Air2Web and SAS Dial Into the Mobile CI Market
You’re walking down the street and feel a tap on your shoulder. You turn around to find a complete stranger, cock your head with a puzzled expression and go about your way. Five minutes later you feel another tap. This time it’s a familiar face, one that you’ve known to give you good info and with whom you enjoy talking. The two of you grab a cup of coffee.
Air2Web President and CEO Tom Cotney uses this metaphor often to describe the mobile messaging company’s approach. Air2Web is the familiar face that bases marketing on relationships with customers versus “cold-calling” prospects with general information. Air2Web’s mobile solution business model personalizes messages to customers because they know what customers want, and how they want to receive it – none other than through the mobile device that’s more popular than televisions or PCs.
Mobile phone penetration stands at 87 percent, surpassing that of cable television, Internet access and PCs at home. Consumers devour information through three primary mobile channels: SMS/text messaging, mobile Web and applications. To give you an idea of the hunger for information through this medium, 97 percent of SMS messages are opened (83 percent within the first hour), whereas e-mailed coupons garner a 24 percent open rate and other e-mails see a 16-17 percent open rate.
Consumers want the info and they want it now. No wonder major corporations are tapping into the mobile market. It’s the closest they can get to their audience without tapping them on the shoulder.
Air2Web works solely with such corporations to develop a relationship with customers before flooding them with ads. So, it was natural fit for the company to team up with SAS to deliver bits and pieces – or the entire – SAS® Customer Intelligence (CI) suite of solutions to its enterprise clients. Air2Web distributes the carefully crafted messages from SAS clients on mobile devices, via the various wireless carriers, across the myriad of mobile channels. It then gathers and feeds the data back to SAS for management, analysis and reporting.
Air2Web and SAS will help clients interact with their customers for acquisition, retention and even to lower customer care costs. Dialogue will vary from marketing offers to customer service-related topics. For example, Air2Web provides mobile platforms for consumers to check their credit card balance, inquire about account status, etc. These types of interactions save tremendous customer care costs and allow organizations to focus on other priorities.
The Air2Web and SAS partnership allows customers to purchase CI solutions and know that mobile marketing is part of the deal. They don’t have to apply resources to seek a separate mobile strategy – Air2Web and SAS will work seamlessly to make sure customers receive access to a complete marketing landscape. Cotney says, “Mobile is graduating from being just another media to being a legitimate channel.” This partnership echoes just that.
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