Putting ‘SLACKTIVISM’ To Work in your Mobile Marketing

The always excellent “Do Something” column in Fast Company struck a particularly relevant chord with me this month.  Here’s the lead:

Sending a text or clicking to vote may be the trendy way to help humankind. The question, says Nancy Lublin, is whether such so-called slacktivism really works.

The conclusion is that any kind of activism should be encouraged and some of these efforts, though they require less commitment on the part of participants, have a real and significant impact. Case in point is the massive amount of donations generated via SMS in response to the earthquake in Haiti. The blog Mobile Behaviour points out that this kind of frictionless participation empowers an altruistic impulse that is particularly appealing to GenX and Millennials who are used to immediate gratification and on-demand experience. 

What made this resonate for me is the explicit acknowledgement that understanding nuances in your target consumer’s motivations, habits and preferences is vital for developing solutions that deliver positive returns. 

Younger generations have behaviours that don’t map easily onto credit card donations, door to door solicitations or getting up on Saturday morning to volunteer. That’s not to say these groups aren’t deeply committed to community engagement – they most certainly are – it’s more the model of that engagement is distinct from what has been done before and is engrained in institutional and organization DNA. The good news for brand marketers is that these insights readily extend beyond activism and into the “for profit” world.

Here’s a three-point lens for evaluating how to ‘mobilize’ key demographics like GenX & Y and Millennials (or any consumer really).  Admittedly, each of these should be front and centre in any demand generation/customer acquisition exercise so the comments I’ll make focus on attributes specific to engagement in the mobile channel.

1.    What behaviours or preferences are you leveraging to maximize the relevance of the offer/experience?
Mobile is highly contingent on context. Where someone is and what they are doing at that moment.  Typically there are three response exchanges – reward, inform or entertain. Are you able to offer something that fulfills those needs? Are you able to create a meaningful reason to ask for an opt-in for future communications? How are you positioning your offer to deliver substantial one-off value or recurring utility that will drive repeat engagement?

For those who thrive off instant gratification, knowing that I can send a text message in 10 seconds and contribute $10 towards a relief effort is an immediate validation of my contribution.  If the confirmation also included a running total of all SMS donations I would also gain knowledge of the scope of our efforts.

2.    How are you ensuring you’re reaching customers with the highest conversion probabilities?
This really comes down to a media planning and analytics exercise. Where are your consumers browsing? Which apps are they using? Are you better off bridging from traditional media with SMS or image response activations? What are you doing differently for new customers vs. your existing customers?

You need the data – mobile device penetration, feature use, media consumption patterns, etc... – if you’re going to make informed decisions about how to best allocate your media dollars and optimize your conversion rates.

Though SMS donations resonated with certain groups, your grandmother probably still wants to donate by handing a crisp bill to an official representative of the charity.  An example that might be at either extreme of the spectrum but the core truth holds - Know those differences.

3.    Are you creating as frictionless an experience as possible?
The SMS donations work because it takes seconds and the gratification is instant. Same goes for adding a ribbon to a Twitter profile or donating my Facebook status to a cause. Each of these actions is literally completed with a couple of clicks.

This attitude should be baked into your mobile experiences too. Does you mobile ad click to an optimized website (you’d be surprised how often this isn’t the case)?  Has your app been thoroughly tested to avoid a buggy launch? Does the call to action you’ve integrated into your print ad follow best practices around short codes or 2D bar codes?

If you aren’t diligent, opportunities to tune out will pop up at all points along the experience chain. The focus has to be on driving from acquisition to activation as seamlessly as possible.

The promise of mobility is to make life easier – easier to connect with your social graph, easier to entertain yourself, easier to solve problems ‘out in the world’, easier to stay informed...and so on.  It’s really not about ‘slacking’; it’s about facilitating experiences that maximize impact with minimal disruption.