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

Here’s a couple of great examples which illustrate how the system works.

Example 1 – Conduct customer research using txtUs

In this example we ‘start the conversation’ by texting out to everyone who has bought from Widgets.com in the last week, using the Text Marketer online bulk sms software.

We simply ask customers to reply back, rating their experience and any other comments.

Below, Mr Smith replied to us rating Widgets.com only a 6 but saying it was because of a web problem. We replied saying it had been fixed and he has thanked us for that. On the final communication we can just say thanks.

You’ll see that from your point of view, you’re just replying by email and the full thread of each conversation with each customer is included on each email.

Example 2 – a ‘cold’ enquiry from a customer

In this example, we have promoted our txtUs number in our summer catalogue so that customers can enquire by text.

First, we see that the enquiry has come in to our email and we can now respond by email which will be converted to a text message and sent back to the customer’s phone. We can add in order details for them to phone us or go to the website.

From the next reply we can now see Mrs Gareth-Jones has got the information on her phone (saved to her inbox) and she can now complete the order at her leisure having been reassured her dress is in stock in her size.

She’s obviously impressed with the service! We see this is a lot when companies start using txtUs for the first time. Customers are really impressed they can deal with a company by text messaging because it’s most people’s favoured way of communicating nowadays and has the benefit of being usable by customers any time, any place.

We’ll just reply a simple thank you and look forward to your order on this one. As you’ve got this in your email program, you could always flag it to chase in a couple of days too, if the order hasn’t come through by simply replying again to the last email on this thread.

A ‘revolution’?

Communicating by text message isn’t a revolution – most of us do it every day!

But for industry, txtUs is. It brings together 2 fundamental communication technologies, text & email. From a company’s point of view txtUs is simply providing customers’ text messages into emails in the normal way into your standard email program so there’s no new technology to install or learn. But, from the customer’s point of view, they are communicating with you by text message.

With txtUs you get your own unique mobile number to promote for your business. Most other systems used a shared number so for example this means you can’t even received cold enquiries to it, you would have had to send out a message first! Not great for new business!

And as you can see, txtUs provides the full thread of the conversation in the emails you receive so you can what’s been said and when.

We would urge all companies to trial txtUs in their companies. The feedback from people already using it is that their customers are, “more likely to communicate”, “more loyal” and “recommend us to more people because of it”.

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.

Every customer expecting delivery of an item of furniture is now sent an sms message informing them of the 2 hour time slot in which they can expect delivery.

“Your delivery from Stirling Furniture is between 10am and 2pm tomorrow, the driver will phone you when he is 30mins away.”

If the customer needs to change the delivery time or give further instructions, they can simply reply to the text alert. The text response is then converted into an email and immediately sent to a predefined email address. If further communication is needed, the customer service advisor can simply reply to the email which is then converted back into a text on the customer’s mobile.

It’s a simple system that has radically streamlined the way that Stirling runs its delivery operation.

Operations Manager, Nick Mylands commented:

“We used to spend ages calling our customers to let them know when they could expect deliveries. It was time consuming and very expensive. Now all our customers receive a text with a 2 hour delivery slot. It’s just far more professional and efficient.

When text replies come in, we can simply write a quick email, hit send and that’s it. We’re pleased to be amongst the first companies to use the service and have certainly been impressed with how easy it’s been to set up and use.”

Text Marketer’s TxtUs service helps companies simplify the way they manage customer communications, if you’d like to find out how it might work for you, please call us on 0117 2050202.

Booking enquiries can increase as much as much as 50% using a text option

Booking enquiries can increase by up to 50% using a text reply system

Booking a restaurant is often a impulsive decision but a lot of people refrain from ‘making that call’ for a whole host of reasons. Not so with text messaging. Research shows that most people are much more likely to send a text message enquiry.

Using a unique system, like Text Marketer’s txtUs product, your business can now have a standard mobile number which allows people to send text enquiries (but not call the number). These SMS enquiries are converted to an email and sent to your email address. When you reply to that email, your reply is sent back as a text message. If the conversation continues, all the history is contained on subsequent emails so you know what’s been said before.

