Mobile marketing…..sounds on trend: I’m going to need a large budget.

One of the delights of mobile marketing is that you can get the ball rolling on a ludicrously small budget. So just how small is entirely up to you. There are no set up costs, contract terms or monthly fees to worry about and with no minimum text credit order, you can simply buy what you need for your first SMS campaign. So there’s no need to get horribly bogged down in budget meetings or go to the financial director with a begging bowl. 

You really can get going with just a few pounds and you’ll be up and running in a few moments. So if you haven’t yet discovered what the mobile can do you for you, then it’s not too late to get started. 

Firstly, get yourself a free mobile marketing account, it’ll take 2 minutes. If you’re wondering what your first campaign might be about, visit our Inspiration Zone. It’s packed full of ideas and advice. There are 2 very useful resources that I would draw to your attention.

The first is a short mobile marketing eBook called The Seven Deadly Sins of Mobile Marketing. It’ll help you avoid some of the most common and obvious pitfalls that could easily derail your campaigns. It’s short and lightweight and will only take a few moments to run through. 

The second resource is our Message Depot. This is designed to give you ideas on how to word your mobile marketing campaigns and may even give you a steer on what sort of offer to put out there. 

We’re always on hand to help out too, so please feel to make touch. Our details are on our contacts page.

Text Marketer’s online texting service has been around since 1999. In technology terms, that’s quite a while!

We think it’s great but we would say that wouldn’t we? We’ve picked up a thing or two since 1999 so let’s have a look at what things you should be asking potential providers for when you’re looking for an online texting service.

Price
The starting point for a lot of people. We’re very low cost. We do this by achieving large economies of scale. Be aware as well that not all SMS is delivered via the same routes, some texting services use ‘grey’ routes. These are unreliable international routes that can result in poor delivery performance and big delays (not funny if you wake up a customer at 2am with your promotional message!). We’re Tier 1, the highest level – always insist on this.

Experience & Reliability
As we all know, technology has a habit of being infuriating sometimes (how many times have we all had to reboot!). An online texting service that doesn’t have at least 10 years experience in this industry is simply not qualified to know all the ins and outs, ups and downs of what can possibly go wrong – and critically, have built in the redundancy into their systems to avoid these pitfalls.

Our systems;

• Our service has an uptime of 99.99%
• Servers are located in London on a Tier-1 network utilising multiple bandwidth providers such as Level 3, Abovenet, Telia, Tinet and LINX
• The data centre is ISAE 3402 Type II SOC 1 Audited and ISO 27001:2005 (Information Security) compliant.
• Our services utilise server clusters for resilience and load balancing.
• Custom-built from the ground up to meet the demands of high throughput requirements

Knowledge & Support
Our online texting service has been used by the humble pizza shop right up to the largest international PLC’s such as Mars, Burger King, Microsoft, Wall’s and alike. One of the reasons, we think, that our customers stay with us for so long is that we know what we’re talking about. We’re all very knowledgeable with ‘everything text’. We know what works. We know what doesn’t.

We don’t employ ‘call centre’ people to simply answer calls. Everyone at Text Marketer is very experienced in online texting service advice – from the strategy to what buttons to press.

“Keep it simple, stupid”
That’s what we aim for! A low-cost, simple-to-use online texting service. You pay as you go. No contracts. No tie ins. If you like us, you’ll stay – if you don’t, you don’t. Our reputation has been built on giving customers what they want, being reliable and at a price that beats the competition.

Try us – we’re pretty sure you’ll be impressed.

My customers and prospects have not expressly opted in to receiving texts from my company. It’s therefore illegal to send them texts

Incorrect I’m delighted to say. If you have collected a customer or prospect’s mobile number as part of your discussions, or they are an existing customer, then you’re entitled to send them a text.

Here is chapter and verse from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

“You must not contact individuals without their prior consent UNLESS you have obtained their details in the course of a sale or negotiations of a sale, you only contact them about your own similar products or services and you give them the opportunity to opt out of receiving further marketing messages each time.”

