A recent overview in the national press does a great job setting out the main US trends in Digital Marketing. However, I do take issue with what the writer, Luke Carrell at digital agency ‘We Are Social’, has to say about Push.

Luke starts by making the point that there’s more and more pressure on attention time – US smartphone users connect to nearly 30 apps a month, for example, so there’s less time for information gathering. He is also right when he warns that, “Getting the balance of push notifications right is going to be key to the success of new technologies – People want to be informed, they don’t want to be annoyed.”

However, I am not sure I follow his reasoning when he goes on to say that the ultimate example of good Push in practice is the Apple Watch. Why? Because what concerns me is that he’s using a niche, fancy gadget to illustrate a universal, proven business point. Push is a fantastic business and consumer tool. It’s also one we already have, and which many brands are already using very effectively already – and certainly not in such a high-end guise.

I know this because, even now, many of our customers 'Push' useful data out to their users, and very effectively, too. That’s because they know that being pre-emptive in anticipating their issues and being there with an answer or prompt before the question has even been articulated is a real game-changer. They Push out ‘news’ on a whole bunch of things that concerns the customer – from requests about orders, stock levels, deliveries and returns to updates on accounts and due payments.

Part of the motivation, in 99.9% of cases, is that they know it will stop them calling the call centre, sending an email, even ensuring they settle their account on time – resulting in a radically reduced burden on their overall customer service function, as well as keeping the customer in the loop about what’s going on – and thus keeping that all-important client-supplier relationship as cosy as they want it to be.

They also keep it in reserve for when they know they have some (bad) news to deliver, at scale. If a sudden flood delays customer deliveries, or a banking IT issue creates payment or account reconciliation issues, for example, they want to be the first to alert and reassure their clients, not the midday news… or even worse, angry Twitter users!

Not one of these campaigns is done via the Apple Watch. Instead, they’re timed, personalised information bursts getting to customers using SMS text messaging or interactive voice messaging.

So just as the article says, it’s the innovative marketers who are going to win big, and Push is a big part of that – but SMS is an ideal way of delivering it, and should be part of your arsenal right now, if it isn’t already.

 

By Mark Oppermann, Development Director at VoiceSage VoiceSage. 

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