Boxing Day 2013 sale, produced a 27% rise in overall website traffic, a 45% rise in direct website traffic and a very impressive 93% rise in mobile website traffic, when compared to 2012.

Not only did Mainline Menswear use SMS to send out mobile promotions to their customers, they also used SMS messaging to alert customers of failed orders. By alerting customers to a failed order with a simple SMS messages, Mainline Menswear was able to increase the chance of customers replacing their failed orders.

To view the full case study on Text Marketer, click here. Looking for another great online retail SMS marketing case study? Check out how Julep used Tatango to generate 5,000 mobile opt-ins in the first 24 hours of their SMS campaign.

Have you heard about Lay’s Potato Chips campaign to find their next chip flavor? Well if you’ve purchased a bag of Lay’s Potato Chips, you’ll see the potato chip company asking fans to submit their flavor of choice on the back of each potato chip bag.

There’s two options for fans to submit their proposed flavors, the first being visiting www.dousaflavor.com, and the second being texting the SMS keyword FLAVOR to the SMS short code 24477. You can see what this looks like on the back of a Lay’s Potato Chip bag in the image below. What a cool way for Lay’s Potato Chips to engage fans and get more submissions for their campaign!

Have you been watching Farmed & Dangerous, an original series developed by Chipotle on Hulu? If so, you most likely would have noticed that the show is running an SMS trivia campaign, with the chance to win a buy one, get one free offer from Chipotle. The SMS trivia campaign is advertised during commercial breaks for the show, as you can see below.

When viewers text “BADMILK” to 30364, they’ll go through a series of SMS trivia questions, as you can see below. After the three trivia questions have been asked and answered, the viewer is encouraged to reply “REMIND” to get SMS alerts about new episodes.

After viewers have successfully answered all three SMS trivia questions about the specific episode, they’re entered to win a buy one, get one free burrito offer from Chipotle. If the viewer is a lucky winner, they’ll receive the following text message coupon below.

When the viewer clicks the link in the text message, they’re taken to a mobile coupon, which you can see below.

To find out more about Farmed & Dangerous SMS trivia, you can visit their website here: www.farmedanddangerous.com/#/trivia 

When it comes to a brand switching SMS short codes on their subscribers, most of the time the message sent to subscribers is pretty boring. While the CTIA guidelines require some certain disclosures when migrating SMS subscribers from one short code to another, they definitely don’t require you to make the message boring. Wet Seal decided to spice up their message to SMS subscribers, by putting in a little bit of humor that would appeal to their target demographic. What do you think, good idea? Let us know in the comments below.

Confused as to what a short code is? Check out this video.

Pretty cool use of text messaging alerts being used by The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). Now passengers can text “CTABUS”, plus the bus stop ID, a three digit number advertised on each bus stop, to the short code 41411. In return, the bus rider will receive a text message alert with an estimated arrival time.

As you can see in the bus stop sign below, riders are able to text “CTABUS 548″ to the short code 41411, in order to receive a text message alert with an estimated arrival time for that specific bus stop. Pretty cool use of SMS alerts huh?

If you’re subscribed to a brand’s SMS marketing campaign, you most likely received a text message promotion during the Memorial weekend. Why? Along with honoring the men and women that fight for our freedom here in the United States, almost every brand had some sort of promotion or sale taking place. Many brands including Tommy Bahamas, Macy’s, Michaels, JoAnn Fabrics, Toys “R” Us, Reebok, and all sent out text message promotions to their customers.

Below is a roundup of the brands, and the text message marketing promotions, that each brand sent their SMS subscribers.

#1 Tommy Bahamas

#2 Julep

#3 Toys “R” Us

#4 STAGE

#5 NY&C

#6 Michaels

#7 MGM Grand Resort

#8 Macy’s

#9 Kwik Trip

#10 HomeTown Buffet

#11 Aerie

#12 Kirkland’s

#13 JoAnn Fabrics

#14 BELK

#15 Babies “R” Us

#16 7-11

#17 Reebok Outlet Stores

#18 Payless Shoes

#19 Mandalay Bay Resort

When we talk to brands here at Tatango about launching a text message marketing campaign, a frequent question we get asked is where should the brand be promoting their campaign? Our answer is always everywhere, but it’s nice to have a really good example of a brand that is taking our advice when promoting their text message marketing campaign.

Hidden Valley Ranch recently launched a text message marketing campaign to send parents simple food ideas, recipes and activities. What’s really impressive is the many different places around the web that this brand is promoting their campaign. You can see them promoting their campaign on their website, where they’re encouraging parents to text RANCH to 40679 to enroll in the text messaging program. They didn’t stop there though…

Hidden Valley Ranch has been advertising their text messaging program for parents in videos posted to their Facebook fan page.

They’re also using images posted to their Facebook fan page to promote the text message marketing program for Hidden Valley Ranch, as you can see below.

Hidden Valley Ranch has even create a specific page on their Facebook fan page, encouraging parents to enter their mobile phone number to opt-in to receive Hidden Valley text messages. You can visit this page, by clicking here.

Hidden Valley Ranch is also using Twitter to promote their text messaging campaign, telling Twitter followers to text RANCH to 40679 to receive mobile tips, in addition to be entered to win $1,000!

 What happens when someone texts RANCH to 40679? Hidden Valley Ranch is running a campaign requiring an SMS double opt-in, so after someone texts RANCH to 40679, they’re asked to reply “YES” to confirm that they’d like to receive text messages from Hidden Valley Ranch. It also reminds you in the SMS double opt-in message that by replying Y, you’ll also have the chance to win that $1,000.

When you reply “YES” after texting RANCH to 40679, you’ll receive the following confirmation from Hidden Valley Ranch that you’ve been successfully opted into their text message marketing campaign, in addition to being entered to win that $1,000.

Great job Hidden Valley Ranch in using so many different internet channels to advertise your new text messaging program, keep up the good work!

Are you a big fan of the WWE? If so, you’re in luck, as you can now sign up to receive text message alerts to your mobile phone directly from the WWE! How? It’s pretty simple, all you have to do is text the word NEWS to 59907 on your mobile phone. That’s it! Check out the ad below that’s on the WWE website, encouraging WWE fans to opt-in to receive their text message alerts.

When you text NEWS to 59907, you’ll receive the following text message, which confirms that your joining the WWE text message news alerts, and will receive up to 3 messages a day.

Don’t want to receive WWE text message alerts anymore, it’s super easy to opt-out. To opt-out of WWE text message alerts, simply text STOP to the short code 59907. For more information on this text message alert program, click here.

Are you a brand that is constantly launching new products? If so, it would definitely be a good idea to take a few minutes to see how Mac Cosmetics is using text messaging to launch new products, such as their Sharon & Kelly Osbourne line.

The text message below was sent to all of Mac Cosmetics’ SMS subscribers, encouraging them to shop the collection by clicking on the link within the text message.

When SMS subscribers clicked on the link, they’re taken to a nice mobile optimized shopping experience, as you can see below. When launching a new product, it’s all about getting attention, and getting that attention fast. By launching any new product with a text message announcement you’re gaurenteeing your customers will see the announcement, and see if fast. Why? Text messages have a 99% open rate, and the average text message is read within 3 minutes of being received!

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