Building more restaurant ‘regulars’

Restaurants are also finding they build a more loyal customer base too. They find that customers save their txtUs number in their mobile phones and because it is more convenient, tend to enquire to their restaurant first the next time they’re booking a table.

Building a marketing list

The txtUs system also automatically stores all the mobile numbers of enquirers. The platform can then also be used to send out bulk messages, for example to promote an event, which of course, can be booked by replying to the text you have sent.

Restaurants embracing this customer-driven technology are seeing great gains over their competition.

See http://www.textmarketer.co.uk/txtUs.htm for more information.

You can cancel your keyword or TxtUs number from within your Text Marketer account.
To do this this go to Incoming SMS – Change Reply Settings.
Click Cancel next to the keyword or TxtUs number.
You’ll then be asked to confirm that you wish to cancel the subscription.
By confirming, you subscription will immediately be cancelled.

You can also cancel you subscription by logging in directly to your Google account.

To do this, simply login to your Google account and cancel your subscription with Google. Text Marketer does not hold your Google login or credit card details. See Google Help for more information.

As soon as your monthly payment has been cancelled your keyword will automatically be removed from your account.

Please note that if you need to download data from the short code log, do this before cancelling your keyword as the data cannot be retrieved once a keyword has been cancelled.

The argument was supported by some pretty compelling evidence. At a recent event, the IAB and DMA released research that suggested that over 50% of people would be happy to receive sms alerts from companies that they already had a relationship with.

The article then went on to identify a few of the barriers to entry for accessing millions of mobile users by SMS, such as the lack of opt in data available and the disjointed nature of the data owners. Ronan suggested that there might be a way for all of the networks to work together to form some kind of single point, where marketers could access targeted mobile data from one place.

While it’s an interesting idea, I think it totally misses the point. The reason why mobile markeing is so responsive is that we are not all sent endless promotional text alerts (I hesitate to use the word spam.) The crucial point is that consumers would be happy to receive sms alerts “from a brand they already have a relationship with”. Had the question been, “would you like to receive sms alerts from companies who have purchased your mobile number and would like to send you offers?” then I suspect the response would have been quite different.

The proliferation of mobile lists that are available for marketers to purchase, will cause enormous problems. Delivery and response rates will drop, spam filters will be introduced, blocking messages from anyone that is not in the mobile’s address book and the whole channel will be dogged with the same problems that email has.

Mobile marketing works. It won’t continue to work if we wreck it.

Unless you’re from Bristol, you’ll never have heard of Miss Millies. For Bristolians it’s an absolute institution, serving delicious fried chicken and burgers to the masses. Being just round the corner from us, we’ve been chosen to provide the sms text response infrastructure for their newly launched radio and poster ad campaign.

The buy one get one free offer is aimed at getting as many new customers through the door as possible and customers can also register for free sms alert offers by texting MILLIES to 88802.

Click below to listen to the radio ad.

Miss Milie’s Radio Ad

The sms response campaign will generate a database of opted in customers who will be sent a series of tempting offers via our sms software over the coming weeks and months. As with many companies, the sms response campaign is Miss Millie’s first foray into the world of mobile marketing. Assuming it goes well, then we expect sms solutions to become a more intergated part of their marketing activity in the future.

The text response part of this campaign is remarkably low cost. The entire platform for handling the responses, including the keyword and short code, costs just £25.00 + VAT a month. With no minimum time period, the system can be used for the precise period of the campaign, with no wastage.

The automated sms responses are also low cost at just a few pence each.  (We’ve put together an sms cost comparision table, if you’d like to see how our sms costs compare with other comapanies.)

If you’d like to have an sms response option on your marketing campaigns, you can set this up online in a mater of minutes. Do call us on 0117 9249207 if you’d like to talk about this. Miss Millie’s for lunch anyone?

If you don’t like reading, simply try our demo to see how this works;

Text INFO and your email address to 88802 and see what happens (no charges of course!)

For existing customers, this facility is now available in your account & the instructions and screenshots have been updated.