All Text Marketer customers can use the free unsubscribe tool in their accounts ensuring that their SMS marketing campaigns stay the right side of the law. Each and every Text Marketer account is issued with a four letter unsubscribe code. If someone texts this code to 88802, they will automatically join the stop list. You are then unable to send texts to people on the stop list even if you try. It’s a failsafe system that means you can’t send a text to someone by mistake, who doesn’t want to receive anything from you. 

So thankfully the rules of engagement for SMS marketing are pretty logical and straightforward. If you have someone’s number because they gave it to you, then you can send them a text, as long as you give them the chance to get the hell off your list. 

To see how it all works, you’ll need to set up a Message Box account. This is free and as well as the unsubscribe system, your account comes with a host of other useful tools to help you get the most out of SMS. We’re standing by to help out if you need anything.

We tend to think of premium rate when we think of Shortcode Services but their biggest use now is for advertising response or competitions which are non chargeable.

Probably some of the most famous uses (or infamous depending on your point of view!) are TV shows like the X Factor where you’re asked to text a 5 digit shortcode, starting your message with the word ‘vote’ and then a, b or c for example.

These are call ‘shared shortcode services’. Where a company such as us, pays the large monthly fees for a 5 digit shortcode – ours is 88802 – and then rents keywords on that shortcode for a much smaller fee.

We actually include a free keyword with every account on our shortcode, 88802 so you can fully test the system before you buy a more relevant keyword for your business. Customers often choose their business name for example.

You can choose from 2 lowest-cost choices with Text Marketer’s Shortcode Services;

Features include; autorespond by text message and/or email, log all the responses, have responses emailed to you live and up to 8 timed text autoresponders.

You can have as many keywords in your account as you wish. Many agencies use our system to manage multiple campaigns for their clients. Everything is set up instantly online, in your account. There are no lengthy contracts and you simply pay each month as you go for your keywords. Cancel at any time.

Now there’s a fresh approach.

This myth tackles the common issue of over estimating response rates.

Myth 2
I can expect response rates of 20 -30% using SMS marketing

Expectations of what mobile marketing can achieve are frequently laughably overstated. While there’s no doubt that mobile marketing enjoys by far and away the highest delivery, read and response rates, it’s a good idea to keep your feet on the ground when it comes to predicting ROI on a campaign.

Essentially SMS is just another communication channel but it can’t transform a poor campaign into a good one. If a direct mailing piece completely bombed and generated zero response, then sending the same offer by text is highly unlikely to prove a resounding success. 

People can tend to get carried away by the use of a new technology. The thinking is that because they’ve never used SMS marketing before, it’s inevitably going to produce amazing results. Set the bar too high and you end up being hugely disappointed. 

The trick is to think like a consumer and be cynical. Why would I respond to this text? What’s in it for me? Could your customers see you message as spam? What would you think if you received a similar text from a different company? 

If you get the offer and tone right though, SMS marketing outstrips all other direct marketing channels hands down. In terms of response you can expect a maximum of about 8%, which beats mail by a factor of 5 and email by 100. 

If you’ve not explored SMS marketing yet, now would be a good time to get started. Opening an SMS marketing account is free and you’ll receive some free text credits for testing.

More and more companies are now using the humble SMS as a way of getting messages to employees quickly and efficiently. There’s no more reliable way of getting a message across than by text. Over 98% of texts that are received are actually read. E-mail read rates struggle at about 20% or less. Even if the e-mail is from your boss, it’s far less likely to be acted upon than if you receive an SMS.

The web-based business SMS system is an absolute doddle to use. Setting up a free account takes less than 2 minutes. When logged in for the first time, users can see exactly what they need to do to send a text. Numbers are copied and pasted, the message written, the date and time selected, then press send. It really is as easy as that and SMS campaigns can be sent from just one screen.

A standard text contains just 160 characters. For most internal communications this just simply isn’t enough to get the message across effectively. Using MessageBox, Text Marketer’s business SMS system, you can send messages up to 612 characters in length. Long messages arrive on the phone as one text although they do use more than one text credit. If you send 612 characters for example, four text credits will be used.

Employees receiving texts that require responses, can simply reply to the text and their response will be rooted back to the sender via e-mail. All MessageBox accounts come when a free reply number.

If you would like to see how our business SMS system works, you can easily set up a free account. You will receive some free text credits for testing, so you can see whether it’s right for you before buying further text credits. There is no minimum order, so you can buy just as many text credits as you need. Text credits don’t expire either, so you have as long as you like to use them up.

