Summer - InsideOutdoor Magazine

Wireless in the U.S., December 2006
Topic
Statistic
Wireless Subscribers at Year-End 2006
Wireless Penetration
Wireless-Only Households
Wireless Providers
233 million U.S. Subscribers
More than 76 percent of total U.S. population
12.8 percent of U.S. Households
About 160 facilities-based carriers
Monthly SMS Messages 18.7 billion messages in the month of December 2006, up 92% from 9.7 billion messages in December 2005
Six Month SMS Messages 93.8 billion SMS messages during the latter six months of 2006, up 93% from 48 billion in the second six months of 2005
Wireless Data Revenues $8.7 billion for the latter six months of 2006, up 82% from $4.8 billion in the latter half of 200.
Source: CTIA
six months of last year, 93.8 billion SMS messages crossed U.S.
networks, a 93 percent jump year over year.
Recent surveys of instant messaging users by AOL found that
more than one-third of respondents send mobile instant messages
or text messages from their cell phones at least once a week.
This is a dramatic increase from 2004, when just 19 percent said
they did so, and 2003, when the figure was 10 percent.
A large part of text messaging’s rapid ascent can be attributed
to the fact that most cell phone users aren’t required to
upgrade a device, sign up for a new plan, significantly change
behavior or download any type of software or application in
order to adopt the service.
The same thing cannot be said for most new or emerging communications
or consumer technologies. But already more than 90
percent of the mobile phones currently in the hands of users, for
example, came pre-installed with full SMS capabilities.
And the recent release of the iPhone, along with its wave of
imitators, is expected to usher in a new stage in the way mobile
services are viewed and used.
TEXT FRESH
At the same time, e-mail usage is flattening, even declining,
many surveys suggest, and e-mail read and click-through rates
aren’t fairing any better, says e-marketing services provider
eROI. Citing increased use of anti-spam and filtering software
and “images off” default settings in e-mail clients, eROI expects
read and click rates to continue to slide moving forward.
E-Mail Click-Through Rate (% of respondents)
All respondents
Store-based
merchants
Catalog
Virtual
Merchant
1-2.5% 10.3% 12.1% 11.9% 9.1% 6.1%
There’s no question that e-mail is losing some flavor
with younger consumers, who increasingly prefer IM, social
networking sites and SMS for keeping in contact with friends
and social contacts. E-mail, on the other hand, is viewed as a
tool for working or a way to keep up with distant relatives.
In 2004, 89 percent of online teens responding to the Pew
Internet & American Life Project sent or received an e-mail. By
2007, a Yankee Group survey revealed that e-mailing was still
the top online activity among teens, but only 80 percent of respondents
sent or received an e-mail.
And by the way, as much as 94 percent of text messages are
read, while average SMS response rates are about 18 percent,
says Kelley. E-mail read rates currently tend to hover around 20
percent, while response rates tend to range between 2 percent
and 5 percent, suggest eROI figures.
Think of it this way. For lots of folks, in about a decade’s
time, e-mail has gone from a must-have “productivity-enhancing
tool,” complete with its own cute “You got mail,” catch
phrase, to being perceived by many as a “time sink,” or a chore,
loaded with spam and threats of viruses. “Cleaning out my
inbox” today is uttered with the same enthusiasm as dusting
shelves or vacuuming the floor.
Text messaging, on the other hand, is fast and fresh and onthe-go,
and people still get excited when they receive one, and
those positive emotions and connotations are precisely what
one wants attached to their marketing efforts.
Consumer
Brand Mfg
2.51-5% 23% 15.5% 32.2% 22.1% 24.2%
5.1-10% 19.2% 17.2% 16.9% 20% 24.2%
10.1-15% 9.6% 5.2% 10.2% 11.4% 9.1%
15.1-25% 8.2% 8.6% 13..6% 6.4% 6.1%
19.1-25% 12.8% 13.8% 19.0% 10.8% 9.1%
>25% 8.9% 17.2% 5.1% 6.4% 12.1%
Don’t know 20.8% 24.2% 10.2% 24.7% 18.2%
Source: Internet Retailer
24 | InsideOutdoor | Summer 2007
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
That’s not to say that mobile messaging
campaigns necessarily are right for every retailer’s
customer base right now. Clearly, text
messaging usage, as well as use of most mobile
applications beyond voice calling, currently
skews heavily toward younger users, namely
those ranging from junior high up to thirtysomething.
Among teens specifically, use of
mobile data applications across the board is
nearly double that of adults, according to analysts
at Yankee Group.
That partly explains the success Moosejaw
is having with SMS. Wolfe admits his customer
base probably is a bit younger than the industry