EasyJet's free SMS reminder service is excellent mobile marketing
Neil Robertson over at PR agency, IF Communications, is just back from holiday (“vacation”) and has some really good news to report from no-frills airline, EasyJet.
They’ve launched a free text reminder service for their customers. Here’s how it works.
A few days before Neil was due to leave, he received an email from EasyJet asking if he’d like to receive some free text alerts relating to his flight.
The service is powered by StreamThru — here’s a screenshot:
I particularly like the fact that you can consume StreamThru’s service via Twitter.
But back to EasyJet.
Neil signed up to receive a series of updates thus:
– Pre-departure flight update (sent 3 hours before departure)
– Personal boarding call
– Delay and cancellation alerts
– Maximum of 2 special offers
Now the element that interests me are the special offers. Being able to capture and do business with the people leaving the UK (laden, one imagines, with some amount of cash) could be rather useful.
How did the service pan out?
Really good, according to Neil. He appeared to thoroughly appreciate the service. Here’s his overview:
1st text: 4hrs before i’m due to fly out, i’ll receive a ‘Booking reference reminder’ with details of my flight number, booking reference, when and what terminal my flight will depart.
– 1st text received perfectly. Flight number, North Terminal of Gatwick, booking reference and check in times. Good so far…
2nd text: 2hrs before i’m due to take off i’ll receive up to two promotional codes for shops in the terminal i’ll be in, waiting for the plane.
– 2nd text is actually an absolute blessing. I hadn’t changed up any money before hitting the airport and so was going to have to take the plunge and suffer at the hands of the air-side Bureau de Change. However, EasyJet came to my rescue with a discount on buying currency plus no commission charge. BONUS! A text that actually saves me money.
3rd text: 40mins before i’m due to fly out, i’ll receive my personal boarding call, telling me the gate number and what time the boarding gate will close.
– 3rd text did pretty much what i said it would do, although didn’t send me the gate number, just the closing time. Bit of a shame as the gate number would have really been useful, but on the other hand, there are a shed load of screens to check things on.
Excellent.
The second text Neil received, was timed perfectly. Two hours before his flight was due to leave (i.e. he was probably IN the airport already), he was sent an advertisement for the TTT Moneycorp Bureau de Change. The text offered no commission and a better exchange rate, if he showed the text at the counter. Neil took advantage of this. A super, super example of making advertising useful as apposed to bothersome. A win for EasyJet, a win for StreamThru, a customer for TTT Moneycorp and a win for Neil. Everybody wins!
I wonder if more Airlines will adopt this kind of offering. I hope they do.
