Check it Out: Cloudy With a Chance of Coupon

Whether you think these people are nuts (I do) or not, the point is weather events drive consumers to stores.

Couple this fact with one of the hottest trends in retail marketing — mobile — and you have the basis for Aisle411's latest marketing tool. The St. Louis-based mobile marketing technology company launched Helpful Hints, a text messaging service tied to weather activity, in December 2009.

Here's how it works: Retailers sign up with Aisle411 (12 
St. Louis-area Ace Hardware stores have signed on since December) to have triggered text message marketing campaigns tied to weather events sent to consumers who opt in to the service. Along with information on impending weather — good or bad — consumers are presented with coupons and special offers for weather-related items.

A snow forecast triggers an Ace text message that alerts customers to the coming weather and offers a coupon for items such as snow shovels or rock salt, for example, compelling them to come to the store.

"People are going to buy rock salt somewhere," says Nathan Pettyjohn, chairman/CEO of Aisle411. "Take advantage of that weather activity to make sure they're coming to your store and not the competition."

In the case of Ace Hardware, consumers are made aware of the Helpful Hints service via in-store signage, package inserts, direct mail and email. To date, only a small percentage of the retailer's extensive customer base has signed up for the alerts, but that doesn't worry Rick Baalmann, president of Rick's Ace Hardware, whose franchise offers the service.

"Because it's an emerging technology, I look at it as we're on the leading edge. It's going to take a while to get consumers to embrace it [mobile messages]. I always say the first 500 were the toughest 500 to get signed up. "

Effective Online, Too
While ideal for brick-and-mortar retailers because of time relevancy and weather accuracy (in most cases the alerts aren't triggered until a few hours before, or even during, a weather event to avoid missed forecasts), Pettyjohn says the service isn't limited to that channel. Aisle411 has added a feature called "Click-to-Phone," whereby consumers can click on a particular offer, enter their phone numbers and hit "send" to immediately get text messages tied to the products they were looking at online. The goal is to drive online researchers into stores.

And weather isn't the only reason text messages are sent. Of the four to six messages Rick's Ace Hardware sends a month, seasonal campaigns tied into national marketing initiatives or localized events are also part of the mix — e.g., coupons for tailgating items the weekend of a big game, reminders for consumers to change the batteries in their clocks in the spring and fall, and so on.

While I certainly find Helpful Hints to be a novel idea, I have a couple of reservations about its widespread acceptance. First, its appeal may be restricted to a few categories, like hardware and grocery stores. Is the fact that a thunderstorm is headed your way going to make you rush out to buy a new pair of jeans? Not likely. Second, with the prevalence of media today — TV, internet, radio, etc. — are these weather alerts providing consumers with any information they don't already have? Maybe, but I doubt it; it's really about the coupons. And lastly, while weather alerts may work in an area of the country like St. Louis, which experiences four distinct seasons, how effective would they be in San Diego? Phoenix?

That said, the innovation is noteworthy. Heck, weathermen get paid to be right half the time, why can't retailers?