Loyalty marketer MyPoints.com Monday took the wraps off its new wireless product, the company’s first foray into mobile marketing.
MyPoints rewards users with redeemable points for receiving promotional offers, visiting merchants’ Web sites, and making purchases. Through the MyPoints Anywhere! wireless program, existing MyPoints members can sign up to earn points by reading and responding to targeted e-mail, answering surveys and shopping online from their wireless devices.
“Our first wireless product arrives at a time when the market for the wireless Web is growing rapidly,” said MyPoints.com chairman and chief executive Steve Markowitz. “As opportunities to branch out into new markets develop, we will continue to position the MyPoints program to take advantage of them.”
MyPoints Anywhere! is based on technology from Fremont, Calif.-based Clickmarks, an Internet technology firm in which MyPoints.com has an investment under undisclosed terms.
With Monday’s announcement, MyPoints’ product is still early in the industry’s rollout of wireless products and services. Last week, Coolsavings announced a deal with wireless tech company Geoworks to deliver opt-in wireless ads to the service’s members.
Unlike the Coolsavings and MyPoints products, ClipACoupon’s channel agreement with wireless content company AvantGo allows non-members to opt-in to receive coupons through AvantGo’s application.
But questions about the level of marketing that consumers are willing to receive become increasingly important as mobile marketing applications multiply in number.
Executives from San Francisco-based MyPoints said their system would be non-invasive and useful to its members — as well as marketers.
“The goal of the MyPoints program is to build our Internet marketing infrastructure around the everyday activities of our members,” said MyPoints.com vice president of marketing Bernie Yu.
“By expanding the opportunity to earn points to the wireless Web, we are increasing the reach our marketing services offer to advertisers and merchants,” Yu said.