We’re always on hand to help out if you need us, so please feel free to drop us a line or call us. Our details are on the contacts page.

You will need to first have an account, and then simply click on the ‘Message Control’ button on the Message Box homepage, and you will be taken to the screen below.

Video Instructions

If you would rather not read then watch the Video Instructions of Message Control in Messagebox.

Instructions

On the left you will see your 'Inoboxes', containing your sent, scheduled send, and API sent items.

Look at your sent and scheduled messages

Your sent and scheduled messages are simply organised into folders.

On the left you will see your Outboxes which has everything you have sent or are planning to send.

Simply click on the relevant Outbox folder to see your Keyword replies, Unsubscribed numbers, and Virtual number replies.

Looking at your replies

Inboxes is a collection of your replies, unsubscribed numbers and your Virtual Long Number.

The top folder here is our Keyword, which if we click on we will see all our replies from this Keyword.

The second folder is our unsubscribed numbers that have in this case text back Stop to unsubscribe from our messages.

Then we have our Virtual Long Number, which has all our replies.

Click on your desired message, then you will see a Delivery Report on the right, which you can export by clicking the 'Export' button below.

Looking at your Delivery Reports

To look at your Delivery Reports couldn’t be easier, simply click on your desired campaign in your Inbox then your delivery Report will appear on the right.

You can also export this Delivery Report in several file types, by clicking on the ‘Export’ button below.

Simply by clicking on the 'Export' button in the toolbar you can export all your Delivery Reports or a select few.

Exporting multiple Delivery Reports

Exporting your Delivery Reports with Message Box is so easy.

Click on the ‘Export’ button in the above toolbar, then simply select which file type you would prefer.

A pop up window will appear asking which reports you would like to export, and it’s as easy as that.

You can reply and configure your Keyword by clicking on the 'Configure button in the top toolbar.

Configuring and replying with your Keyword

You can configure your Keyword and reply by SMS or Email.

Click on the ‘Configure’ button in the toolbar at the top of the page, then a pop up window will appear which allows you to respond the message by SMS or even by Email.

Sign up for a free account on Text Marketer then when you arrive at the Message Box homepage, simply click on the ‘Account Settings’ button and you will arrive at the page below.

It easy to change your Account Details, simply enter your preferred details then hit 'Save' at the bottom of the screen.

Viewing and changing your Account Details

Viewing and editing your Account Details is easy and quick with Message Box.

On the left at the top you will see your account information. Simply click into the type field on the right, type away and hit ‘Save’ at the bottom of the screen.

Simply type in your desired credit alert and make sure it is active.

Setting credit alerts

Setting credit alerts is simple and can be very helpful.

On the left you will see an area called ‘Account Alerts’. Simply type in the number of credits when you want to get an alert, and make sure it is ‘Active’ on the right.

Your alert will be sent to your email address and mobile number which you have entered above.

Simply click 'Active' and type in your authentication domain.

Setting email authentication

Sometimes it’s easier just to type in your domain rather than remembering usernames and passwords.

Simply click ‘Active’ and type in your Authentication domain, it’s as easy as that.

Once you have an account, click on the ‘Manage Contacts’ button on the Message Box homepage, and you will see the page below.

Simply click on the folder in your Inbox, which has the stop sign and your stop code.

Viewing your Unsubscribed Numbers

Looking at your Unsubscribed numbers is easy with Message Box.

In your ‘Inobxes’ folder you will see several folders, one has a stop sign and your four character stop code, in this example it’s STOP.

Click on that drop and down and it will show all the numbers that have unsubscribed.

How does the Unsubscribe stop code work?

Anyone texts your stop code to 88802 will automatically be put in your Unsubscribe folder.

That contact can remain in your contact groups but our system will automatically stop the message that is going out to them.

Activating your stop code

You will need to activate your stop code, and doing that couldn’t be easier.

Text your stop code yourself  to activate the system. Do it from your mobile now, and it will take the system around 10 minutes to automatically activate.

Remember to delete yourself from your stop code afterwards or you won’t be able to send yourself messages!

