Click the icon to download the FREE Excel Campaign Calculator

What response rate will you get from your Marketing Campaign?

I’m often asked about the relative differences between different marketing communication channels and which one might provide the best return.

Of course, there are many factors that have an effect on the success or failure of any campaign (list, creative, offer, etc.) but there are some well-respected organisations that conduct research on these things and publish ‘industry averages’.

To help you gauge a likely cost and return and compare the differences between SMS, Email, Telemarketing, Fax Marketing and Direct Mail I have built an Excel tool which gives you you the ability to change the parameters of the campaign and see the likely cost and return implications.

A quick video demo’ of how easily it works;

STEP 1

First, you enter how many people you’re going to contact, what is the cost per hour of your staff/agency running the campaign and the likely revenue you’d expect to earn from each response (averaged across all responses).

STEP 2

The areas in green use industry standard figures for costs and response rates across the channels but you can amend these should you have more relevant figures for your industry sector. In particular, if you had a large direct mail campaign, you might want to up the printing costs.

STEP 3

The results are then calculated in the red area (do not change these cells). You will see the estimated total costs & revenue for the campaign and then the likely net revenue received by you.

I hope this will provide some ‘science’ behind making decisions on what type of marketing channel has the most likely chance of success for you.

FREE DOWNLOAD

The Excel Marketing Campaign Calculator is free to download (it’s in 97-2003 format so should work for most people).

Embed this Infographic on your website:

</p> <p><a href="http://www.textmarketer.co.uk/blog/2012/01/business-sms/the-rise-of-business-sms-infographic/"> <img src="http://www.textmarketer.co.uk/img/TheRiseofBusinessSMS-700px.jpg" width="700px" /></a><P>Source: <a href="http://www.textmarketer.co.uk/">Text Marketer Bulk SMS Services</a>

What’s “Marketing”!?

Probably one of the most misused terms in business is my first reaction! But, seriously, for the purposes of this article I mainly mean ‘communication’. Business people often say things like, “we need to DO some marketing”. What they mean is they want to blast out something which will get new business. That’s better described as ‘advertising’ really.

In any event. Semantics aside. What we want to look at is SMS Marketing vs Email Marketing. Or, put more succinctly, which of these communication methods is best for your business?

Truth 1: Customers are fickle

No, really. One minute they like your emails, then they subscribe to your twitter feed, then they want a call. The next week, they’re not into email or twitter because they’ve gone off the idea!

OK, this is possibly a person with an extremely short attention span but the point it is true. Any list of people is exactly that, a list of ‘people’. It’s obvious but it’s something that’s often overlooked. Companies segment people into groups to make their communications more relevant and (hopefully) more effective. That’s no bad thing, it’s the right thing to do (in fact, I wrote an article about database segmentation in 2009).
BUT (and here’s the first nugget of the truth) … ‘Customers ARE fickle‘.

Truth 2: Emails & SMS’s are very different in your customers’ eyes

We’re back into ‘human emotion’ here (starting to feel like a psychology article!). This point is important though. I only look at my emails when I choose to. I open up Outlook, hit send and receive and browse the messages I want to. If I get a text message, maybe when I’m out biking, my phone beeps and vibrates in my pocket and I’ll pull over, take off my gloves, get my phone out of my pocket and read the text.

One is passive and one is active. My phone is fundamentally a personal device of mine. If you’re going to send a message to my phone, it had better be relevant. The lesson here is, “does the message I’m going to send out fit with the channel I’m using from my customer’s point of view?”.

Truth 3: SMS’s are opened more than emails

Well, yes, of course. Stat’s vary wildly on email open rates but globally it is said that just 22% of all emails sent are opened vs 98.7% of all text messages.

Truth 4: EVERYBODY HATES SPAM!

(Forgive the shouting) … If there is a person out there that likes SPAM, I apologise. But I don’t think many people will fall into this category!?