For new customers wishing to trial the service for free, sign up for a Text Marketer account and add a free week’s trial of a keyword when you’re signing up.

The marketing applications for this unique service are endless. Imagine you can automatically send any email you like including offers, vouchers, job information, etc. to people who text to you. You also capture their mobile number and email address for future use.

Have you tried the demo’ yet? We think you’ll be impressed!

The ‘meat and two veg’ – The Top 5 reasons to have a short code text service

1. If you advertise anywhere then adding a text response option will increase overall response rates by around 20% and 50% of respondents will choose to respond by text message.

2. When enquirers respond to your text service you automatically capture their mobile number which is fabulous for future marketing activities.

3. Enquirers by text receive an automatic text response with all your company details on. This effectively acts as a business card on the enquirer’s mobile phone.

4. Using a text response service cuts costs. Calls to mobile phones are very expensive and require staff to talk to the customer. If you send a customer a question by text and allow them to respond by text, you cut out the staff requirement and each contact costs a matter of pennies rather than many pounds.

5. Two thirds of people want to use text with companies but only 3% currently do. Offering a text service to your customers

So, if you’re going to set up a text short code, why use Text Marketer?

1. We have the lowest monthly cost for keywords. £25 per month for any word & only £4.99 per month for budget keywords!
2. You get a full text account free of charge to manage all your text activities.
3. If you want to send text messages back to people we also have the lowest cost per message prices, backed by our Best Buy Guarantee.
4. You can set up your keyword on our short code text service instantly online and be up and running in minutes.
5. There is a no-risk 1 week free trial so you can try the service and if you’re not happy after a week, cancel & don’t pay a penny.

Other useful links on the subject.

• Read more on our short code text service. There are 2 short videos here too which show real life examples & in system mechanics. (This page also shows our competitor price comparison chart for short code text services).
• Read the full system instructions if you want to see more detailed instructions and screenshots of how it would work in your account.
• Check if the keyword you want to have is available.
• Get a free Text Marketer account (which you’ll need to use the text response service and set up the free 1 week trial).

The charity has put together a Quizaid Pack that contains quiz questions and all the materials needed to publicise the quiz event. In order to make it easier for fund raisers to apply, Christian Aid are using Text Marketer’s SMS software to allow people to apply for their pack by text.

The process is simple. Applicants simply text the word QUIZ, followed by their name and address to short code 88802. The sms software then captures the person’s mobile number and their details and sends them an automated text response letting them know that their pack is on its way. By making it easier for people to apply, the charity is maximising the response, resulting in more fund raising events taking place throughout the country.

Lower costs drives increased use of sms software

SMS software and text response services have become increasingly affordable in recent months. Text Marketer’s sms software is completely free with sms credits at the lowest rate in the industry. A text response service costs just £25 per month and there is no minimum period or contract. The service even has a 7 day trial so that companies can see that the service is right for them before spending any money.

With such low costs, many more companies are incorporating an sms service into their marketing and communications strategies. By including a text response on advertising and marketing materials, companies can expect uplift in overall response of between 15% and 20%. Additionally, by giving customers the option, around 50%, choose to make contact with the company by text. (source Mobile marketing association)

To find out more about how sms software can benefit your organisation, please give us a call on 0117 9249207. Alternatively, you can set up your sms response service by following the simple wizard.

Will we see an sms voting service in 2015?

As the dust settles on the election, Orange have released some figures revealing that 20% more of us would bother to vote if there was a text messaging service that allowed us to do so.

The stats come from the Orange Election Report, which surveyed about 2000 nationally representative adults. As well as the need for a text messaging service, the survey also found that nearly a quarter of 18-24 year olds have received information on the general election via social networks and 11% have actually commented on it using social networking sites.

Anthony Parker, author of the Orange Digital Election Report says: “It’s clear from this research that the use of technology by the political parties has made politics more accessible and interactive, and ultimately more interesting to a younger audience.”

What’s particularly striking about this research is the implications that it has for our electoral system in the future. If 20% more people voted because there was a simple text message service, then it would seem very probable that this type of technology is lkely to become more prevalent next time around in 2010.

