Why a Strong Call to Action Trumps Technology

I couldn’t help but comment on this post today on MobileMarketingWatch.com titled, “JagTag Creates One Of The Most Successful 2D Barcode Campaigns To Date, Over 100,000 Mobile Engagements,” given past critical comments I have made about this MMS-based approach to bar code marketing.

If you were to view reach or ubiquity offered by various mobile calls to action on a scale, from massive to less so, it might look like this:

SMS Text Messaging –> MMS/Camera Phones, Smart or Feature –> Truly smart phones with still/video cameras and the ability to download and use rich applications via network or Wifi.

What JagTag has tapped into (rather smartly, I must say begrudgingly), is the greater reach afforded by MMS/Camera phones than smartphones, as well as the current buzz around 2D or Quick Response Codes as a high-po direct response mechanism.

Marketers looking for unique mobile engagement methods surely view this solution as bridging the gap between the casual magazine browsing experience and spurring an audience to action in an engaging manner.

Yet, I can’t help but imagine the results reported around the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue program could have been even more successful with an SMS text interaction requiring only a short keyword to be sent to an equally short numeric code.  The user experience would have been much the same – a return message pointing to more swimsuit content.  With response rates for strong SMS calls to action reportedly as high as 30 percent, you should expect far greater than 100k interactions given the popularity afforded this high demand magazine issue.

This leads to the headline of this post.  Considering the audience and content in question, could there be any doubt response would have been strong given a quick and easy method of obtaining more eye candy?  The lesson here is to balance hype, your audience and the strength of your call to action when considering mobile as part of a broader marketing campaign.