Wording your Unsubscribe option 

Struggling with the wording on your unsubscribe message? Here are a couple of ideas…

Option 1. Set your Sender ID as 88802, then type this at the end of your message
“Reply (enter your STOP code) to unsubscribe from our messages.

Option 2. If you want to keep your Sender ID as it is, then give fuller instructions,
“Text (enter your STOP code) to 88802 to unsubscribe from our messages.

Simply click the 'STOP' button on the Send SMS page and your unsubscribe text will automatically be added.

Entering your unsubscribe text onto your messages

After you type your message hit the ‘STOP’ and your unsubscribe text will be automatically added at the end of your message, saving you time and hassle.

After you sign up for a free account, simply click on the ‘Financials’ button on the Message Box Homepage, and you will be taken to the screen below.

Video Instructions

If you would rather not read, then watch the Video Instructions of how to use the financial functions of Messagebox.

Instructions

Simply press the 'Purchase' button top right on any page, to buy Credits, Keywords, or txtUs numbers.

Purchasing credits, txtUs numbers, and Keywords 

Purchasing now couldn’t be easier with Message Box.

On every page top right there is a button called ‘Purchase’. Simply click this and a pop up window will appear asking you what you would like to purchase.

You can purchase in several ways, PayPal, Credit/Debit card, Google Wallet, or generate an invoice to pay by BACS.

You will see a list of all you purchases documented in the middle with their details.

Checking your purchases and their details

You can check the details of all your purchases quickly, and easily.

You will see a list of all your purchases in the middle of the page, which documents the date of the purchase, cost, and whether they have been paid for or not.

Simply click on the PDF icon of the invoice you would like to download on the right.

Downloading your invoices

It is quick and easy to download and look through your invoices.

On the right of your list of purchases you will see a PDF icon and number, simply click to download, it’s that easy.

Simply click on your required Keyword and click the appropriate action on the button on the right.

Unsubscribing and re-subscribing to Keywords

You can see all your Keywords with their details, and unsubscribe and re-subscribe with ease.

At the bottom of the page you will see a list of all your subscriptions. Simply click on your Keyword then on the right you will see a drop down with either ‘Unsubscribe’ or Re-subscribe’ written on.

Video Instructions

If you would rather not read then watch the Video Instructions of how to Manage Contacts via Messagebox.

Instructions

To start with you will need to set up an account. Then click on the ‘Manage Contacts’ button on the Message Box homepage, you will then arrive at the screen below.

Click the Text Marketer drop down, then simply click 'New' in the toolbar above to create your group.

Making a contact group 

On the left you will see written Text Marketer with a drop down, this is where all your groups you create will be stored.

Click on the drop down, then in the toolbar above press the ‘New’ button under the ‘Group’ section this will open up a group for you to call whatever you like.

When you click save a little pop up window will appear.

You can type in your contacts, copy and paste or even upload your contacts from your files.

There is a box where you can type your numbers or copy and paste your numbers into. You will need to make sure that the numbers are on separate lines or separated by a comma.

It also gives you the  option to upload your contacts from a file.

Press 'Import' in the top toolbar, then 'Browse' to select the file you want to upload.

Adding your contacts from Excel, text, or CSV files 

Adding contacts from Excel, text, or CSV files is easy.

Simply select the contact group you would like to add the files to, then click the middle of the ‘Import’ button in the above toolbar. Select ‘Browse’ and select the file that you wish to upload and press ‘Ok’.

Your data will then be populated in a table (as shown on the right).

You can move the headings on your data, by simply clicking on the heading, then drag and drop onto your target column.

You might see that some data is under the wrong heading, for example our data on the right has the ‘Surnames’ written under the heading of ‘Company’. We can simply click on the required heading and drag and drop it, on the heading we want it to replace.

Simply click on the group you want the contact to be added to, and click 'New' in the toolbar above.

Adding your contacts 

When adding contacts simply click on the group that you want the contact to be in, then click on the ‘New’ button in the toolbar above under the contact section.

Then type in their details, click save and you are away.

Import your contacts by simply clicking on the 'Import Your Data' button in the toolbar.

Importing contacts from Google, Mailchimp, Capsule or the old UI

Importing your contacts couldn’t be simpler.