A text message voting service would undoubtedly bring some logistal challenges around data security and the voting procees would also need to be fairly slick or people would lose interest and either not bother or vote in the tradional way.
So let’s hope that sms services and technology in general play a more central role in engaging the country’s younger voters with the whole process.

Companies wanting to find out more about how they can reduce the impact of their waste on the environment, now have the option of texting a keyword to a 5 digit short code. The text response option is now being implemented on a number of business marketing materials being deployed during 2010.

Traditionally an sms service such as this has been used mainly by business to consumer companies but increasingly B to B companies are taking advantage of the increased response rates that can be achieved. If you give people the choice around half of them will choose to make their initial contact by sms. (source – Mobile marketing Association)

The take up of sms services by business to business companies has been surprisingly slow and the feeling that sms solutions are the preserve of the consumer still remains failry well entrenched. The notion that you need thousands of people to make sms marketing worth it just don’t stand up. Just because a campaign is going out to a relatively low number of recipients, it doesn’t mean that it is in any way a less effective channel.

SMS services – an attractively low cost option

A text response service costs just £25.00 a month and there’s no set up fee or minimum term. An outbound sms account can be set up for free and you can purchase as many text credits as you need for your campaign.

If you’d like to find out more about how sms could work for your business, please give us a cal on 0117 9249207.

Guide Dogs deliver mobility and access services that meet the needs and aspirations of blind and partially-sighted people in the Uk.

Registered runners for a wide range of races receive an sms alert of encouragement the day before their big race.

“Good luck tomorrow! We’ll be there to cheer you on & meet you after in the Royal Albion. Thanks for your support! To reply, send DOGS + your message to 88802.”

The bulk sms service also includes a text response option so that runners can respond to the texts of support that they receive.

Jayne, who was one of 500 Guide Dogs runners in the inaugural Brighton marathon, texted:

“im so looking forward to the first brighton marathon 2moro and doing my little bit for the guide dogs. I think its going to be a brilliant day. Jayne ”

There are dozens of events nationwide where people are running to raise money for Guide Dogs, the next one being the London Marathon on 25th April. The bulk sms service is an innovative way for the charity to make a stronger connection with its supporters on whom it depends.

A local advertising campaign in the Thames Valley area invites applicants to text the keyword SPECIALS to short code 88802. An automated text response is then generated that asks candidates to visit the Special Constable recruitment web site where more information is available.

The sms response campaign is running for 3 months and has generated well over a hundred responses in its first month.

Using a text response and bulk sms service as part of a recruitment campaign is becoming increasingly common. In the past 12 months Text Marketer has been involved in over 20 separate campaigns.

Please feel free to call us on 0117 9249207 to discuss how mobile can become part of your recruitment process.

As with most successful programmes, it has spawned a stage show (who can forget the critally acclaimed Postman Pat Live) that is currently touring theatres in the UK and Ireland. The tour started in April 2009 and will end in December.

As part of the audience participation, the show is running a text to win competition that is being hosted by Text Marketer. The idea is that fans can win the chance for the entire cast to visit their home for a live (and possibly slightly disturbing) personal lazy Town experience. The sms campaign is being promoted during the show interval by projecting the competition instructions directly onto the safety curtain. This is perhaps the first time that theatre safety curtains have been used to promote a mobile marketing initiative.

To enter, players text in the keyword lazy, followed by the answer to a Lazy Town related question to a five digit short code. Lucky winners are then notified by text. Players can also opt to receive bulk sms alerts on other events that are being panned.

Text Marketer provides low cost sms marketing tools to a number of independent theatres and groups that allows them to incorporate sms marketing as part of their communication and CRM strategy. (Clients include, Ambassador Theatres and Live Theatres.)

The simple fact of the matter is that most marketing departments simply don’t know how effective their advertising campaigns are. There might be a general sense that more enquiries were generated but precisely how many and whether the campaign actually paid for itself often remains a mystery. There’s a certain amount of comfort in not knowing. Understandably, people are content to advertise in the same way that they have always done and don’t want it revealed that actually the money could have been better spent elsewhere.

