UK department store Debenhams has rolled out SMS campaigns on its existing Neolane marketing automation software platform. The initiative extends the retailer’s cross-channel marketing capabilities, now enabling both text as well as email marketing from the same platform.

Following a major campaign encouraging shoppers to opt-in to receive its mobile marketing messages, Debenhams has since alerted customers to the Debenhams Sale and to several special offers and promotions. One SMS promotion contained a personalised, unique voucher discount code that could be redeemed in store or online.

The Neolane platform tracks each customer’s response behaviour to campaigns in any channel, and drives event-triggered follow-up conversations where appropriate. This cross-channel, single customer view data is analysed by the Neolane software to define what stimulates an individual’s interest, enabling future communications from Debenhams to be ever better targeted, personalised and relevant.

“Centralising all our enterprise-wide customer marketing on Neolane, whether mobile or email, we can conduct channel-coordinated, consistent and customer-relevant communications, generating high response rates and sales,” says Rob Unsworth, head of trading finance and commercial insight at Debenhams. “We defined our mobile marketing requirement, enabled and tested the Neolane mobile component in just four weeks, enabling us to launch our first campaigns in October 2010 – perfect timing for the Christmas season.”