Just click on the ‘Import Your Data’ button in the top toolbar, and select your desired upload.

Simply click on the contact you want to place in another folder, and drag it into the folder you want.

Re-arranging contacts in groups

You can now simply drag and drop contacts into other groups.

Click on the contact that you want to move into another group, and drag and drop into your chosen folder.

Simply click on your required contact and you can either edit or delete by pressing the appropriate button in the toolbar.

Editing and deleting your contacts

Editing and deleting contacts couldn’t be easier.

Select the contact you wish to edit/delete then click on the appropriate button above in the toolbar.

To edit/delete your group, click on the required group, then simply click on the appropriate button in the toolbar above.

Editing or deleting your groups

To edit or delete you group, click on the group and then click the required button in the above toolbar.

Simply choose the group then click on the 'Export' button in the toolbar above and choose your file preference.

Exporting your contact groups

You can export your contact groups and all their details.

Click on the group you wish to export then click the ‘Export’ button in the toolbar above. This will give several options of file preference.

Video Instructions

If you would rather not read then watch the Video Instructions of how to send SMS via Messagebox.

Instructions

To start with you will need to sign up for a free account, then click on the ‘Send SMS’ button on the Message Box homepage, which will take you to the screen pictured below.

You can simply paste numbers in the send to box or choose from your stored contacts.

Entering your numbers and/or contacts 

The top, left area is where you put all the numbers (next to the To button).

You can copy and paste your numbers straight into this box, either as a single column of numbers or separated by a comma. There is no limit to how many numbers you can send to.

If you already have contacts stored in your Message Box then simply click on the ‘To’ button situated to the left of the numbers box and select your chosen group/contacts.

Simply type your message, or upload a previously saved message using the Message button.

Typing your message for the campaign

The bottom left box is where you type your message.

Do not copy and paste messages into here as applications tend to carry through hidden characters that are not excepted by mobile networks.

It is 1 credit per 160 characters with a maximum of 612 characters. At the bottom of the box you will see a credit counter which will change as you type and you can see exactly how many characters/credits you have used.

If you plan on sending this message again then simply click on the ‘Save to Message Library’ button underneath the credit counter, to save it for another time.

Simply click on the drop down and select your Free Reply Number.

Can people reply to the messages I send?

Yes, with every account at Text Marketer you get a Free Reply Number.

At the top right you will see your Sender ID, click the drop down and select your Free Reply Number (it’s the standard 07……. style number). The replies you receive will be stored in your Inbox on the ‘Message Control’ page and replies will be sent straight to your email (which you can reply to by email and the message will go back as a text message – neat eh).

Replies can only be received from people you have sent messages to from your Messagebox account in the last 7 days. People cannot text you on this number if you haven’t sent to them previously. You can enable this functionality by ordering a paid for txtUs virtual mobile number.

Simply click the Message button to upload one of your previously saved messages.

How do I send a previously saved message from my Message Library? 

Located on the left of the Message Box is a button called ‘Message’.

Click and a little pop up screen will appear with all your previously saved messages, select the one you need and then it will be automatically populated for you. You can still go in and edit the message if you need to.

In the drop down on the fields button you will several options on how to personalise your messages.

Make your campaign personal, by personalising your messages

If you have stored contacts with their details on your Message Box then you can send personalised message campaigns out.

Situated to the left of the Message Box you will see a button called ‘Fields’. From this you can select several data fields, such as first name and city, but you can also create your own data fields.

A common tool is to send personalised messages out using the recipients name for example, you would type ‘Hello’ then click on the ‘Fields’ drop down and select ‘First Name’, then continue your message. So it would read, ‘Hello (First Name) we have an offer you might be interested in…’ Our system will then automatically insert their first name into that space for you, clever isn’t it!

Simply type in you desired Sender ID up to 11 characters

Setting your Sender ID

You can set and change your Sender ID at the top right, you will see an area where you can type into and also a drop down area where you can select your pre saved Sender ID’s.

Usual Sender ID’s are company names, you can use up to 11 characters which includes spaces. Others will have their Sender ID as a mobile number which recipients can reply to.

Give your campaign a memorable name so it is easier to track.

