A recent mobile marketing campaign from EZ Lube oil-change service provider resulted in a 5 percent redemption rate for mobile coupons.

The campaign launched in mid-April with the help of EZ Lube's partner Smart Reply. The initiative aimed to develop brand loyalty and bring in new customers, a goal the partners achieved, as the campaign resulted in a 15 percent coupon redemption rate among loyalty club members and 1,700 opt-ins.

"We wanted to drive traffic to the service stations and build a mobile database," said Dan Jones, head of grocery, CPG and recall services at SmartReply, Irvine, CA.

"The ability to deliver a targeted message in a non-cluttered environment, quickly and cost-effectively, is hugely attractive," he said. "Additionally, building a proprietary database of consumers to get exclusive messages and discounts will provide a long-term competitive advantage for EZ Lube."

The oil-change industry is facing a few challenges, such as the fact that most people find oil-change brand names interchangeable, making value the only differentiating factor.

The campaign lasted six weeks, during which a 40 character ad tag was placed at the bottom of another text message saying: "Win 1 year free oil change! Reply EZ."

"Mobile coupons were the best idea for EZ Lube because of the immediate delivery, and immediate discount has great appeal," Mr. Jones said. "Consumers always have their phone, so they always have the EZ Lube mobile coupon with them.

"It provides EZ Lube with a tie-breaker versus other quick-serve locations," he said.

SmartReply sent out 500,000 text messages for EZ Lube. All recipients opted-in.

From this campaign, EZ Lube now has 1,700 opt-ins to add to its database for future campaigns, each at an acquisition cost of less than $6.

These results once again prove the efficiency and efficacy of mobile marketing as a relationship building marketing tool, unmatched by other channels, according to Smart Reply.

Over the next five years, there will be a projected 27 percent annual growth in U.S. mobile marketing spend, jumping from $391 million to $1.3 billion in 2014, according to Forrester Research.

There are many factors that contribute to the growth of this channel, such as increasing mobile data usage, branded mobile applications and the great technological advancement of the medium.

EZ Lube obviously agrees with the notion that mobile is no longer experimental as it plans to continue reaching these consumers with reminders and savings notice.

EZ Lube also claims to be greatly committed to continuing to build a vibrant proprietary mobile database.

"The enduring truth to mobile media is that consumers will always be in charge," Mr. Jones said. "Mobile will remain a spam-free environment and the carriers will see to that.

"So brands must build a database, and continue to deliver value to database members," he said. "If the messages are frivolous or un-enticing, mobile programs will fail."