The Mobile Marketing Association in 2009 did a study. They found that 90% of all emails received were SPAM! Wow. What about SMS? That was just 1% of messages received.

Because of the incredibly strict laws and controls now in place in SMS Marketing, there is basically next to no SMS SPAM.

I hope you’re thinking what I’m thinking!? ….. The lesson here is the same as in Truth 2 …. “if you’re gonna send a message to my phone, it had better be relevant …. and I had better not think it’s SPAM!” (I hope you weren’t thinking, “cool, plenty of room for spamming then!”)

So, come one then. Which one is best!?

Hold your horses. We haven’t got to the best bit yet.

Let’s roll all these ‘truths’ into a perfectly executed example of ‘marketing communication’

• I buy my groceries online at Sainsburys. Usually it’s a few days ahead of when it’s due to be delivered. After I have gone through the checkout they email me with a receipt of my purchase and confirmation of delivery times. Fair enough, it’s usually quite a bit of shopping and that list wouldn’t fit in an SMS. Furthermore, I actually look for the email to make sure the order went through fine.
• Sainsburys allow you to amend your order up to 9pm the night before delivery day. At 5pm I get a text. “Just to confirm your shopping will be delivered between 3-5pm tomorrow. Don’t forget you can amend your order online up until 9pm this evening”.
• Actually I did need a few other things. Off I go to give them some more of my hard earned.

Spot on Sainsburys.

You emailed me when it was relevant, after the order and because it contained a lot of information.

You texted me when it was relevant because it was a short message to confirm my delivery (sometimes I forget!) and contained a timely piece of information about amending my order by 9pm if I wanted to (I probably would have missed the email).

So, is there a conclusion anywhere in the offing!?

The ‘truth‘ is that SMS is ‘best‘ AND Email is ‘best‘ (collective groan!). What can that possibly mean?

Do I not understand you can only have one ‘best‘!?

Well, each is ‘best‘ when it is most relevant to the communication in question:

• I’m happy to get a monthly email newsletter from my local restaurant but I’d need a text if they had a special deal on tonight
• I’m happy to get my train tickets in the post but I’d need a text to confirm an order code if I’m travelling in 2 hours time
• Email me confirmation of my entire order but please send a text if anything’s urgent about my delivery
• …. and so on

As with a lot of things the answer is then, “it depends”. An SMS will hit the phone instantly. It is almost guaranteed it will be read. Just make sure it’s relevant. An email is going to be an altogether more hit or miss affair (with only around 22% getting read).

When deciding which to use, I always ask myself, “would I like to receive this on my phone”, “is the time of the day relevant” and “does it come across ‘spammy’ at all”.

If you want to find out if you’re customers are happy to receive text alerts, try a bit of Customer Research by SMS first.

It would seem an almost impossible task in just 160 characters. There is however a blindingly obvious solution, that most people seem to ignore. Why not just send a longer text? A standard text is just 160 characters but you can send a message of up to 612 characters long. Sending a long text will cost more than one text credit but often this is a small price to pay compared to the benefits that the longer text brings.

I suppose it’s the very thought of doubling the cost of the business SMS marketing campaign that puts most people off. But when you consider that a single text costs just a few pence, in many cases this sort of frugality is a false economy.

Compelling argument for using a long text

One Text Marketer customer who operates a Domino’s Pizza franchise in the North West has been sending out text campaigns to his customers for many years. If he sends an SMS out to his database, he knows exactly what sort of response to expect. Following a conversation with us, he decided to send a longer text; using two SMS credits for his next business SMS marketing campaign. We offered to share the cost of the campaign, so that his budget wasn’t increased. By sending a longer text the message was given more air and he was able to avoid using text speak. Results were startlingly positive. The overall response rate rose from an average of 3.8% to 4.9%, a percentage increase of about 25%.

