eWORDofMOUTH, an online referral system, has added text messaging to its online customer referral, rewards, and retention system to make it easier for business to take advantage of an affordable way to attract, reward, and retain customers. 

 

With this feature, companies can combine the power of word-of-mouth marketing with the Web to increase traffic exponentially to their Web sites. The enhancement expands the functionality of the Web site and makes it even easier for businesses to acquire and retain motivated customers at low cost. 

 

The new feature lets people refer friends and family using text messaging on their mobile devices, and an electronic coupon or certificate is sent to their phone for redemption later.

 

ANTON Publishing is a full-service Internet marketing and business consulting company that holds the copyright and trademark of the proprietary eWORDofMOUTH system. It is committed to becoming the leading developer of Web-based customer referral, rewards, and retention systems for both Internet and land-based companies.

 

eWORDofMOUTH is excited to offer the text messaging option because of the increase in texting among consumers. Texting is becoming more popular than email with the younger generation, and integrating text messaging into eWORDofMOUTH addresses this important trend and now makes eWORDofMOUTH not only applicable to almost any business online or offline, but any age demographic. Industry research indicates a strong trend toward text messaging, particularly among younger consumers.

 

According to research firm InsightExpress, more than two-thirds of U.S. adult mobile users can send and receive text messages; more than four in ten Gen Y mobile users text daily; and a little more than one-sixth of younger baby boomers and ten percent of older boomers have told that they text daily. A recent study by mobile media authority M: Metrics found a similar propensity toward texting, with 41.6 percent of mobile users having texted within the past three months.

 

Joy Liuzzo, director of mobile research at InsightExpress said mobile technology is pervasive, and impacts the lives of consumers across generations. The widespread acceptance and appeal is precisely what makes the mobile market attractive to both B2B and B2C businesses.   

 

A study conducted by Ingenio-Harris in March and April 2007 found that many mobile users are adverse to the idea of mobile ads. About 30 percent of the respondents said that the sponsored links were at least somewhat acceptable. The preference for text ads bodes well for Websites such as eWORDofMOUTH and its new text messaging feature.