مقاله سال ۲۰۱۷

The short messaging service (SMS) of mobile phones has been actively used by recent marketers to launch a new media in the consumer communication channel structure. It would be either launched alone or paired with existing channels, for promotional activities of different marketers. An SMS containing advertisements or any promotional offers or relational marketing themes through this virtual mobile channel, can be constantly sent to the prospective customers at a minimal price. Consumers can access these commercial messages delivered by the product/service providers from anywhere and at anytime (Kim, Park, & Oh, 2008; Nasco & Bruner, 2008; Rettie, Grandcolas, & Deakins, 2005). Any product/service manufacturer, retailer, or third party can send messages through SMS to millions of prospective customers with minimaleffort, time, and cost in the hope that customers might respond to the intended meaning of the message. However, excess frequency of a message and messages from unknown parties without prior permission can create a negative attitude in customers toward this innovative and dynamic mobile channel of product/service promotional marketing (Pihlström & Brush, 2008). It can be shown that validity, reputation, and trustworthiness of the message through a mobile phone is a crucial issue for its effectiveness (MMA, 2005; Nasco & Bruner, 2008). It can be inferred that the success of mobile phone-based SMS commercials as a tool of promotional marketing depends upon the wording, statement, language, presentation − in other words, the overall content of the message (Durkin, 2013; Kim et al., 2008; MMA, 2005; Nasco & Bruner, 2008). However, if consumers are not exposed to the mobile phone SMS containing promotional offers, marketers will not achieve any benefits by sending SMS to prospective consumers. This current study is exploring this attitudinal aspect of consumers through the experiment for further extension of the extended theory of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) (Venkatesh, Thong, & Xu, 2012).

Analyzing different kinds of promotional marketing through mobile phone SMS, the researchers Barwise and Strong (2002) conducted empirical studies that revealed that, in terms of content, good advertisements have certain characteristics. The authors noted that effective SMS-based promotional offers are mainly short and straight to the issue (28%), funny or entertaining (26%), relevant for the intended customers (20%), eye catching (13%), and informative about prizes and promotions (12%). Several mobile marketing researchers (Durkin, 2013; Kim et al., 2008; Nasco & Bruner, 2008; Rettie et al., 2005)identified,through empirical studies conducted using behavioral theories, that SMS content is the key driving force for the success of launching this promotional channel with the existing marketing channel structure. They examined many other issues that could contribute to the success of an SMS-based mobile marketing channel − such as permission, timely communication, privacy, relevancy, customization, etc. − and these authors stressed that marketers should be careful in designing the content of SMS. SMS has a great potential value for creating positive attitudes toward mobile marketing, which is supported by the principle of expectation-confirmation theory (ECT) (Oliver, 1980). The whole content of the message conveyed by the mobile phone SMS results from a synergistic and comprehensive picture of the statement based on the wording, presentation, organization, and structure of the message.

The mobile marketing researchers reviewed the entire content of SMS (Nasco & Bruner, 2008; Rau, Zhang, Shang, & Zhou, 2011). For instance, Nasco and Bruner (2008) analyzed the effect on consumers of presentation modalities of different contents conveyed through mobile phone SMS. But this research was not focused on exploring the different properties of the content of solely promotional marketing SMS that can influence consumers to notice the advertisements. Many seminal papers (Pihlström & Brush, 2008; Xu, Liao, & Li, 2008) addressing the content of mobile phone SMS examined consumer attitudes toward content such as weather reports, sports, games, ring tones, music, commercials, etc. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, no present literature explicitly focuses on the different issues of content that can draw customer attention toward an SMS promotional offer. This area has potential merit for analysis as one of the significant characteristics of SMS in that an SMS can be barred or erased by potential customers without accessing the message (MMA, 2005). If consumers are not exposed to the mobile phone SMS containing promotional offers, no matter what the intended meaning of the message, marketers will not have any means to contact customers, and ultimately those efforts of sending SMS will be fruitless. Hence, understanding the issues regarding the content of SMS for mobile marketing that attract consumers to the message is the primary goal of marketers; this will help them develop a successful marketing strategy (Rau et al., 2011). In this connection, this research is engaged in identifying issues for the content of mobile phonebased SMS to help persuade the customers to respond positively to promotional marketing. In this context, it is intended to examine the possible extension of UTAUT2 model for consumers’ behavior against mobile phone based promotional marketing. This research has potential to contribute to the existing literature about mobile marketing. Companies attempting to design attractive mobile marketing through SMS for a promotional offer can get insight into content issues that drive and promote consumer attraction to the SMS. It is important to understand what drives customers to be exposed to persuasive material in promotional marketing (Nasco & Bruner, 2008). Academics can also benefit from the outcome of this research and get insights into consumer behavioral attitudes, perceptions, and responses to the stimulus in the structured SMS of a mobile phone-based promotional offer.