Omer Shabir, the franchisee commented:

“I was very surprised that we took so many more orders using a long text. I was expecting there to be a small increase but not as much as there was. Even though it’s going to cost me more, I’m still going to send longer messages for my next batch.”

So it’s definitely something that’s worth testing. Using a longer text gives you the opportunity to get your message across much more clearly and more powerfully than the standard 160 characters.

If you haven’t yet got a Text Marketer account, you can set one up here for free. You will receive 10 free text credits for testing. There is no setup cost or monthly fee, you just buy as many text credits as you need.

We’re always on hand to give you some advice if you’d like, so please feel free to call us on (0117) 205 0202.

It turns out that SMS is as popular as ever and SMS use in the US, Asia and Europe is still growing fast rather than shrinking as many pundits predicted. So SMS as a communication channel is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

So where does that leave business SMS services? 

Business SMS has always had some massive advantages over other communication channels. Firstly, over 95% of all text messages that are delivered are actually read and the vast majority within 5 minutes. Compare that with e-mail, where you’re lucky to get an open rate of 25%. Business SMS as a marketing tool is also five times more responsive than direct mail. (Source – Mobile Marketing Association)

In addition, SMS has the distinction of being the only instant messaging solution that works across all operating platforms and all makes and models of mobile. So business SMS is as solid, dependable and responsive as ever. The fact that you have to pay for business SMS means that we don’t all receive titanic quantities of junk.

Despite the massive growth of the use of business SMS in the UK, most companies still don’t use SMS at all, a fact that always surprises us industry types. Our estimate is that around 30% of companies use or have used business SMS in the last few years.

So if your company makes up the 70% that are new to business SMS, why not try it out today. Setting up an account takes just a minute or so. So that you can try the service at no cost, your business SMS account comes with 10 free text credits for testing. There are no setup costs or monthly fees and your text credits never expire.

Or you can always give us a call on (0117) 205 0202. We got some very experienced people who will be able to advise on the best way forward.

With no real signs of jobs growth, the focus inevitably turns to cost saving. Agencies are increasingly looking to find ways of trimming their spending as a way of helping them through the current slow patch.

SMS Costs Cut by 48%

An analysis of Text Marketer’s recruitment consultancy customesr has revealed that there are huge savings to be made by switching sms supplier. Taking 47 agencies who switched to Text Marketer in the past 12 months, the average saving was 31% with one company slashing their sms bill by 48%.

SMS costs have come down dramatically in recent years and it’s clear that there are significant and worthwhile savings to be made. Cost reductions within the industry have not readily filtered down to businesses, so by shopping around for lower cost sms providers, agencies can make a worthwhile dent in their spending.

Stuart Melville from Ashley Wells Recruit in Leicester commented:

“We came across Text Marketer by doing a quick search on the web. What was immediately obvious to us is that their costs are much lower than the company we’d been using before. We had been paying about 7 pence per text and we now pay just 3.7 pence. We send several thousand texts a month to our applicants, so our annual sms bill has reduced by about £3500.”

Making the Switch

Adapt users can switch to Text Marketer with a few small in account changes.

Most consultancies use specialist industry software to run their agencies, which usually have an sms sending tool within them. Text Marketer have agreements with many of these software companies so switching from one sms provider to another is very straightforward. Users of market leading Bond Adapt can integrate immediately just by making a few small change within the account. If you’d like to find out more about integrating your recruitment software with Text Marketer, call us now on 0117 2050202.

If you currently use a stand alone bulk sms system, switching couldn’t be easier. Simply set up a free account here. Use the promo code JOB when you sign up and you’ll receive 250 free text credits to trial the service. You can then buy additional low cost sms credits by credit card or by invoice.

Get up and Running in 90 Seconds

1. Set up a free account in 90 seconds.
2. Use promotional code JOB to receive 250 free text credits.
3. Login to your account and start trialing the system

Text Marketer’s job is to give you all the right tools and support to make switching bulk sms provider as painless as possible. Please feel free to call us for a chat on 0117 2050202. We’d love to hear from you.

