OpenMarket Survey Reveals Massive Missed Opportunity for E-Retailers to Use SMS as an Effective Customer Engagement Channel

SEATTLE, Aug. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- OpenMarket, a leader in enterprise mobile engagement, today announced the results of its Retail Mobile Messaging Report conducted by Internet Retailer, which polled 100 e-commerce retail professionals about their use of SMS messaging for customer engagement. The findings revealed that SMS, or text messaging, is an underutilized communication channel with the potential to deliver much more value than it is today. In fact, compared to traditional channels like email (97 percent), phone (66 percent), social media (82 percent) and mobile apps (32 percent), the results show that SMS was among the least frequently used methods of communication for retailers (29 percent)—representing a massive missed opportunity.

Despite the fact that many global brands use SMS to communicate with their customers, as demonstrated by the survey's findings, it still appears to not be getting the attention it deserves. A majority of respondents recognize there are numerous of use cases for SMS, but they have yet to make it a high enough priority. As SMS is one of the most familiar and ubiquitous communication methods globally, there's a valuable opportunity for retailers to seamlessly integrate it into their current communication strategies – yet many online retailers don't understand the benefits of SMS, such as its direct ROI.

The good news, however, is that while many online retailers may not currently have an SMS strategy in place, many have it on their radar and understand that SMS could add significant business value. In fact, among the respondents who don't currently use SMS, more than two-thirds indicate its ability to reach customers would be a reason to try it. What's more, over half (62 percent) of respondents who don't use SMS see the channel as an opportunity to drive revenue or improve customer experience.

"SMS may not be a new technology, but the utility and capability of mobile messaging is still greatly untapped by many retailers," said Jay Emmet, general manager for OpenMarket. "The retailers who have already embraced SMS are seeing success in terms of efficiency, reach, and business impact—setting a strong example for others to follow. As the survey results indicate, there is a lot of room for retailers to capitalize on the opportunities SMS provides."

Other key findings from OpenMarket's Retailer Mobile Messaging Report, include:

• Nearly three-quarters (69 percent) of online retailers who leverage SMS do so because it affords them an opportunity to differentiate; nearly 40 percent use SMS to meet customer demand.
• Among all respondets, "efficiency" ranked highest as the most important quality for engaging with customers, selected by 41 percent of those who use SMS.
• When asked how online retailers are currently measuring the success of current SMS/text messaging programs, 45 percent cited improved customer experience and 35 percent track it back to increased revenue.

The full survey report can be found here: http://www.openmarket.com/download/internet-retailer-survey-report-2016/.

OpenMarket and its cloud-based mobile messaging solutions support over 400 enterprises globally, including four of the top 10 most respected global brands.¹ Its Mobile Engagement Platform allows global enterprises to easily create and deploy smart, interactive mobile engagement services globally with connectivity to over 200 countries. Enterprises can access the platform via a web-based GUI or directly via service APIs. The platform supports features such as personalization, scheduling, logic and decisioning, list management, user segmentation, and reporting. By using OpenMarket's platform, enterprises are able to mobilize operational processes, optimize internal and external communications, improve customer experiences, drive brand awareness, and generate new revenue.

About OpenMarket

OpenMarket, a division of Amdocs, helps enterprises use mobile to transform their business. OpenMarket provides mobile engagement solutions for organizations to optimize their operations and enhance relationships with their customers and employees. Major enterprises choose OpenMarket for our domain expertise, service flexibility, demonstrated performance and reliability, global scale, and corporate maturity. We provide smart, interactive connectivity to more than 200 countries, enabling businesses to engage with nearly every mobile user around the world. Our clients trust us to power their mobile business. For more information, visit

www.openmarket.com

About Amdocs
Amdocs is the market leader in customer experience software solutions and services for the world's largest communications, entertainment and media service providers. Its portfolio powers The New World of Customer Experience™, where a wide array of innovative and personalized services is delivered seamlessly to end users, regardless of device or network. For more than 30 years, Amdocs solutions, which include BSS, OSS, network control and optimization, coupled with professional and managed services, have accelerated business value for its customers by streamlining complex operating environments, reducing costs and speeding time to market for new products and services.  Amdocs and its more than 24,000 employees serve customers in over 90 countries. Listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, Amdocs had revenue of $3.6 billion in fiscal 2015.

Amdocs: Embrace Challenge, Experience Success.

For more information, visit Amdocs at www.amdocs.com.

Amdocs' Forward-Looking Statement
This press release includes information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about Amdocs' growth and business results in future quarters. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be obtained or that any deviations will not be material. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to, the effects of general economic conditions, Amdocs' ability to grow in the business markets that it serves, Amdocs' ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses, adverse effects of market competition, rapid technological shifts that may render the Company's products and services obsolete, potential loss of a major customer, our ability to develop long-term relationships with our customers, and risks associated with operating businesses in the international market. Amdocs may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future; however, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These and other risks are discussed at greater length in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015 filed on December 10, 2015 and our quarterly 6-K form furnished on February 16, 2016 and May 17, 2016.

¹ "The Harris Poll 2014 RQ Report: A Survey of the U.S. General Public Using the Reputation Quotient," Nielsen, April 2014.

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SOURCE OpenMarket

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