Why permission based advertising is driving customer retention
By Matt Von der Muhll, Chief Revenue Officer, Unlockd
We often hear brands talk about “breaking through the clutter.” While this may be an effective short-term strategy for getting products front and centre, it more often than not disrupts people with a message they may or may not be interested in hearing.
Today, mounting evidence suggests that consumers don’t want disruption. On the contrary, they want more control over their interactions with branded content. This is especially true of digital advertising, which more and more people are going out of their way — and in many cases even paying — to avoid.
But what does this mean for mobile operators? How can advertisers and mobile operators work together to add value and build long-term relationships with consumers using smart phones and tablets?
The answer is two-fold:
- Understand the customer & create content that is relevant to them
- Enable them to opt in to receiving the advertising by ensuring there is a value exchange of some type
A mutually-beneficial model
Permission-based mobile advertising isn’t just a win. It’s a win-win-win.
For advertisers, it’s an opportunity to impact the right audience, at the right time, with the right message. For consumers, who increasingly have little appetite for consuming ads that are more often than not irrelevant, it provides reasons to interact with a mix of personal and targeted content.
Finally, for telecommunications companies, it’s a model that not only generates new revenue streams that they were previously unable to capitalise on, but keeps customers loyal and helps attract news ones, the key objectives of Telco’s being acquisition and retention.
Here’s why permission-based advertising works for mobile:
It enhances value for consumers
Permission-based models are all about targeting the right audiences and learning what does (and doesn’t) work to retain engagement and a positive sentiment among consumers.
By connecting mobile users with relevant brands, we are able to provide them with relevant content, and give them special offers as motivation for doing so. The result is a tailored and reward-driven experience that, in effect, lets consumers specify the types of ads they interact with.
It boosts effectiveness for advertisers
Think about how many times the average mobile user unlocks their smartphone per day. For some audience groups it’s up to 80 times a day. That translates to a lot of high impact and targeted screen time dedicated to ad content.
With permission-based models, advertisers and media publishers now have an avenue for reaching a highly-targeted audience. And by providing choice and value — giving consumers more control over the relationships they have with brands — it allows them to effectively build trust over time.
It solves telcos’ issues
Another issue that permission-based models are helping to solve is a challenge of growing importance within the global telecommunications industry: falling rates of average revenue per user (ARPUs), or the overall amount of revenue divided by subscribers.
Thanks to digital mobile advertising, revenue comes in the form of a large pool of industry dollars that can now be carved off and passed back to benefit consumers, while, simultaneously building future viability for the evolving channel of what the telecommunication industry presents.
Permission-based advertising is a simple, innovative solution to a cluttered media landscape.
We’re done trying to disrupt consumers. Instead we’re focusing on working harder — together — to understand consumers, build relationships, and reward them in ways that will keep them coming back.
