Vibes Launches Transactional Mobile Messaging and Consumer Report

31 Mar 2016, 00:00 AM CDT

Using Vibes’ Catapult mobile marketing platform and APIs,
enterprises can now power automated service messaging programs across
mobile channels, including SMS, MMS, push and mobile wallet (Android
Pay and Apple Wallet)
New mobile consumer data finds 70 percent of consumers prefer to
receive service-based messages on their mobile phone; 78 percent said
text is the fastest way to be reached for important service updates on
purchases
Esurance uses Vibes’ transactional messaging solution to provide a
better customer experience

CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Vibes, a mobile marketing leader,
today launched a transactional messaging solution to enable enterprises
to power automated service messaging programs across mobile channels,
and released its 2016 Transactional Messaging Consumer Report, which
examines consumer perceptions and preferences in service-based messaging.

Transactional or service-based mobile messages have become engrained
into consumers’ expectations for the brands they transact with. Using
Vibes’ Catapult platform and APIs, business users can set up messages
and rules, which are triggered by “events,” such as shipping updates,
service prompts, processing alerts, product updates and more.

The new consumer report from Vibes found strong demand for service-based
mobile messages. Two in three consumers said shipping alerts for online
orders, delivery alerts and payment confirmations would increase their
likelihood of making a purchase.

Esurance Offers Customers Mobile-Based Transactional Messages

Leading up to the launch of the product, Vibes worked with select
partners like Esurance to integrate and test the new service. Esurance
developed more than 20 unique transactional messages, ranging from
updates that a vehicle is ready at a repair shop to an alert that
additional info is needed to continue resolving a homeowner’s claim. The
push to mobile-based transactional messages allowed Esurance to stay on
the cutting edge of new service-based messaging technology, and offer
their customers an industry leading solution to select how they wanted
to communicate with the brand.

“A large part of our business is centered around customer service and
innovating in ways that we can make their lives easier with a fast,
low-effort experience. As our customers increasingly prefer to
communicate and connect with us through their mobile devices, Vibes
self-service messaging solution helps us meet that demand in a seamless,
more modern way,” said Eric Brandt, chief claims officer at Esurance.
“Vibes’ transactional messaging tool not only gives our self-directed
customers more options to stay updated on their claims status via text
messages, but it also gives us the ability to manage communication
preferences and gain visibility into how our customers are actually
interacting with the messages – all from a single interface. As a
result, we can improve the actual messages we’re sending, increase
efficiency and ultimately help drive revenue by delivering a better
customer experience.”

2016 Transactional Messaging Consumer Report Finds Strong Demand for
Service-Based Mobile Messages

Based on recently captured data from over 1,000 consumers, Vibes’ study
found that today’s consumers expect — and welcome — service-based
communications from the companies they transact with. Whether it’s an
alert that their payment has been processed or their order has shipped,
these functional notifications deliver tremendous value to consumers by
keeping them updated on their various interactions with a business.

Key findings include:

Mobile phones are the No. 1 preferred device for service-based
messages – The majority of consumers (70 percent) prefer to
receive service-based messages on their mobile phone.
Service-based messages create a competitive advantage –
84 percent of consumers stated service-based messaging has an impact
on their decision to choose one company over another.
Including key details and delivering service-based messages
instantly drives satisfaction – Conveying basic information (e.g.,
time, date, tracking information) and speed are the most important
features of service-based messages in terms of positively impacting
customer satisfaction.
Text messaging is the fastest communication channel for purchase
information – Most consumers (78 percent) said a text message is
the fastest way to be reached for important service updates on
purchases.

Vibes’ Transactional Mobile Messaging Solution

In conjunction with this report, Vibes announced the general
availability of transactional messaging features in its Catapult
platform and best-in-class APIs for systems integration. This solution
enables enterprises to power automated service messaging programs across
mobile channels, including text (SMS and MMS), push and mobile wallet
(Apple Wallet and Android Pay). Business users can use Vibes’ mobile
marketing platform, Catapult™, to execute, personalize and measure
transactional and service updates on customers’ preferred mobile
channels.

“With the enterprise shift to mobile, mobile messaging has become a top
priority and complement to email strategies to provide the best
experience possible for customers,” said Jack Philbin, co-founder and
CEO of Vibes. “Transactional messaging on mobile provides an immense
opportunity to gain a non-marketing mobile touch point, drive cost
savings and innovate your brand. We’re already seeing large enterprises
turn to Vibes to capitalize on the immediacy of mobile and power
transactional messaging programs to reach consumers on their most
trusted and heavily used device in a way that is easy for them.”

Key features include:

Channel prioritization – Catapult allows enterprises to
orchestrate, prioritize and deliver transactional and service updates
to customers via SMS, MMS, push notifications, and Apple Wallet and
Android Pay notifications.
User-friendly transactional messaging templates and logic –
Catapult allows technical and non-technical users to create actual
message templates, update message content and set up message logic.
Real-time in-platform reporting and analytics – Catapult’s
sophisticated reporting capabilities can conduct deep cross-channel
analysis to help business users understand transactional messaging’s
impact on the customer experience.
Subscription management and URL shortening built-in – Catapult
allows users to activate various in-app features applied to
transactional messaging, including a built-in URL shortener and
subscription management across channels and message types.
Unique APIs for messaging and transactions – Catapult splits,
or “decouples,” messaging content from the transactional APIs,
allowing for cross-channel subscriber, channel and preference logic
control.
Flexible event API – Catapult’s transactional messaging
capabilities in its UI ensure API integrations are future-proof,
allowing business users to avoid lengthy development times to make
simple updates.

More information about Vibes:

To download Vibes’ Transactional Messaging Consumer Report, visit: http://www.vibes.com/technology/transactional-messaging-report.
To learn more about transactional messaging from Vibes, visit: http://www.vibes.com/technology/transactional-messaging/.
To learn more about Vibes’ APIs, visit http://developer.vibes.com.

About Vibes

Vibes is a mobile marketing technology leader that helps some of the
world’s biggest brands unlock new revenue by arming them with the
technology and guidance they need to succeed in mobile marketing. Vibes’
Catapult Mobile Relationship Management (MRM) platform enables marketers
to manage all mobile communications including text messaging, push
notifications, Apple Wallet (formerly called Passbook), Android Pay
(formerly called Google Wallet) and mobile web campaigns — all from a
single interface. Vibes has delivered more than 8 billion mobile
experiences since 1998 on behalf of customers such as Chipotle, Sears,
Home Depot, Verizon, Allstate, The Gap, Pep Boys, Men’s Wearhouse, and
Gannett. Vibes is a Tier 1 aggregator with direct connections to all
U.S. wireless carriers. To learn more about Vibes, visit www.vibes.com or
connect on Twitter.com/Vibes.

Contacts

Method Communications
Max Nelson, 310-689-7229
max@methodcommunications.com