Advertising…stand up and be counted.

There is however a simple and cost effective tool for making advertising stand up and be counted.

The inclusion of a text response mechanic on advertising campaigns can reveal the truth, warts and all, on whether an ad is working. It’s a simple and effective move that could raise questions about your entire marketing strategy.

On occasion, we’ve had clients who have taken a sharp intake of breath and insisted, ‘No, our target market is older and they won’t be interested in sending in a text’. Without being too dismissive, this is simply nonsense. Text is now a universal method of communication in the UK and according to the Mobile Data Association, 78% of people aged 55-74 regularly use text.

Which ad campaign delivers ROI?

As well as measuring the overall response from your advertising, you can also measure which advertising channels are the most cost effective. By including an additional code or word after the main keyword, you can accurately measure the response on each. For example if you were advertising in the local paper and also the radio, you would have different ‘calls to action’. Radio sms responders might text BROCHURE to 88802, while newspaper responders text BROCHURE P to 88802.

So the time has come to be brave and get the answer to the awkward question. Does our advertising work?  From our experience with dozens of clients, if you give people the choice, around 50% of them will opt to make their initial contact by text. Additionally, simply by having a text option you should generate between 15 and 20% more response overall.

Free Text Response Service

Text Marketer is offering text response tools at no costs. By making it free, we are encouraging as many customers as possible to use it and help them generate responder databases that can be used for further sms marketing campaigns.

There is no set up cost, monthly fee or contract and setting up your account will take just a minute or two. To book your text response service you first need to set up a free account.
Then complete the keyword application form. Set up usually takes a couple of hours.

If you’d prefer to pick up the phone, call us on 0117 9249207, we’d love to hear from you.

Simple really, study after study has shown that you if you give people the opportunity to respond by text message, they do! In fact, on average, around half of people will respond by text who otherwise wouldn’t – resulting in a 100% uplift in advertising response! That’s why all the big companies do it.

Isn’t it expensive?

Traditionally, yes. But, here’s the good news – we offer this text response service to any UK company 100% Free.

Why would you do that!? Surely there’s a catch?

For over a decade we’ve been helping businesses benefit by adding text message marketing into their mix and we’ve found that once companies find out how effective it is they increase their activity and volumes of Bulk SMS.

As the UK’s lowest cost, dependable Bulk SMS supplier (we even produce a Bulk SMS competitor price comparison chart to show price differences) we therefore hope that if you choose to have a free text response keyword and it works for you, you’ll naturally use us for Bulk SMS (although there’s no commitment to do so).

What could I use a free text response service for?

There’s the obvious for advertising purposes to gather responses but once you have the free platform you’ll discover a whole host of other uses as well as being amazed how much customers enjoy interacting with you by text message.

For example, on a free keyword HOLS for a travel agent one could consider;

• “Text HOLS and your email addres to 88802 and we’ll e-mail you our latest holiday offers”
• “Text HOLS and your favourite country to receive text alerts on holiday deals for that country”
• “Text HOLS OFFERS to receive text alerts on all our holiday deals”
• (From a simple question), “Text HOLS then A, B or C and receive a £50 discount voucher if you get the right answer”
• “Text HOLS and your planned next holiday date and we’ll contact you then to advise of our best deals”
• “Text HOLS WIN to enter our prize draw for a free holiday”
• and so on …..

If you’d like to see how quickly and efficiently the service works, text DEMO to 88802 and you’ll receive on of our standard welcome Text Marketer messages.

How do I get the data from people responding?

You get all the incoming data, their mobile number, date and time of the message and the full content of their message.

There are 3 ways to retrieve that data;

• You login to your free SMS account and download all the data to a spreadsheet
• And/or, you can have each and every response emailed to as many email addresses as you like
• And/or, if you’re a bit more technical, you can integrate into our SMS Gateway to receive the data directly to your web application. This will allow you to do clever things with the responses.

I hope that gives you enough information for now and some ideas.

Why not try a free keyword on our shortcode and see if it works for you, there’s nothing to lose and a huge amount to gain!