Customer relationships are dependent on the creation of trust. How much confidence do people now have the television phone-in competitions, for example? The GMTV scandal appears to be the biggest to date. Questions were raised about whether there has also been a loss of trust in the breakfast show’s brand.

The BBC’s Saturday Kitchen has also been implicated, following the revelation that its ‘live phone-in’, where viewers phone in to send a celebrity guest to Food Heaven or Food Hell is not actually as live as people think it is. The programme is often recorded before it is broadcast. The problem here is that viewers actually believe that it is truly live, and phone in accordingly to deliver their verdict. So if the show isn’t actually live, they shouldn’t be charged as they can’t influence it. Still, it is important to mention that as a result of such scandals broadcasters’ apologies are being made in abundance. Better practices are still needed.

When customers spend their money in such a way, whether as a result of a phone-in or text-in competition, they should feel safe and secure, with a fair chance of winning a competition. Some sources say it’s the fault of junior production staff, raising questions about where the buck actually stops in so far as who should be responsible. Should producers put any form of subterfuge up-front? Would they mind the deception, and if not should they do it?

The scandals were mentioned at an Interactive Marketing seminar given by the Institute of Direct Marketing on 26th April 2007. While talking about the mobile marketing sector, Nic Howell, deputy and features editor at New Media Age “Who does what, and where does the responsibility lie?” These words should echo in the ears of the TV companies and those behind the technological infrastructure of the phone-ins.

Earlier this week, Nigel Evans speaking on Jeremy Vine’s show on BBC Radio 2 about the breakfast show’s debacle said, "If it is true then it is appalling. Up to £10m could have been swindled from viewers. It is clearly fraudulent…I hope that there will be a fine and huge compensation…"

Writer and broadcaster, Matthew Parris said on the show that he’s “…not surprised that things like this go on…it can’t be justified”. He thinks its criminal too, and he blames it on a “…culture of mendacity in television.” The programme makers, the broadcasters and their producers should be operating ethically with a high degree of transparency and care for their customers, the viewers. They have a duty to deliver value and content in an accountable fashion.

The investigation into the scandal by the BBC’s Panorama documentary cited the thoughts of an expert who also considers such unethical practices as selecting a winner even before the draw has taken place, while people are still phoning in and being charged for each call, as being tantamount to fraud. So can anyone have confidence in them ever again?

The industry watchdogs, ICSTIC and OFCOM, are currently investigating what really went on and Deloitte Touche has been commissioned to compile a report to make recommendations, and to find out what has gone so wrong.

It doesn’t really matter whether the medium they are using is a telephone, an SMS or MMS from a mobile device or some other means of interaction and payment. Customers, such as viewers can be, should be aware of exactly what is happening. If a show isn’t live and they can’t win something or influence the outcome of a programme, then they shouldn’t be charged for a premium rate call to a phone-in number.

Going mobile: ethics are pervasive

Ethics are a pervasive part of society; they are important to all types of relationship, and in commercial terms it comes with either financial gain or cost. Mobile marketing campaigns aren’t exempt from them, which is often employed as part of television shows, the other types of media outlets, advertising agencies, and companies generally. It’s just as important to gain a customer’s trust when using a mobile phone as platform for advertising, competitions, distributing coupons, as it is to ensure that a television competition works on a transparent, fair, moral and ethical basis. Again there should be no subterfuge, but there should be an eye on good customer relationship management – and that doesn’t just extend to practices involving the collation of customer data, including information about customer preferences.

Avoid spamming customers

What mobile marketing campaigns must not do, other than fail to deliver on the promise of a promotion or competition prize, is to spam people. The same applies to email, which has seen a dramatic increase in the levels of unsolicited mailings over the last few years. Lee Bowden, a director of Piri Ltd, explains:

“When a consumer or customer has interacted with the campaign, they have declared an interest in that particular product or service. Within the printed media, it is easy to run a disclaimer for competitions and voting applications making the customer aware that may receive a further relevant marketing message. As a call to action in any for of advertising campaign, the customer texts to opt-in for further information. Media companies should be able to select when or at what frequency they start to profile their data.”

Paul Berney, Managing Director of Response Mobile, and a co-founder of the Direct Marketing Association’s Mobile Council says:  “Because we feel that the mobile is part of our own ‘personal message space’ we are less likely to accept unsolicited messages sent to us. Marketers need to bear this in mind, because the temptation for some has been to treat mobile like direct mail where you can rent a list and send mass texts. Whilst most of us accept with a shrug of the shoulders that half of our Hotmail or Yahoo inbox is spam, we would be livid if we got just one spam text everyday.”

The key words are:

• Permission (get customers to opt-in, and to encourage advocacy);
• Timing (either allow the customer to decide when – at what time – he or she wants to receive a message, or analyse when a larger call-to-action rate is likely);
• Relevance (of the content whether a text message, a coupon or advertising);
• Customer service and support (a means for customers to ask questions and even via other channels);
• And fulfillment (of a promise or order).

Like with the TV scandals, getting any of these wrong can lead to your brand being damaged and you could lose customers as result of distrust being created. Abuse and a failure to understand how to use the channel in an ethical manner, according to the law and the best practice guidelines of the DMA, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), and other related professional bodies for example, will only turn people off. Customers therefore need to be pulled towards mobile marketing campaigns by using other types of media in an integrated fashion, rather than have to face things being pushed at them. They should also be permitted to opt-out. Note, too, that abuse includes sending mobile users, customers if you like, text messages that promise the Earth, but deliver nothing but a larger mobile phone bill (e.g. premium rate SMS messages).

It’s not just ethical to get it right

In the US, mobile marketing is going to be almost worth a predicted $10 billion says a report by the Shosteck Group. The latest figures from the MMA also state that 3.2 billion text messages were sent during March 2006. Details of its annual attitude and usage study, which involved 1,800 people, and which related to mobile marketing effectiveness, were published in February 2007. It found that up to 40% of young people, more than any other group, were more likely than any other group to show interest and use the technology. Around 69% said that they used text messaging, and 44% SMS messages on a daily basis. Participation rates in mobile marketing campaigns went up too, from 8% in 2005 to 29% in 2006.

So with mobile being one of the most ubiquitous types of media (according to New Media Age there are around 60 million mobile handsets in the UK), with a growing interest in mobile TV and the mobile internet the MMA says (there were some 1.3 billion page impressions made during December 2005), if you get it right, you have potentially one of the most persuasive direct communication channels that one could have. Most of us, after all, have a mobile phone or device either near us or on our person most of the time. It is a direct and immediate and personal channel. So the personalisation of targeted marketing messages (including advertising), offers, competitions, content and promotions are absolutely vital.
 
It’s also becoming increasingly important to offer multimedia content, and as bandwidths grow there’s more of an opportunity for creating an interactive experience. The addition of humour can encourage advocacy too. In fact an article by Wisemarketer.com says that there are ‘Five elements of successful mobile marketing campaigns’, according to mobile marketing agency, Soapbox Mobile: integration (with other media); have a clear call to action; test it over and over again; measure the response rates; and build the marketing list. I would also add to this that marketers and service providers (including broadcasters) should always act in an ethical manner to ensure that they build trust in their brands, generate viral marketing activities, and continue to build up their relationships with their customers. It’s that simple!

By Graham Jarvis,
Editor and Media Services Consultant

What is PIRI?

PIRI is an affordable, easy to use web based application that allows you to offer a wide range of reliable mobile messaging solutions to your clients, customers or users. Send out broadcast SMS messages advertising new products, run competitions and opinion polls, gather marketing information, all of this and a lot more can be achieved with PIRI.

To see what PIRI can do for you click here.