--Customers Deploy SMS to Entice and Inform; Clickatell Publishes Annual Festive Mobile Marketing Handbook

Redwood City, CA and Cape Town, South Africa, November 23, 2009— As organizations look for more effective and cost efficient ways to reach customers during this year’s holiday season, many of Clickatell’s customers are taking advantage of mobile marketing for immediate reach, reduced campaign costs, higher customer satisfaction, increased traffic—ultimately resulting in higher profits. Today, Clickatell published its ‘2009 Festive Mobile Marketing Handbook’ to help large and small businesses conceptualize, implement and monitor effective mobile sales, mobile marketing, and customer relationship management campaigns this festive shopping season, using the power of SMS.

“The mobile phone adds an incredible marketing tool to the mix – it’s highly cost effective for businesses to implement – and customers want to receive information and special deals before, during and after they shop, conveniently to their mobile,” commented Pieter de Villiers, Clickatell CEO. “Given the tremendous popularity and ubiquity of SMS, the potential for mobile marketing is phenomenal. Recently, the CTIA reported that 4.1 Billion texts are sent daily. This, combined with research that says text messages are read within 4 minutes (compared to 48 hours for email), clearly, mobile is the way to reach customers. We’re just starting to see the power of what can be achieved via mobile; location-based marketing, couponing, and contextually relevant communications are just the start of the possibilities to connect with customers via the mobile phone.”

Nielsen reports, “SMS marketing is on the rise as most consumers are permanently attached to their mobile phones. It's no wonder text marketing is on the rise, as marketers make the most of being able to communicate with consumers (with mobile coupons, viral games, reward programs, etc.) while on the go.” The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) confirms in its Annual Mobile Attitude and Usage Study that one-in-four mobile users express strong interest in mobile marketing. With Clickatell’s easy to use SMS Gateway, retailers can get started in less than a day and begin sending SMS messages to reach consumers instantly – especially as we approach the holiday season.

Clickatell solutions are already being effectively used by a broad range of businesses for mobile marketing campaigns to send timely promotions, respond to orders, alert customers on order and shipment status, schedule timely collections of goods, and even as internal communication tools to monitor the progress of the supply chain, including manufacturing and shipping.

Banta Furniture, producer of home furnishings, relies on Clickatell to alert customers when their custom made furniture is ready for pick up and to ensure efficiencies in the manufacturing production cycle. Mama Mikes, a US-based online gift portal, allows East Africans living abroad to purchase gifts and vouchers for their families back home. The website sends Clickatell SMS alerts to notify recipients in Kenya and Uganda when gifts or vouchers have arrived.

With over 55 physical shoe stores across the UK and Ireland, Schuh works with Clickatell to reach customers via SMS. Schuh’s Systems Manager Blair Milligan commented, “Through SMS, we’ve not only increased our reach, but we’ve saved money doing it. We use Clickatell to market and communicate directly to customers, including sending information on special offers, sales and promotions. We also send text alerts to customers when orders have been received, letting them know they can pick up their new shoes. We’ve seen great response from our customers, they are very happy with the mobile service.”

To share these benefits this season, download your copy of the 2009 Festive Mobile Marketing Handbook.