The “official” start to the holiday shopping season on Black Friday has not left us without myriad statistics regarding shopping preferences. According to a recent holiday survey of more than 2,300 consumers by Prospectiv, an online performance marketing firm specializing in connecting women to brands, found:

• 25 percent will use coupons more often this holiday season;
• 16 percent will shop online to find the best deals; and
• 35 percent will utilize email to share great deals they either receive or find with friends.

Convergys, a relationship management provider, also unveiled findings from a recent survey:

• 86.1 percent of respondents will plan to shop online;
• 37.3 percent will do all or most of their shopping via the Web;
• nearly nine out of 10 consumers say the most desirable attribute is the ability to shop whenever they like; and
• 61 percent of shoppers prefer the online channel because they can “get customer service on their own terms.”

No matter which numbers you scrutinize, one thing is clear: online retailing is rapidly taking the hearts — and wallets — of consumers. I had the chance to speak with Doug Farmer, Convergys’ senior director of customer management, about his company’s survey results, one statistic that shocked him, and what he has seen in his work with Convergys’ customers in the retail industry.

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Looking to take advantage of the growing number of consumers using their mobile devices to conduct business, Seattle–based proactive outbound communications company Varolii recently unveiled the latest addition to its cross-channel communications platform: support for short message service (SMS) text messaging.

Company executives believe this will help their clientele reach more customers on their preferred mode of communication, as many are opting to either replace landlines with their mobile phones or avoid landlines entirely (like this assistant editor).

The platform enables companies to dynamically change text message content based on the results of previous communications, intelligently route messages across a blend of channels to optimally meet business and customer needs, and allow customers to respond — oftentimes with no agent involvement.

Varolii highlights seven ways in which its SMS capability provides bolstered personalization and control over the user experience:

• land/cell determination, in order to figure out which phone numbers aren’t landlines and can actually receive text messages;
• two-way messaging, so recipients of the text can reply back “yes” or “no” without having to call a live agent;
• self-service SMS, which allows consumers to retrieve a personalized voice alert with in-depth information and several self-service options;
• intelligent progressive communication, sending targeted text messages to consumers that are germane to their specific situations;
• real cross-channel communication, so organizations can use one touchpoint to drive communication in another (Varolli gives the example of sending a voice alert about a canceled flight and rebooking options, then sending the confirmation code via text);
• multiple contact strategies within a single communication engine, which aims to personalize the transactions for each specific customer; and
• simultaneous communications to the same population, enabling companies to tell the difference immediately between a customer texting “no” for customer service, but “yes” to a request for payment within the same time frame.

I recently covered Nuance’s announcement about mobile self-service, and it seems that this may be a burgeoning avenue for people to utilize as more people now have Web-enabled mobile devices. The beauty of SMS, to me, is that you don’t need to necessarily log onto mobile Web to use it. As long as you have a data plan or are willing to pay per text message, you can use this mode of communication.

Are you finding more customers are requesting there be ways to self-service via their mobile devices, be it through the Web or text messaging?

Leave it up to Obama to be the first presidential candidate ever to announce his running mate for the 2008 election via text message. While it is pretty cool, we can’t be too surprised. After all, Obama’s also the only candidate actively (keyword: actively) engaging in social medium like Twitter (he’s currently following 61,292 people and has 58,650 followers — and is now the most popular, according to Twitterholic, surpassing Digg founder Kevin Rose). To put this into perspective, our amazing Managing Editor Joshua Weinberger is a ravenous consumer of all that is Web 2.0 (so much so that his love for it can substitute both sleep and food!) and even he only follows 184 people and is followed by 200.

Lured by the idea of being “the first to know,” consumers — aka potential voters — are asked to provide their email, name, ZIP Code, and phone number. I was so close to hitting the “Submit Form” button, but stopped when I read that I would be receiving periodic updates in addition to finding out who the VP nominee will be, and that standard SMS rates would apply. So whereas I may not care to sacrifice 10 cents for something I could get for free seeing as I’m more or less attached to my computer 24/7, for those who do, this channel will likely prove to be extremely valuable.

Urgent and portable are the two real keywords when it comes to an SMS campaign, said RJ Talyor, product marketing manager at email marketing service provider ExactTarget, in a phone conversation I had with him earlier today. Avoiding any political commentary, Talyor certainly commends Obama’s use of SMS. “Subscribers are providing their permission, actually signing up to receive alerts from [Obama's campaign]. So he’s providing exclusive content to those subscribers and it comes in real time.”

Obama, Talyor notes, has also been using SMS for sending out messages alerting subscribers to his television appearances — a marketing tactic NBC is also using to alert viewers 30 minutes prior to the start of an Olympic event. While SMS is still preferred as a peer-to-peer channel, it’s definitely improving its worth when marketers know how to use it correctly. Moreover, Talyor adds, “these bigger venues for SMS certainly are going to bring attention to it.” Nevertheless, he says, “the ultimate measure is whether or not the marketers are making money on it,” and a key component there is that, “marketers continue to know that the subscribers rule.”

UPDATE: A text message sent just after 3 AM Saturday, August 23 revealed that Delaware Senator Joseph Biden is Senator Barack Obama’s running mate in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Read what the The New York Times Bits had to say.

[UPDATE, 11/4/08: As we cruise into Election Day, thought we'd update the current count for @barackobama at Twitter:
Followers: 113,829    -- the second-most popular account (@kevinrose) is more than 43,000 followers behind.
Friends: 118,096]