Coach taps SMS for email acquisition

By Giselle Tsirulnik

May 6, 2011

Luxury lifestyle handbag and accessories designer Coach is employing mobile marketing tactics in-store to engage consumers and build an email database for future communications.

Calls to action are printed and displayed prominently on shelves at some of Coach’s factory outlet stores. Consumers are enticed to text in via an offer to win a $500 gift card.

“We help with creating campaigns that are relevant,” said Matt McKenna, president and founder of Red Fish Media, Miami, FL. “Relevance builds a level of trust between the brand and its customers.

“There are three things you carry with you at all times and that is your wallet, keys and a cell phone,” he said.

Red Fish Media is the mobile marketing company behind Coach's SMS sweepstakes.

Text-to-win
Coach is asking consumer to text the keyword SWEEPS to short code 90822 for the chance to win the $500 gift card.



Calls to action were prominently displayed on shelves, asking consumers to text in for the chance to win

Consumers that text in are asked to provide a valid email address to be entered and to opt-in for email marketing communications in the future.

Participants could also enter to win via a microsite at http://factorysweeps.coach.com.

Why SMS?
According to Nielsen, people between the ages of 12-17 send and receive more than 3,300 text messages per month.

Those between the ages of 18-25 send and receive approximately 1,800 text messages monthly, and the 25-35 age group sends and receives 600, while 35-45 year-olds are at around 300.

Additionally, more than 75 billion texts are sent each month in the United States and on average 95 percent of those messages are opened and read by the recipient within 5 minutes of receiving it, Nielsen found.

Consumers are becoming more amenable to mobile marketing and advertising, especially via SMS.

Marketers should recognize that in today’s digital mobile age, SMS is a two-way communication tool.

Coach clearly understands this.



The very first text-to-win participant

“When working with clients we always stress the importance of adhering to the guidelines of course and also focus on frequency of messaging,” Mr. McKenna said. “The most should be three alerts per month.

“Adherence to carrier compliance is obviously important as well,” he said. And, marketers should integrate the SMS program across everything: Facebook, Twitter, tie mobile into all your other assets.

“Embrace it rather than just test.”

Comments on "Coach taps SMS for email acquisition"

1. Tori Li says:

   November 28, 2011 at 5:07pm

   Thanks so much for posting this. I was at the Coach boutique today and I noticed they had the same exact sign on display. I was about to enter it when I left (I think I spent a good 10 minutes in the store) but I forgot the short code. The text they wanted to send was "COACH" I think. Anyway, I hope it went through, I would love to have that gift card, seriously. :) Thanks again for the helpful post.