A quick Google search by project leader Simon Pearce, unearthed Text Marketer and a few other likely looking sms gateway providers. We were lucky enough to be the first company that Simon contacted. Having explained the urgent predicament, Richard Hawley talked Simon through the simple process of getting a test sms gateway account set up. 1.5 minutes later, account set up was complete.

Show me an example

Now to the potentially tricky part, the sms gateway integration itself. The last thing Simon needed at this stage was to be presented with a massive technical document detailing all the intricate tools and features. What he needed was an example.

“How do your send data using Text Marketer’s sms gateway? Show me an example and I’ll be able to pick it up from there.”

Richard directed Simon to his ‘sms api account settings’ page where there is an preformatted example of how to send sms.

By clicking on the example shown, Simon was sent a test sms, so he could see the sms gateway actually working.

http://www.textmarketer.biz/gateway/?username=xxxxx&password=xxxxx&message=test+message&orig=test&number=44790012234X

This gave Simon all he needed to get started. A quick reference to the simple, clear sms gateway documentation and 5 .5 minutes later, the live system was sending texts again. So the total time from picking up the phone to getting the first text delivered was 7 minutes. (Admittedly, there was some further refinement for collecting delivery reports and setting up long messages.)

Set up a free sms gateway account. We’ll automatically give you 10 free text credits for testing. You’ll probably need more, so do give us a call on 0117 2050202 and we’ll gladly add as many credits for testing as you need. I’m sure it won’t be quite as quick as Simon but we’re always standiing by to answer any of your questions.

It makes sense. Text Message Marketing is the most powerful marketing channel available today. It has the highest ROI of any channel and provides instant success. Nothing comes even close.

Decision One

Do you want to manage your clients’ SMS activities or let them run their own campaigns?

We provide the ability to do both.

- If you want to manage your clients’ activities then you simply need a Text Marketer account. Every account has the ability to run multiple databases, multiple campaigns and multiple response keywords. Everything can be labelled so you have full tracking of what’s gone on for billing purposes. In this model, you would be buying higher volumes of SMS credits from us and thus achieving very low bulk SMS prices and can therefore mark these up to charge on to your client.

- If you simply want to introduce clients to our system so that they each have their own account and run their own activities then the reseller option is for you. In this model, you sign up for an account and go to Financials | Become a Partner in your account and get a Partner Code. Each of your clients uses your partner code when they sign up (there is a benefit to them of additional free credits for this) and then you receive 10% commission on all the spend in every account, for the life of the account. (See more about reselling SMS Marketing services here).

Decision Two

Why partner with Text Marketer? Some competitors offer slightly higher commission rates.

In 2 words. Price. Experience.

We offer the lowest prices of any UK premium SMS company. Of course, that means there is a little less margin to share around compared to our expensive competitors.

Here’s a scenario. You put the time and effort into selling text marketing to your clients. Eventually they agree, great! They now type “Text Marketing” into Google and voila, we’re at the top and they come across us as the lowest cost provider. Guess who they sign up with!? Offering your clients the best value makes sense, not only because it shows your client you are recommending the best for them but from your financial point of view as well. 10% of something is better than 15% of nothing.

We are also the oldest UK bulk SMS supplier, since 1999, with 1000′s of clients. We are proven. So is our technology. It is stable and reliable. Over the years we have built up a massive help centre and even training and promotional videos which means that you can provide your clients with all the material they need with one simple link which reduces the time you have to spend.

The Final Decision

Is it really worth putting the time in to resell SMS Marketing services – it seems low value?

It is a volume business, that’s true. But the potential is huge and is growing exponentially. It is estimated that by 2016 texts sent by businesses will outstrip personal texts sent (there are 4.3 billion mobile phones on the planet!).

