The communicative power of simple text messages

In a recent interview Blyk members reported that the ads they enjoyed most were those that featured intriguing graphic effects. If this were taken at face value it would suggest a need for escalating innovation in Blyk advertisers’ campaigns. Not a bad thing in itself, and likely to happen anyway. But maybe not the only route to capturing members’ attention.

Blyk can, to some extent, track what members do when they receive different types of ad, as well as what they say they do. In January Blyk tracked the responses to a campaign of text messages for Connexions, the UK government youth agency, that combines traditional employment bureau with a wide-ranging advice service. The campaign was focused on 16-19 year-olds and featured a series of introductory questions covering bullying, employment and debt.

The average response rate to Connexions’ questions was 36%, and analysis of this response base revealed that 29% reported bullying problems, 29% sought careers or employment advice and 51% needed financial advice. Beyond the simple Y/N responses the campaign had anticipated, many respondents sent more expansive comments. For example

on bullying: Ma sis said she gets bullied all tha time and shes scared of them but she tryes to tell people whts goin on but they neva help her

on employment: No thanks im going into flight attendant training 4 da career of becoming a flight attendant

on debt: YeS i neva have enough.

These responses suggest a connection between the advertiser and members beyond attention-grabbing graphics. The content counts. And although members know this is not a live conversation, they’re offering a genuine exchange here.

It’s just this ‘almost human’ link via text messages that smoking cessation programmes are now exploiting to boost their impact. A trial in New Zealand showed that if people were supported by a sequence of text messages as part of their cessation counselling they were more likely to quit smoking than a control group who did not receive text messages (the trial is now being replicated in the UK to determine whether this effect lasts beyond the six-week follow-up tracked in the New Zealand trial).

Giving up smoking is a lonely process; so is worrying about money, bullying or unemployment. It may be that the private link between individuals and their phones creates a new opportunity for communication and support. One wouldn’t want to be too rose-tinted about this yet. But there was a hint of potential for a two-way connection in the pre-launch trials I ran for Blyk over 2006-7. One participant commented at the end of a post-trial interview ‘I’m going to miss my little friend Blyk.’

Part of the success of the Connexions campaign is likely to be due to its individuality among a range of different messages, and the focus on a specific target audience that Blyk can achieve. The experience would naturally be dulled if the communication was too repetitive or unfocused. And members’ willingness to engage in the future is likely to depend on the feedback and reinforcement they have received before. But if Blyk advertising comprises a balance of message type and content (something that could be hard for Blyk, as a business, to make a decision to control) it may help develop Blyk as a service that not only links members to brands they like, but also opens up communications that members hadn’t previously considered.

Entry Filed under: Advertising, Understanding users