Brand: Express
Location: POS Machine at Express in the San Francisco Shopping Centre
Source: Cell phone picture, April 21, 2011

Ratings (out of 5 bars of Service):

Incentive: 3.5
Compliance: 5
Strategy: 4
Clarity: 3
TOTAL: 15.5 / 20

Thumbs up: Nailed the compliance language perfectly, with an additional option for people to call who get confused. We also like how clear the keyword and short code are listed.

Thumbs Down: In our opinion signing up for mobile alerts is not a super enticing incentive (the 15% incentive appears buried to us). What about offering a shopping spree as a way to engage consumers? Plus, we imagine that anyone texting START to Express’s short code is probably a new sign up (making the New Sign Up? line a little redundant).

Brand: Grand Theft Auto
Location: http://bit.ly/fBRkuw
Source: Website screen capture, April 21, 2011

Ratings (out of 5 bars of Service):

Incentive: 4.5
Compliance: 1
Strategy: 4
Clarity: 3
TOTAL: 12.5 / 20

Thumbs up: For gamers, we don’t know if there is a better incentive than $10K and a trip to Liberty City. We also loved how clear the incentive is described on the CTA.

Thumbs Down: We felt that this CTA was slightly confusing – it appears that people need to text the number 1 to the short code GSGTA4. However, some people might try texting the entire phrase TEXT 1. What might be better is a simple keyword, e.g. WIN to GSGTA4, and then users are sent a poll where they can submit their answer.

Brand: Capital Metro Transit
Location: Bus stop, 6th and Trinity NE, Austin, TX
Source: Cell phone picture, March 11, 2011

Ratings (out of 5 bars of Service):

Incentive: 4
Compliance: 4
Strategy: 4
Clarity: 3
TOTAL: 15 / 20

Thumbs up: Nice idea for mobile marketing – getting people up to the minute information about bus schedules. We also thought that the QR code was effective at a bus stop given the extra time people will spend waiting around.

Thumbs Down: In our opinion this call to action is packed with too much information, making it hard to take in all the information. It’s also not clear what scanning the QR code will actually do.

Brand: Golden Krust Bakery
Location: http://www.goldenkrustbakery.com/
Source: Website screen capture, March 9, 2011

Ratings (out of 5 bars of Service):

Incentive: 4
Compliance: 4
Strategy: 4
Clarity: 4
TOTAL: 16 / 20

Thumbs up: Well written call to action that avoids quotation marks and uses all caps fo the keyword. Also well done on the inclusion of the compliance language within the campaign. We also liked the graphic showing how to text in (though that’s a bizarre location for an “N” key : ).

Thumbs Down: We were slightly confused by what happens when you text in, as “great offers” is slightly ambiguous. We would encourage being up front about exactly what consumers will receive as so many are hesitant to part with their phone number.

Brand: Westfield Malls
Location: Digital kiosk in San Francisco Centre Shopping Mall
Source: Cell Phone Picture, April 19, 2011

Ratings (out of 5 bars of Service)

Incentive: 4
Compliance: 2
Strategy: 2
Clarity: 4
TOTAL: 12 / 20

Thumbs up: Excellent incentive for mall shoppers looking for great deals. Plus it takes advantage of the Wow factor of a QR code.

Thumbs Down: This QR code was on a digital kiosk that rotated multiple images in and out. People trying to scan had trouble. We would recommend including a text CTA along with a QR code so that passers by could text in along with those who wanted to scan.