What we’re seeing at Text Marketer is that all companies are gradually growing the volume of texts they send. It works for them is why. It’s slowly becoming the default replacement to faxes and emails – and imagine having a small % of that market in the beginning!

Here’s a scenario. One of your customers sends 5,000 SMS’s per month for example. At current rates, that’s only £222 commission per year. But, if they continue to do that for 5 years (as SMS is simply a communication channel so is long term), it’s £1,110 commission. Put the time in to get 20 or 40 of these clients and the amounts soon add up to a substantial and sustained income. And some bigger clients can easily send hundreds of thousands of messages per month!

In Summary

- Get started now. Your clients will be thinking about it or maybe even doing it now (in which case you can offer them our lower prices)
- Decide whether you want to manage activities for your clients or become a partner (being a partner is best as allows you to grow more quickly with less time spent)
- Get an account, become a partner and get your partner code
- Start promoting SMS Marketing to your client base, using your partner code
- Build your client base by making use of our extensive self help material, tips and tricks and videos

If you need any more information please do contact us or simply read more information on reselling SMS Marketing services and see the instructions at the bottom of that page to get going automatically. Best of luck.

To my relief, their latest mobile marketing campaign has given me the option to get the hell off their list and never be contacted again. I’ve texted in the stop code, so that should be it from Bannatynes I hope.

This whole experience made me realise just how important it is to include an unsubscribe option on mobile marketing campaigns. In fact you’re legally obliged to according to the Information Commissioner’s Office. I’m not sure what the penalties are for those companies that transgress but it’s better not to even run the risk.

As this is such as important issue, Text Marketer accounts automatically come with an unsubscribe tool when the account is set up. So to unsubscribe from receiving further mobile marketing messages, all a customer has to do is text a 4 letter code to 88802. The account will then not allow you to send any further texts to that number. It’s a failsafe system that means you can’t send mobile marketing mesages to anyone that has opted out.

Feel free to set up an account if you’d like to see how it all works. You’ll get some free text credits for testing. If you decide to buy some text credits, there is no minimum order and your credits don”t expire, so you have as long as you like to use them. We’re always happy to chat through your mobile marketing plans, so do call us 0117 2050202.

Fans can sign up by using a text response service provided by Text Marketer. By texting in FFIT to 88802, they’ll receive a call back asking them at which club they would like to attend a training session.  The informality of using an sms response service for this type of initiative is a smart move. The programme is basically making it easier and more appealing for Scotland’s overweight blokes to get themselves moving. The text response option is far less daunting than filling in a form or ringing in to a call centre. They’re just giving people more choice about how they can get in touch.

The programme is being widely promoted in a number of channels including extensive coverage on the BBC website.

There are a few options to choose from if you’re considering having a text response on your advertising and marketing camapaigns. The first decision is whether you should use a short code like 88802 or whether a virtual mobile number would be a more suitable option. There’s a more detailed explanation of which tool is appropriate for which job here. Essentially, short codes are better for generating response from advertising and long codes are more suitable if you’re asking people to reply to a text that you send them or for more general enquiries.

Setting up an sms response service is very straightforward and low cost. Stage one is to open up a free account. From your account, you’ll be able to check the availability of your chosen keyword. Then it’s simply a case of setting an optional automated  sms response and email alerts.

If you like to find out more about sms response or discuss any other element of your mobile marketing campaigns, please feel free to call us on 0117 2050202

The future looks bright for business sms?

At Text Marketer, we’re continually surprised how business sms is still really in the early stages of development. Most companies are still not using business sms as part of their communication strategies. Surprising really, when you consider how easy business sms services are to set up.

Why is the take of business sms so slow?

We believe it’s a kind of inertia really. Business sms is simply not on many marketing manager’s list of things to consider. People tend to be happiest spending money on the campaigns that they have always been involved in. Perhaps a href=”http://www.textmarketer.co.uk/sms-bulk.htm#features”>business SMS software is still perceived as only useful for companies that have a youth target market.

