3 Ways to grow a merchant SMS lists!

SuddenDeals.com now offers our merchants 3 different ways to let shopper join merchants' SMS text message lists!

1. From a shopper's cell phone, by texting SD [your FavoritesList Code] to our shortcode
2. From a merchant's website by clicking a custom link
3. From a shopper's free SuddenDeals.com account

Try SuddenDeals.com today!

Learn more by going to:

http://www.suddendeals.com/information_for_merchants

New Merchant Account Prices Coming Soon

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! SuddenDeals.com will soon be announcing new prices for merchant accounts.

Please stay tuned to our blog or send us an email if you want to be notified of the new rates by going to:
http://www.suddendeals.com/feedback.php

SuddenDeals.com Team

SuddenDeals.com: We're Growing!

Here's a quick snapshot of where things are at SuddenDeals.com...

Over the last month we've experienced a 50% increase in site conversions (visitors/signups). This was ahcieved largely to a local ad we placed inviting public beta testers.

Additionally, the number of deal requests has increased by roughly 30-35%.

Our user demographics, to date and,as provided by new SuddenDeals users when creating their account look like this:

Sex
M - 55.98%
F - 44.02%

Age
14-19 - 2.87%
20-25 - 17.70%
26-31 - 18.18%
32-37 - 16.27%
38-43 - 16.75%
44-49 - 11.00%
50-55 - 11.00%
56-61 - 4.31%
62-67 - 0.48%
68-73 - 0.48%
74+ - 0.96% (really?! :-)

Ethnicity
African - 0.48%
African American - 3.35%
Asian - 2.39%
Caucasian - 54.55%
Hispanic - 1.44%
Indian - 1.44%
Mediterranean - 0.48%
Middle Eastern - 1.44%

Nielsen says mobile ads growing, consumers respond

A few excerpts....

"About 23 percent of U.S. mobile phone users have seen advertising on their cell phones in the last 30 days and about half of them responded to the ads..."

"The number of phone users who recalled seeing mobile ads rose by 38 percent to 58 million in the fourth quarter compared with 42 million in the second quarter"

"14 percent said they were open to ads as long as they were relevant to their interests,"

Read the rest at Reuters

Mobile Ads: Not So Fast

Mobile advertising revenues aren't growing as fast as expected, and that could spell trouble for a bunch of venture-funded startups.

Realistically, no matter how often you see people checking e-mail on a BlackBerry or surfing the Web on an iPhone, the vast majority of consumers are just beginning to use their phones for functions, other than calling, that are conducive to ads. Today, only some 16% of U.S. wireless users access the Web on those devices at least once a month, according to JupiterResearch.

Read the rest at Businessweek.

Cell phone promotions and alerts begin gaining U.S. momentum.

Visitors to V's Martini Bar in Clearwater have their fingers on the pulse of 21st century marketing - coming soon to a cell phone near you, if you haven't seen it.

"It works great," said Vincenzo Longo, the bar's owner, who for a year has been using text-message marketing to tell his clients what's new at the V. "Nobody complains, and it's cost effective."

Longo sends short messages to the cell phones of about 450 of his customers once or twice a week, telling them about drink specials or upcoming events. Sometimes they get a coupon for a free drink. At 8 cents per message, it doesn't take too many customers buying that second drink for Longo to get his money back.

"While European and Asian cell phone users have let advertisers send information to their mobile phones for years, the practice is only now catching on in the United States."

Read the rest at SPTIMES

To US Cellular: We feel like this too.

SMS Still Dominant Data App

"Text messaging continues to be the overwhelming data application used on a regular basis, says Yankee Group (News - Alert) analyst Patrick Monaghan."

"On a daily basis, teens between the ages of 13 and 17 use text messaging more than they place voice calls. About 63 percent of teens stated that they send text messages minimally once per day compared to 61 percent who say they make voice calls."

"On a weekly basis, 45 percent of all respondents with mobile phones use text messaging while other data applications."

Read the whole story from Tmcnet.com