Bulk SMS marketing platforms

[messageman]

We're looking for a UK based bulk SMS service to partner with for our email marketing system. Anyone out there interested in discussing this, or have any SMS services they can recommend?


Thanks
Jon

Message Horizon

 

[garyk]

txtlocal.co.uk

 

[SavvySolutions]

have you tried bulksms.co.uk ? Pretty simple and wide usage

 

[nitGreen]

hi garyk ,

Whats your reviews about txtlocal? does they charge reasonable?

 

[messageman]

Thanks, I'd be interested to hear from anyone's experiences using such services.

Is text marketing something that small businesses have not really adopted in big numbers yet?

 

[garyk]

Yep txtlocal.co.uk are very reasonable. If you are coming at it from a developer point of view you might want to check out bluevia.com, they are providing a developer API which you can hook into form sending messages where if you are an O2 customer (or get a PAYG SIM) you can get revenue from messages sent.

 

[Textlocal]

Big brands yes.. but not so much in the SME market (although we do have 60,000 UK business customers... many are SMEs in every sector...)

Imagine a Fish & Chip shop. They ask their customers to join their "text club" by texting FISH to 60777. Over a short time they grow an OPT IN list of people who CHOOSE to receive messages on their handset.

The owner can then send a message to 100 people for around £4... in an instant - directly into the palm of their hand. "Come to our shop tonight with the code xxx7 and get a free bottle of coke with any order!"...

Quite simply the most cost effective way to generate repeat business available!

NOT SPAM. NOT INTRUSIVE. NOT TECHNICAL!

Thanks, I'd be interested to hear from anyone's experiences using such services.

Is text marketing something that small businesses have not really adopted in big numbers yet?

 

[messageman]

60,000 clients is impressive indeed. Will check out your APIs.

We're looking to target SMEs with a combined offering.


Many thanks
Jon

Messagehorizon.com

 

[Network Yorkshire]

Hi

I'm in no way affiliated to this company but i'm aware that they are major players in the area your looking into www (dot) dynmark (dot) com

From what I can gather they are the engine room so to speak for a lot of sms providers...

 

[IntegratedS]

Does these SMS's really work?? Has anyone gained any customers using these sms services?:| :| :| :|

 

[TBTB]

I've used bulksms for years and they are simple, efficient and competitively priced. I'd recommend them.

 

[moreover]

There are so many options when it comes to bulk SMS marketing platforms, and one key aspect you've got to not forget is the 'route' the messages take.. as in which country the SMS has originated from - sometimes you may find that they are routed via some unknown country, leading to undelivered SMS which is the worst case senario. Take a look at world-text.com for UK only routing.

 

[Marcelle]

We used 24x for SMS marketing campaigns a few years ago, and now use them to send all messages from our answering service. We followed up our text campaigns with phone calls and this was moderately successful but very time consuming.

 

[Target]

Does these SMS's really work?? Has anyone gained any customers using these sms services?:| :| :| :|

Yes they do, but you have to treat them the same way as you would email marketing. The same laws apply (see http://www.small-business-database-marketing.com/anti-spam-laws.html), and they absolutely work best when people VOLUNTARILY opt-in to receive them. In those circumstances, they can be incredibly effective, quick and easy to send, low cost and trackable.

In fact, in many ways they're much more effective than email marketing, especially when comparing open (ie read by the recipient) rates for an opted-in list: average 20% for an email campaign; average 95%+ for a text campaign.

George

 

[mcgovern]

Big brands yes.. but not so much in the SME market (although we do have 60,000 UK business customers... many are SMEs in every sector...)

Imagine a Fish & Chip shop. They ask their customers to join their "text club" by texting FISH to 60777. Over a short time they grow an OPT IN list of people who CHOOSE to receive messages on their handset.

The owner can then send a message to 100 people for around £4... in an instant - directly into the palm of their hand. "Come to our shop tonight with the code xxx7 and get a free bottle of coke with any order!"...

Quite simply the most cost effective way to generate repeat business available!

NOT SPAM. NOT INTRUSIVE. NOT TECHNICAL!

imo you can use it on a local level to great effect especially if tied in with facebook ect

 

[jamesp34]

Does it cost the customer to send the initial text to join and then receive the subsequent text messages? Also can you track the texts to make sure that they have been received successfully?

 

[themullet]

aql

used them a good few times back in the day and they are still good now a days.

 

[mcgovern]

Does it cost the customer to send the initial text to join and then receive the subsequent text messages? Also can you track the texts to make sure that they have been received successfully?

from what i understand you can give the customer the option of a free response or charge within the scale of charges.

most companies appear to offer reports on deliveries and responses.

 

[Target]

Does it cost the customer to send the initial text to join and then receive the subsequent text messages? Also can you track the texts to make sure that they have been received successfully?

No, it only costs their standard network rate to text (so very probably free). However, you can choose to charge them and you'll receive a share of that income. And there's no cost for them to receive texts.

Yes you can receive stats on delivered and undelivered texts.

George

 

[SneakSMS]

aql

used them a good few times back in the day and they are still good now a days.

Yea, if you want to pay 5p + VAT per message when buying 100,000

 

[Andy_Smith]

Esendex did a blog post a while back explaining the secret to bulk SMS success, all the principles still apply today so check it out for some quality advise on bulk SMS.

Esendex Blog

 

[Ricko619]

I recommend without a doubt E-goi. You may send not only bulk SMS but you can also manage all your campaigns sent through other channel like email, fax or voice broadcasting. Its really nice

 

[Ricko619]

My suggestion goes for E-goi.com

 

[minali]

Has anyone else tried textforbusiness.com?
They are the cheapest tier-1 UK provider that I can find. Nice easy system as well.

 

[GoneFishing9990]

You might want to give us a try as our 2 for 1 offer at the moment means credits are 1.85p each. We've been doing it since 1999 so know a thing or two (link in signature)

 

[Textlocal]

Nothing like resurrecting an old thread guys

UK's leading mobile messaging service in sig below, 100,000+ users, won all industry award for "Best SMS Platform" (due to quality of service and unique features such as mobile pagepae editors, survey & data collection tools and SMS attachments) and No.45 in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 list published on Sunday.

http://www.textlocal.com/blog/2013/09/textlocal-reach-new-heights-in-sunday-times-tech-track-100/

Will price match any competitor too.

PM for free account and 250 messages to get up and running!

Thanks