So what’s in store for the next few years?

Continued steady growth! We can expect Business SMS prices to remain fantastic value for money compared to other marketing channels. We’re looking forward to helping companies realise the potential of mobile marketing in today’s challenging business environment

The SMS gateway debate.

Buying from the mobile marketing industry is a tricky business. There are a vast range of similar looking sms companies all seeming to offer the same service. What should be near the top of your list of things to look out for is which sms gateway the company use. The sms gateway can make the difference between your message arriving on the customer’s mobile phone as planned or disappearing into a black hole.
The main thing to check is whether the sms gateway is a direct UK connection. A UK sms gateway delivers the highest level of reliability.

Why not use an overseas sms gateway?

This is simply a question again of reliability. An overseas sms gateway is far more likely to lose messages and will probably not support features such as delivery reporting or dynamic sender ID. Our view is that an overseas sms gateway is serious false economy.

Won’t a UK sms gateway be more expense?

We don’t believe it should! Text Marketer uses a UK sms gateway and our sms gateway prices are highly competitive.

Use sms advertising wisely!

SMS advertising is simply using the mobile phone as a way of communicating by text with your customers and prospects. Think of sms advertising as just another communication tool that can work alongside your existing activities such as e-mail or direct marketing. Sms advertising should be targeted very carefully as the mobile is a very personal object. So while sms advertising is extremely responsive there is no quicker way to annoy, infuriate and alienate your customers than by sending them badly timed and poorly targeted offers.

Use Bulk SMS sparingly and the results will be impressive.

How do I get started in sms advertising?

Text Marketer’s sms advertising solution has no set up fee or monthly subscription and message costs are among the lowest in the industry. For a free account simply give us a call on 0117 2050202, we’d love to hear from you.

Full List of Marketing Agencies

24seven PR

A

ACJ Communications

ACMarketing

Accord Holdings – (MKH)

