How to Ruin Mobile Marketing

Last week I received my first-ever push marketing message on my cell phone. If this is the best the industry has to offer, mobile marketing is going to be absolutely worthless, after all.

AT&T Free Msg
Discover xxxxxxx, the service that lets u hear gr8 music when u want it. Try it free for 5 days! Std data rates apply. Send stop to 2392 to end mktg msgs.

I immediately noticed 4 things about this message.

1. It was uninvited
2. It was unwelcome
3. I don't know for certain it was actually "free" as the message claimed
4. I don't know that sending "stop" to 2392 will actually end all future marketing messages

Before the CAN-SPAM Act, people were wary of invitations to unsubscribe from unsolicited emails, because often, "unsubscribing" confirmed to devious marketers that their email address database was valid.

As a reminder of these "bad old days," I have a Hotmail account that still gets spammed unmercifully, even though Microsoft periodically deletes my account for not accessing it often enough.

To ruin mobile marketing, all companies have to do is keep sending messages that aren't wanted, aren't expected, and otherwise remind people of the spam that cut down on productivity so much that it motivated Congress to pass a law to fix it (and even then it doesn't work that well).

Looks like we're off to a great start. - Cam Beck

Comments

[Michael Lombardi]

This SMS spam is ridiculous. The biggest difference between email and mobile spam is that email spam generally only costs someone time (which certainly equals productivity), whereas mobile spam costs someone time and money directly.

I am charged $.10 for every incoming text message and wouldn't want to be forced into buying an unlimited text package for SMS spam.

From a revenue standpoint, do you think wirless telecoms will make a stand or let it slide?

[Cam Beck]

If people stop using the carriers as a result, they will respond.

[Michael Lombardi]

Will people stop using cell phones? I don't buy it for a second. They're ingrained in our culture.

[Cam Beck]

I don't think they will stop using cell phones, but if there is an alternative available, that becomes one heck of a competitive advantage.