Brands have traditionally engaged only with urban consumers. Even with the rise in spending in the non-metro and rural areas, these consumers are often seen only as faceless buyers. Technology now allows these consumers to have a voice, and brands can engage with them too through mobile phones.

This new channel of communication can also help in promoting social inclusion by bringing a wider audience into the net, and reducing their expenses on mobile phones.

The great Indian marketing success story is rumoured to lie somewhere out there beyond the boundaries of the cities of the country. Study after study and panel after panel speaks about the enormous potential market that comprises the rural and non-metro consumer in India. But, whether it is the domestic marketers or multinationals, anyone who sees the enormous numbers and dreams of getting a share of their minds and wallets reaches a stumbling block. Nobody really knows who these consumers are and how to engage them.

Customer engagement has been the mantra for brands in this age of connectedness. Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites have opened up channels of communication between brands and consumers like never before. But, what about the consumers who are not yet on Facebook or Twitter? Those without smartphones and those who are not online? Many of these are people with simple phones that have access to the mobile Web. These mobile Web-enabled consumers are buying products offline in large quantities and they are beginning to leverage their inexpensive mobile Web-enabled Android phones to get onto the Internet for the first time, watch a YouTube video, send a text, take surveys, even open an email account, in addition to the favourite Indian pastime of giving a missed call.

Their opinion matters as much as the ones who like Facebook brand pages. How do brands get to know what their preferences are? What are their purchasing habits? What do they expect from the brand or product? In simple terms, how do you transform the rural or urban tier 2 consumer from a faceless wallet to a human being with views and opinions? Or for that matter, how do you even take a Facebook consumer and profile them intelligently? Does a like equal a buy? Will I buy if I like a page?

The answer is to give them a reason to talk back. By giving them an incentive to respond on their mobiles, we can form a complete and intimate picture of the consumer – their likes, habits, opinions, expectations, and more. This channel of mobile communication is not to be confused with annoying SMS blasts and other ‘push’ forms that thrust the message to (usually) unwilling recipients. As an opt-in model, the consumer chooses to interact with the brand or company, making it a communication channel that he or she wants to keep open. The channel is also phone- and network-agnostic. Smartphones, feature phones or the so-called ‘dumb phones’ on any provider can be the gateway for consumers to engage with brands.

The way it works is simple. Consumers are given incentives to respond with free airtime on their phones for an action that brands want them to take. Airtime has been seen to be a universally acceptable currency across the world, and more so in developing markets such as India, Brazil and Vietnam. Consumers are rewarded with airtime for their responses.

Marketers can use this channel to engage in a variety of ways – to understand, acquire or to retain customers.

As a promotional tool, the channel provides an incentive that very few can offer – instant rewards. Consumers can send a message or give a missed call with a promotional code, for example, and get instantly rewarded with airtime.

The channel can also be a significant tool for customer retention. Targeted post-purchase offers and surveys can keep the customer both loyal and engaged with the brand.

As a mode of research, a marketer can gather sharp consumer insights with direct responses from consumers through surveys. The first time a customer responds, his or her details are captured to form a comprehensive portrait of the person. A detailed database of each customer means that responses can be sought from a very focused audience – which can be targeted by age, gender, location, income, spending habits, brand preferences and more. The beauty of mobile is now there are eyeballs that are talking back and engaging and you could have tens of thousands of people engaged in a conversation, a purchase, a survey response in a “first screen” way and brands can decide on everything from package size to advertisement efficacy in days or less.

What these help the brand to do is engage directly with the final consumer. Analytics and measurements can also be undertaken at the final consumer level, making them more accurate and free from interpretative or presumptive errors. It leads to a win-win situation. Consumers know they have the ear of the marketer and their responses or feedback goes directly to them. And which marketer will forgo an opportunity to forge a direct and sustained relationship with a consumer?

But this channel goes beyond just giving brands an opportunity to engage with consumers. The mobile channel gives a voice to consumers who are traditionally ignored or bracketed into a homogenous category under ‘Tier 2/3’ markets. Opening up a channel of communications to these consumers can only be more enriching for a brand. What’s more, it gives consumers who are unbanked or under-banked, a commercial identity. They are transformed from passive receivers of information to informed decision-makers. With the rising importance of the non-metro consumer, a brand that is able to build relationships and engage with the hitherto ignored audience will reap the rewards – in terms of goodwill as well as share of wallet.

Speaking about wallets, studies have shown that expenses on mobile phone bills can be in the region of 10 per cent of the total income for many consumers. By earning airtime through the various reward schemes, consumers can save on their mobile expenses and channel it into other needs. It is not too much of a stretch to suppose that a consumer could earn the equivalent of their entire mobile monthly expense through airtime rewards. The impact? It is the effect of giving a 10 per cent raise to the consumer, just for using their mobile phone. Can it get better than that?

Anurag Banerjee is Head of Sales and Managing Director - APAC, Jana, a mobile rewards firm.

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