ACJ Communications

ACMarketing

ADZ Media Ltd

Alchemy Communication Ltd

Arc Worldwide

Aspinalls Newcastle Ltd

Assetz Solutions Ltd

Atom Communications

B

Barkers

Barracuda Design Marketing Ltd

Big Picture

Blue Silver

Brilliant Media

Bryan Holden Advertising Associates Ltd

Burning Blue Ltd

BWB Marketing

C

C2 Comms

Carpe Diem Advertising Ltd

Chambers Cox PR

Chard Direct

Communikator

Cooke Card Marketing Ltd

Cool Blue Brand Communications

Cygnet Communications Ltd

D

D&M Creative Ltd

Denfield Advertising & Marketing

Digicell Communications Ltd

DML Marketing Ltd

Dolphin Communications

DraftWorldwide

Duck Comms Ltd

E

Evolution PR

Exclaim Advertising Ltd

F

Firstmovies Research & Marketing Ltd

Forum Marketing Ltd

Full Circle

Full Moon Communications

G

Geoff Howe Communications

Gayton Graham Advertising

H

Hamilton Brooke

Haygarth Group

HCL Marketing Communications

I

ICG Brandbuilders

ICS Blue

ILC Media

Immedia Broadcasting

Impulsive Ideas Ltd

Inform Communications PLC

Inside Ltd

Insight Media (UK) Ltd

Inventive Minds Ltd

J

J C Designs Ltd

JWT Inside

K

KPM Solutions Ltd

L

Lakeland Communications Ltd

Lawton Communications Group Ltd

M

M2 Consulting

M9 Partnership

Makari Ltd

Market Communications

Mason Zimbler

McCANN-ERICKSON

Medlock Communications

MMC Ltd

MOMU (UK) Ltd

MSM Direct

MTR Promotions Ltd

N

Network Design & Marketing

P

PMR Media

Primo Media Ltd

Promotional Handling Ltd

Q

Quantum Marketing

Quinn Direct

R

RAA Sprague Gibbons

Reach Marketing Communications Ltd

Recow Creative Consultancy

Red Dragon Promotions

RMI Services Ltd

S

Sharp Advertising

Silverhall Ltd

Six Degrees Ltd

Small Creek Communications

SMP

Square Tangerine Ltd

Stark Naked Communication

Strange & Dawson

Studio 1 Promotions

SW&P Ltd

Symphony Associates

T

TCS

The Fenning Lovatt Partnership

Think Publicity

Torqback Automotive Marketing Ltd

Totality Ltd

TPA Ltd

Tribal Resourcing (CFL)

Trimedia

U

Unsworth Sugden Advertising

V

VCG

Veritape

Vision Creative Ltd

Vivid Communications

W X Y Z

Ware Anthony Trust

Yellow Communications Ltd

Yes Direct Ltd

Yes Response Ltd

Employer relations and negotiations change on a minute by minute basis, so using an sms software package such as Text Marketer’s, means that members are always informed and in touch. The sms software is particularly useful as a tool to let members know about any events or demonstrations that are being planned. Any last minutes changes to meeting points can be instantly sent out via text, so everyone knows exactly where to meet and what to expect.

Using an sms software service is always an incredibly powerful way of communicating with field based staff where plans are likely to change at the last minute. Text Marketer’s sms software is used by a number of field marketing agencies who might have hundreds of casual workers to coordinate on any one day. Where people are working on their own, using an sms software solution makes them feel more included and part of the team.

SMS Software is free to set up and there are no monthly fees. Users simply pay a low cost per text. There are also 10 free text credits so that comanies can test the sms software before making any commitment to purchase. Text credits don’t expire so companies have as long as they like to use the credits that they have bought. This is important if it’s not clear how often the sms software is going to be used.

If you’d like to trial our sms software, please set up a free account. Or if you like to have a chat, please feel free to call us on 0117 205 0202.

Getting into your customers' mobile phone address book is the 'holy grail' of mobile marketing.

People’s mobile phones are precious to them. For many already, it’s how they organise their entire lives. And this trend is surely only set to continue – well, according to every study I’ve ever read!

Getting in to your Customer’s mobile phone address book

This should be your holy grail. Most people’s mobile address books stay with them forever, moving with them as they change devices too, automatically. Most smartphones also synchronise contacts with Facebook, Google and other social networking systems.

If you can get your business name and number into their address book, there’s good chance your customer will remember you for a long time! Also, if you send them a text message in the future, it pops up as from your company name, not just a generic number – just like it does from any friend of theirs.

How do you go about this?

It’s simple. We’ve tested this on many occasions and it works.

1. You need a txtUs virtual 07…… mobile number for your business.

2. Export all your customers’ mobile numbers from your database.

3. Send them a simple message from your Text Marketer account (using your txtUs number as the Sender ID). Something like,
“Hi from Carluccio’s restaurant. This is our new text messaging number which you can use for booking or general enquiries. Please save us to your address book“.

Done.

The benefits of doing this aren’t immediate, they’re more a medium term strategy. But, from all the evidence we’ve seen, it is simply the holy grail of mobile marketing.

It’s fundamental to every business on the planet. Customer research tells us what we’re doing right and where we’re going wrong. But, customers just don’t often respond to postal or emailed surveys.

txtUs allows business to have 2-way text message conversations with customers using their email program.

Running research by text message means you’ve got the absolute best chance of a reply. People are usually happy to respond but don’t normally have the time. Using their mobile phone though, allows them to respond on the commute or during any other ‘dead’ time of the day.

RoughTrax report, “we were stunned by how much response we got. Luckily most of it was good but there were some excellent critical ones too about our web checkout process which we have now cleaned up“.

Using Text Marketer’s txtUs system (which gives your business a unique mobile number to receive replies) all the replies simply come in to your email inbox. Text replies can be up to 612 characters so there’s plenty of room for customers to tell you what they think.