Tracking your campaign with delivery reporting

Our system will default every campaign sent with a unique number so you can track it and check out its delivery reporting. This number is found on the right at the top, just underneath your Sender ID.

You can also change this number to a more memorable label if you wish, to make it easier to find in your delivery reports.

Simply click on schedule send and select your date and time from the pop up calender.

Schedule send your campaign for a certain date and time

If you have a particular day and time you wanted your campaign to be sent out, then you can simply schedule your send and our system will do it all for you.

In the bottom right corner you will see the button ‘Schedule Send’, simply click that and a little pop up calender will appear with and area to type in your desired time. Simply choose your date and time, then sit back and relax.

Seven Deadly Sins of Mobile Marketing and 10 Steps to Mobile Marketing Nirvana are both hugely popular and are definitely worth a read if you haven’t had the chance yet. 

So the world of mobile marketing is full of hot air and flatulence. As with all new technology, mobile marketing has fallen victim to any number of myths and outright bullshitery.

So this blog series will highlight a few of the most common fabrications so you’ll be better armed to get you involvement in mobile right. 

Myth 1
What I really need is an App to kick start my Mobile Marketing

No you don’t. You really don’t. BlackBerry revealed that 99% of apps get used just once. This astonishing fact means that the overwhelming majority of apps out there are completely pointless. The most pointless ones are those that are developed by big brands that more about ego stroking rather than delivering measurable results.

Unless you’re app is genuinely giving something useful or entertaining, then it risks being a liability rather than an asset. An app is often developed as a knee-jerk reaction to not having a properly thought through strategy. So the low-tech SMS is a far more sensible starting point than the funky new stuff. 

So rather than having to spend a fortune and waste countless days pondering what you’re app might do, you could set up a free account and start to use a business SMS service to communicate with your prospects, customers and staff more effectively. 

There is no setup cost or monthly fee. With no minimum order you can get up and running for just a few pounds. Let us know if we can help at all. 

There is no more effective way of getting a message directly and reliably to students than by using SMS. All students own mobiles and they are switched on almost all of the time. Delivery rates for SMS are over 98%, unlike e-mail which can only claim 20% or less. We all know this from our own experience. When was the last time that you ignored a text? This simple fact remains the most important reason why business SMS is so effective and continues to grow at an impressive rate.

The cost of business SMS services has also come down in recent years. Text Marketer’s prices are over 40% lower than they were four years ago. With a simple pay-as-you-go service, customers can buy text credits online whenever they wish. There is no minimum order and text credits never expire. This low cost approach allows schools and colleges to get started with SMS without the need to apply budgets or get bogged down in long strategy meetings.

The free business SMS trial, which is available to all new users, allows colleges to see the whole business SMS platform for free before spending anything on text credits. The account even comes with some free text credits for testing.

If you would like to see how effective SMS could be for your organisation, please feel free to set up an account. We’re always on hand to answer any queries you may have, so please call us for a chat. Our details can be found on our contacts page

Summary:

• As a reseller you will have an ‘administrator’ account.
• From this account you will be able to create ‘sub-accounts’ for your customers, see all your sub-account activity, manage all your sub-accounts and transfer credits between your account and your sub-accounts.
• Every sub-account gets their own free reply number and also a free keyword on our shortcode. A fully fledged SMS Marketing system.
• You can manage SMS for your customers or give them the login details and let them run their campaigns.
• You will also be given a partner code which you can use if people you are introducing sign up directly with us instead of you creating accounts for them. This will also link their account to your administrator account.
• You will receive 10% of the total sales value of any account you introduce, for the life of that account. Subject to a minimum monthly commission of £50 (for all your accounts) and applies to sub-accounts on standard prices only.

How to set up your reseller / affiliate account:

1. First, you need to open a standard Text Marketer account if you don’t already have one.
2. Log in and go to Financial | Become a Partner in the menu & get your partner code.
3. Contact us with the company name of your account and request it to be an administrator account.

Using your Administrator account:

2 new options will appear in your account to set up and manage your sub-accounts

• After we’ve made your account admin status, you’ll see 2 new options in the Financial menu – Create a Sub Account & Display Sub Accounts. It’s fairly self explanatory but there are more detailed instructions here.
• You will also have your partner code by now and instructions are on the partner resources page – go back to Financial | Become a Partner in your account if you missed this.

