Ultimately the relative effective data pricing on subscriber profitability, and retention can be determined with the proper analytical designs. It  is a bit puzzling why AT&T has not taken taken advantage of this to avoid their current conundrum- escpecially given many of  the smart analytical people I know work there. I would be interested in thoughtful explanations of why this is so.

Check out of some this content and see if you dont come away inspired!

The Tool in Your Hand: The Mobile Revolution at MobileActive.org

Project 10 to the 100 SMSVANI

Mobilizing Generation 2.0: Doing Good in Your Spare Time

The concept of replacing loyalty cards with mobile devices, and presenting digital coupons at the point of sale have the “cool” factor. However, in terms of broad implementation, the challenges are material – technically and process-wise.  Coupons.com appears to have learned how to deal with some of them by focusing on the mobile customer experience.

“…integrating digital coupons with loyalty cards is the most practical solution to enabling downloadable discounts in busy stores where consumers often have multiple purchases eligible for discounts.”

“We’ve seen the [couponing] industry flirt with all things of digital format for some time, all the way from the absurd—the notion of presenting barcodes on phones in high-volume checkout lanes—to the legitimate and tested, including digital loading onto loyalty cards.”

With a shopping list iPhone application already under its belt, in taking its mobile strategy to the next level Coupons.com has done the following:

• Offer traditional and mobile optimized websites which allow consumers to register their loyalty cards, browse coupon offers, and elect to have certain offers digitally attached to their accounts so at the point of sale they are redeemed as a group, as opposed to one at a time.
• A revised shopping list application which allows consumers to take photos of product bar codes to automatically have items added to a grocery list.  The application also integrates with the coupon program so that eligible products are flagged for addition to the consumer’s loyalty card account.
• Recognize the difference between coupon redemption associated with multi-product purchases (grocery) versus those associated with one large purchase (restaurant).  To that end, the mobile site allows selected offers to be saved on mobile devices for presentment at checkout without need for a loyalty card or account.

The last point should be highlighted, as it recognizes that coupons and offers may not be one in the same, and can have different practical applications:

“Mobile presentment has been a technology looking for a use…Where it works best is in low-volume, high-margin transactions—consumer electronics and things like that– and at the local level. We have over 12,000 offers with restaurants, dry cleaners and professional services, and phone presentment works very well there.”

“It’s all about moving people quickly through those checkout lines…Searching for multiple coupons on your phone, then showing each one, perhaps dropping your phone in the process—those are not conducive to speed.”

Of this all accentuates the importance of the basic principles of marketing that still apply in the mobile world: what are the business objectives, and related characteristics of the customer segments of interest.

Many business owners have learned from their previous adoption of business analytics, and are showing interest in measuring the effect of their investment into mobile. But measuring mobile isn’t easy — the sheer diversity of technologies involved and the rapid evolution of the industry has created a monstrous landscape of devices, communication protocols, and requirements.

The one thing most agree on is that tools designed for PC web analytics don’t port to the mobile world very well. Google Analytics uses JavaScript embedded in a website to measure visits. Unfortunately the majority of mobile handsets don’t support JavaScript; in fact less than 5% are supported. Other systems use cookies to track visits – on mobile this is unreliable. Mobile phone browsers either don’t permit cookies, or don’t save them. PC browsers use referral information about where the user came from but on mobile network gateways this is not typically supported. Only recently have mobile operators have started to support this, and so far proves to be unreliable. Some web analysis techniques use tiny images embedded in a web page to track visits. To reduce amount of data sent over the mobile network, images are cached in the mobile browser so are often not downloaded on subsequent visits. The final approach is mapping an IP address to a user but in the mobile world IP addresses map onto an operator’s gateway, not an individual phone.

Not surprisingly, dozens of companies have sprung up, all making claim to a unique ability to measure mobile activity, and profile mobile consumers. Unfortunately some of these companies have decided that relying on hype, hyperbole, and sometimes purposeful misinformation are a viable sales strategy. Furthermore, mobile web analytics vendors are filling the blogosphere with battling claims and counter-claims. Is there something wrong with clear explication of capabilities and limitations associated with the various approaches to this problem/opportunity? As penned by one of the Fab Four back in 1971- “All I want is the truth. Just gimme some truth.”

The revolution in  enhanced mobile experiences delivered by smart phones, and the army of mobile application developers they have spawned is unprecedented. While the mobile frenzy shows no signs of abatement, the ability to understand the ROI of investments in mobile has lagged. Witness how Apple’s iPhone might be turning into a worldwide loss leader, according to a report from Danish market researcher Strand Consult.  According to Information Week Strand said in an August 2009  report that it could find no global carrier that increased profits by offering the iPhone.[1]

Conversely, some marketers have already begun to claim significant ROI from their forays into the mobile channel.  In December 2008 Planet Funk, an apparel retailer with stores in California, Texas and Colorado, was facing the daunting task of bolstering its sales through what many had said would be the worst holiday shopping season in decades.  Roughly 2,000 coupons were generated, with a redemption rate at an impressive 91%. Even more impressive was the fact that Planet Funk realized an ROI at a staggering 377% based on the relatively low-cost of the campaign. Furthermore, 15% of those that redeemed the coupon opted-in to receive future mobile campaigns, which helped build Planet Funk’s mobile database. [2]

As the mobisphere expands, winners and losers will emerge. One things seems likely – the winners will attend their mobile investments with the power of analytics.

[1] http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/iphone/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219400287

[2] http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/fashion-retailer-sees-377-roi-using-mobile-coupons/comment-page-1/