NEWS UK consumers have had enough of new technology putting them at advertisers' beck and call 24 hours a day. They find new media ads so irritating, they'd rather be cold called, according to new research.
Out of all the messages bombarding consumers thanks to technology, unsolicited texts are the most annoying and twice as likely to wind people up than being cold called outside work hours.
Like comedy, annoying your customers is all about timing, the research from Cable & Wireless shows - if companies want to stick their new media ads under consumers' noses, they'll get a far less interested response out of working hours, with recipients becoming eight per cent less responsive to new media ads once they're free of the nine-to-five.
Using new media to get consumers' attention is a tricky business - the research shows that companies with close links to the internet or mobile space, Lastminute.com for example, do best when they advertise electronically.
For companies more bricks than clicks, such methods are less successful. Texts from dot-coms were 13 per cent better received than from those from traditional high street stores.
And for marketers, consumers are getting much more vocal with their text and online ad complaints. Watchdog the Advertising Standards Agency saw the number of complaints internet and SMS ads rise 2,500 per cent between 2002 and 2003.
Regulator Icstis has also been laying down the law with SMS advertisers that don't toe the line. It handed out record fines of £450,000 to six companies using misleading mobile promotions.
Nevertheless, new media ads are gaining more popularity. According to analyst house JupiterResearch, the online ad market will double in value over the next five years - getting to over $16bn by 2009.
Gary Stein, senior analyst at JupiterResearch, said online ads are proving so successful because of technological advancements and the boom in targeted search, helping advertisers reach the particular consumer segment they're after.
Comments
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1. anonymous
It is all annoying. How do they actually get hold of mobile numbers?
Are persons unknown stealing databases or are they using sequential diallers similar to those used to bypass ex-directory or preference blocked numbers?
As for the cold calls from overseas call centres on the Asian sub continent. Which at times are almost unintellidgable. Usually on behalf of some previously unknown "telecoms provider", often asking for credit card &/or bank details.
Need I say, (write), more.
2. Justin Wheatley
NAME AND SHAME! That's the answer.
There's no excuse for "reputable" companies (as opposed to those vending the penis enlargement type products) using such carpet-bombing tactics, and those that do may simply be published along with details of their marketing wrong-doings. Surely the last thing a company selling the respectable and dependable image of their life insurance wants is to have its name published alongside "XaPharm" or "UltraSlym(e)", as a company who indescriminately fires marketing calls/SMSs/e-mails at unwilling recipients.
I really detest being called during my peaceful lunch at home by some poor soul whose lot in life it is to disturb folks like me to cheaply extend the revenues of an organisation too lazy to produce a properly designed and targeted marketing campaign. I feel sorry for the caller and try not to be rude unless they are, but it's a sufferance neither of us should have to bear.
Silicon.com, would you stick your neck out enough to produce such a "Hall of Shame"? I'm sure your readers will be delighted to contribute!
3. Peter Norman
As a developer of SMS services for businesses, I absolutely agree that there is a time and place for SMS messages, and that incorrectly used "SMS Spam" could possibly the most annoying direct marketing tactic available at present (although personally I find sales calls at 9pm to be a lot more intrusive).
However businesses need to be aware that if used correctly, SMS messaging can be a powerful communications and customer relationship tool. Texting is a great way to provide information to customers that they would find useful , especially in situations where time is important. A good example of this is a mechanism that we developed for the AA, where customers waiting for roadside assistance receive regular text messages with the arrival time of the AA van. This process not only reassures anxious customers, but also reduced the number of calls the AA receives from waiting customers, saving the business a considerable sum.
Peter Norman, head of commercial, Wireless Information Network