A mobile marketing services provider has announced that the release of the 13/1300/1800 number range for SMS will give Australian marketers a comprehensive opportunity to reap the benefits of mobile response.

According to Ad.IQ, Australia is the first country with a local rate number range that consumers can call or SMS. In every other market in the world an advertiser is required to use a different number for SMS and voice.

Previously, the 13/1300 range was restricted to voice traffic while the
191 to 199 range is premium rate and is limited in its access.

The mobile services provider has indicated that the benefits of adding SMS to advertising on local rate numbers include an increase in response as well as interactive tagging and measurement of advertising

“The 13 number was used for voice response, is charged as standard rate to consumers, and is also perceived as an extremely respected and trusted number range,” said James Critchley, managing director of Ad.IQ.

In an industry pilot release of the range in Australia by the Communications Alliance in 2007 to 2009, forty numbers were released during the course of the trial including Quit Smoking, Defence Force Recruiting, Ford, BMW and The Victorian Government.
Ad.IQ said the results from the pilot demonstrated a significant increase in response to advertising through the inclusion of SMS.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment in Victoria, which participated in the trial, introduced an SMS call to action on all media to allow consumers to use the range to request a free water saving kit.

“The community take-up of the free water kits was far greater than for any previous campaign. We believe that this is because it so much simpler for people to send in a key word on the SMS rather than calling our 13 number,” said Simone Gandur, Department of Sustainability and Environment Victoria.

“Most organisations already have a 13-number, so the opportunity is now available for marketing departments to SMS-enable it, the result can be a single, clean call-to-action ‘Call or SMS keyword to 13 xxxx’. From a consumer perspective, SMS response delivers an immediate, 24/7, discreet, immediate response channel that delivers a positive and compelling brand experience,” asserted Critchley.