An interesting comment from Steve Procter of iTAGG over at SMS Text News. Orange UK released some usage stats this week which say its 15.4 million users sent 7 million MMS in August, leading with the fact that it’s up 37% from May, though overall usage still remains pretty low.
But Steve raised an interesting point in his comment, saying that iTAGG is seeing a lot of small businesses get into SMS, particularly with auto-response systems, in which users send in a text or SMS, then get an MMS in response: “I think what small businesses are realising more and more is that delivering something simple back via a wapsite is tedious; for them to build in the first place and then for the user experience in trawling through several screens to collect the item. Sending back an MMS, now it works across the board, is simple and easy.”
Obviously there are limitations to the information that can be sent back in an MMS versus that which can be displayed on a mobile web site, but it’s easy to see the logic here. Small businesses can take advantage of the ease of a short code over typing in a URL, while also not having to depend on their customers having a data plan, or being willing to pay per-MB charges. The size of the MMS remains a drawback, as could the cost, dependent on how much they spend to set up a mobile site. Also, completely eschewing a mobile site in favor of MMS could have search implications.
Any thoughts on this? It seems like a decent way for small businesses to send back certain types of information to their customers — but perhaps in concert with, not instead of, a mobile site.
I’d agree. It can be quite laborious to maintain a WAP site for a small business, whereas a simple, to-the-point MMS experience can be easily maintained. MMS is an underutilized technology.
I’d be interested to see or hear about a single example of this being done. Anyone know of one? because I don’t. I happen to agree that MMS replies would be a good idea, but as well as WAP not instead.
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Very perceptive thoughts from all.
Recently MMS messaging has gained traction as a valuable mobile advertising tool. In addition to the ability to do rich multimedia slide shows of images, audio, text and short videos, MMS messages are directly downloaded to the user’s inbox similar to SMS. This is important because mobile users of all ages are familiar with accessing SMS messages, yet the navigation of the mobile internet, while gaining popularity, has not seen the same widespread adoption.
While the mobile internet is a critical piece to the future of mobile marketing and advertising, we at CellySpace feel that MMS, whether content or communication, will be the most effective tool to bridge traditional media advertising and the mobile device over the next 5-10 years. MMS is seen as beneficial to both carriers and advertisers alike because carriers still can monetize and control this technology and advertisers are not limited to a fixed text length, ad download speeds or typing mobile internet URL addresses.
Paul - we’ve run several applications for estate agents where a potential customer texts-in a code seen on a For Sale board and receives back an MMS with pictures of the property and accompanying blurb. We extract these live from the agency’s CMS so that they are always up to date and the agent doesn’t have to waste time duplicating data.
At least MMS seems to be more effective for targeted advertizing campaigns than SMS + mobile site, as the information is more immediately accessible (and unavoidable if you will). This is not just my opinion, but the one of the customers we address. We do both though.