Customer Research Generates Sales?

As reported in our 5 top tips to increase sales with SMS Marketing, customer research can actually generate sales as well as being a valuable insight into your customer’s perception of you.

RoughTrax reported, “we actually got 20 sales from the customer research activity too. I think it acted as a memory jogger for those customers as they hadn’t used us for a while“.

Text Saves You Time and Money

Sending a text is very cost effective (around £35 per 1,000) and when you consider the likely response rates, it’s also more cost effective than email (as we know email just doesn’t generate the response rates nowadays).

If you’d like to try your next customer research activity by text, open a free Text Marketer account and give it a try – there are no set up fees, contract periods or cancellation clauses so in the rare event that it didn’t work for you, you can simply cancel.

Perhaps the least used application for a business sms service is as a way of communicating with members of staff, particularly those that are home based. SMS is a very effective way of getting out an urgent piece of information, with minimum fuss and in the shortest time possible.

Text Marketer customer Amey have used bulk sms as a way of enforcing its ban on the use of mobile phones while driving.

The text service reminds drivers that using a phone while driving is dangerous and not acceptable, even when using hands free. Implementing such a significant change to the way employees work on a day to day basis needed an innovative way of getting the message across in a forceful and memorable way. SMS has a way of cutting through like no other communication can.

If you’re planning on using bulk sms solely  as a way of keeping in touch with staff, then the costs will be very low indeed. Accounts are free to set up and come with 10 free text credits so that you can test the service at no costs. You can buy exactly the number of text message credits that you need for your sms alert, so they’ll be no wastage. If you haven’t already set up a free bulk sms account, you can do so here. The system itself is very easy to use and has been developed with marketers, not IT people in mind.

If you’d like to discuss how bulk sms might benefit your organisation, please feel free to call us on 0117 205 0202.

What’s different about texting to landlines?

The major difference is that the text is read out to the recipient. This changes the ‘tone’ of the message completely and can feel a lot more human. The current BT ‘text spokeswoman’ has a mature, calm and professional voice which can really enhance the impact of your message. Give it a try.

Timing of your text message is more critical

The landline is, of course, not with your customers all the time ….

Think about when your target audience is likely to be home and critically, when they will receptive to your message. 7.30 am when they’re getting the kids ready for school, 6pm when they’re in the middle of cooking dinner or 11pm when they’re off to bed are not likely to be winners! And although the message will queue and keep trying to deliver, don’t send them in the day if your audience is likely to be at work so the first thing they get after a busy day at work is your message.

A great way to give a new boost to response rates

When a customer's mobile number is no longer valid, you can text their landline number and ask them to rejoin your list.

It’s a fact of modern life that people change their mobile numbers on a regular basis. If you’ve been SMS Marketing for a while you’ll notice that your delivery rate to mobiles will diminish over time. But, many companies also hold the landline number for customers which hardly ever change.

So, for customers where the mobile number is no longer valid, try a separate SMS marketing campaign to their landline numbers to give a new boost to your response rates. (Tip: you could also send a landline campaign asking people to text to join your special offers list if they are still interested, using our SMS Response system).

It’s costs the same

Texting to landlines is the same cost as texting to mobiles. There are 2 critical things to do technically when you set up a landline campaign but apart from these, it’s exactly the same.

Experiment with the message

Because the message is read out, experiment with the wording and send yourself some examples. Althought BT’s ‘spokeswoman’ is great, there’s a few words she has problems with but equally there are many words and sentences that sound fabulous.

All Text Marketer accounts can be used to send to landlines at no extra cost, you will receive delivery reports as well.

So, is it effective?

In many circumstances, yes. In truth, as with all these things, it is important to test. Follow the few simple rules about testing how your message sounds when read out by BT and thinking about the timing of delivery and you could find, if it’s right for your target market, that it’s better than texting to mobiles!