Vibes

Time, Location, Interaction

30 Sept. 2008

This is the text message that woke me up at 4:51 this morning:

This is a reminder to review and update your Easyupdate contact points and settings at www.united.com/easyupdate.
From: united@ualmessaging.com

Why, United? Why would you send this to me as a text message? And why would you send this to me at 4:51 am? I’m hoping this was a mistake and, if it was, I can sympathize. It’s one that we’ve made before; technology is far from perfect. But it certainly looked like this was supposed to come to me as a text message. Obviously, this is troubling.

So what’s the biggest problem with this message? There are many, but the most important is that the three pillars of messaging—Time, Location and Interaction—were ignored.

Let’s start with timing. Receiving any message at 4:51 am is problematic, no question. What’s even worse is that there is no reason the message couldn’t be sent at any other time. If you’re going to tell people something via mobile, it needs to require that something happen right now. It helps to use the idea of a one hour window: If it needs to be done within the hour, use mobile. If not, use email.

Now let’s move to interaction. Check out the link sent by United. Now try to open that link in a WAP browser, which is still the most widely available way to search the web on a cell phone. That’s right, even if I had followed United’s instructions and updated my settings through my phone, I would have quickly realized that the site they linked me to was designed—by very smart people who are experts in web design—for the Internet. As in, the internet on my computer, with a resolution of at least 1024 x 768. When you look at the site on your phone, it’s painful. And worse, it’s not at all interactive. In order to actually update my settings, I’ll need to go to my computer, with my phone, and enter the URL into a web browser … where I have access to email! Perhaps it would have been better to send it in an email after all, United.

Finally, this message is problematic because I never said I wanted it in the first place. It’s crucial to remember that text messaging is not email. Every time you send me a message, you need to ask yourself if I said I wanted that kind of message. If the answer is anything but a resounding yes, don’t even think about sending the message.

As you can tell, the lesson here is one of Time, Location and Interaction. Ignore those, and you’ll end up with a long list of dissatisfied customers. Keep them in mind, and you might be rewarded with the opposite.

Alex Campbell, CEO