General9.07.2013

In-store competitions just got a whole lot easier

Mobile and digital marketing company, MobiMedia, recently launched an innovative in-store competition entry mechanism, which offers consumers immediate feedback and prize notifications, whilst providing prize inventory management and distribution details for competition organizers – all in one.

The competition entry form is hosted on an easy-to-use mobisite, which can be accessed free of charge via a QR code. Entries are completed directly online within seconds, and an immediate response is generated whilst the user is still in the mobile session. The benefits for the consumer are: No SMS entry costs. No USSD string to elicit responses. No waiting for feedback on your prize. Within seconds you know if you have won, and what you have won. And you are directed to the collection point to receive your prize straight away. This not only encourages brand loyalty but also enhances the direct relationship between brand and consumer.

“Our aim is for brands to encourage their customers to connect with them through competitions that are simple to enter and free,” explains Desere’ Orrill, MD of Mobimedia. “We recently launched a mobile promotional campaign for a food services company which saw consumers buy the product in store, scan the QR code with their phone, visit the mobisite and instantly find out if they won. It was that simple. There is no direct cost involved nor any hoops to jump through to receive your prize.”

These campaigns not only allow the brand to connect with their consumer but also create a reliable and detailed database, allowing brands to further understand their clientele. By knowing the number of people who visited the mobisite and from which store they made their purchase, brands can target their marketing more effectively to benefit customers in various areas around the country. The clients have the option to opt-in to receive further communications from the brand, and so a permission-based contact list is developed for the brand.

When it comes to managing prize inventory, doing daily stock takes and monitoring prize distribution at various competition outlets throughout the country, the mobile competitions module launched by MobiMedia offers a fully managed service. Daily reports indicating which prizes were awarded, to whom, at which venue, by which representative make for full transparency and help organisers to keep prize stock under control and to minimise natural “attrition”. Because prizes are all allocated a unique code, the system facilitates better competition management since the way prizes are awarded can be adjusted easily during the course of the competition, by changing the randomisation algorithms and the frequency or types of prizes to be awarded.

“The main benefit to brands using our mobile campaign service is the knowledge that you are delivering a competition to your consumer that is technically advanced but simple and easy-to- use. A competition should be a reward to a loyal consumer, not an obstacle course,” concludes Orrill.

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