You’re ready to start reselling Bulk SMS!

Frequently asked questions:

• Do you white label? – We don’t. We found that people find us anyway and then sign up direct so partners would lose out if they try to pretend they have their own system. Plus, you would get all the support calls!
• Is a sub-account different? – No. A sub-account is a fully fledged account, it’s just linked to your admin account. This way you can manage SMS Campaigns for your clients or equally give them the log in details and they can manage it all themselves.
• Some competitors of yours offer higher % rates. Why should I use Text Marketer? – We’ve thought this through carefully. Find out why here.
• How is commission paid? – At the end of each month, we total the sales in all your sub-accounts and then send you a statement. You simply invoice us for that month’s commission.
• Can I use all the material on your site? – Yes, of course. Everything on our site is freely available to you to help you help your customers.

Reselling SMS can be a very profitable activity for a host of companies. If you have a bank of clients already then there’s a good chance that many of them already use SMS Marketing. You can introduce Text Marketer and pretty much guarantee to reduce their costs – as we’re the low-cost SMS company. This means you’re doing them a favour and also generating some additional income for your business.

With our reseller arrangement, we pay commission on the total sales value for the life of the account. Given that most companies who use SMS tend to stay with us for many many years then the overall commission from one account can be sizeable over the lifetime of that account. In addition, SMS Marketing is set to grow for many years to come so the you’ll have a growing revenue stream as well.

Whether you are a small insurance broker or a large insurance company, insurance leads are hard to come by and can be expensive to generate.

We have well over a hundred insurance customers who are successfully generating leads using text message marketing at a fraction of the cost of almost any other method.

I thought I’d put together a quick ‘How to Generate Insurance Leads‘ article so that hopefully other companies can benefit from this approach as well.

Insurance Lead Generation – a summary of how

This is no ‘magic bullet’. In fact, it’s very simple. You are harnessing the awesome power of text messaging to fish for leads. It’s simple, straightforward direct marketing.

As in any direct marketing you need, a) a good list, b) a good proposition, c) a great delivery route (that’s the SMS sending bit) and d) a great response channel (that’s the replying to the SMS bit).

Step 1 – The List

There are strict rules on sending out SMS. The list of numbers MUST be 3rd party opted in. In other words, must have explicitly agreed to receive texts from third parties.

There is no 1 magic list of all UK mobile numbers but rather a collection of lists built by companies who have run promotions and gained 3rd party opt in permission in the process. They in turn rent these out through a data broker. When brought together the total universe size is around 14 million 3rd party opted in mobile numbers – so quite a few to go at!

You can buy lists based on the usual types of demographics and geographics – age, gender, post code, interests, etc. In general, the more selection criteria you add, the more expensive the list.

Over the years, we have worked with most of the mobile number data brokers and we have settled on the best. Contact Sara at DMRI on 0114 281 5760 or at sara@dmri.co.uk to discuss your needs. If you say you’re a Text Marketer customer, she’ll give you a 15-25% discount depending on the list you’re buying.

Expect to pay anything from £90 to £140 per thousand records depending on your requirements. We’ll come on to ROI later.

Step 2 – The Offer/Message

Remember, we only have 160 characters in a text message so you’re offer has to be punchy, relevant, to the point and easy to respond to.

It rather depends on what arm of insurance you’re in and what your company specialises in as to what you’re going to say but let’s look at some winning examples;

• We’ll review & reduce the cost of your pension – for free. Reply YES today to get a free review. Only 100 free places left.
• Hi George. I can reduce your overall insurance costs. I’m doing this for 100 people in Dudley. Reply YES if you’d like to be one.
• Sam, my insurance brokerage saves the average Dudley motorist 23% on their car insurance. Reply YES if you’d like me to review yours free.
• Dudley home insurance sale on this week! To reduce your home insurance bill now, reply YES now and I’ll give you a call. No commitments.
• Insurance is dull. Let us do the boring stuff. We’ll get you best deals for house, car and contents insurance. Call Oakey Insurance on 012345 45678.
  
• Reduce the cost of your insurance and have more money to spend on the fun stuff. Call Birchwood Insurance today and put more money in your back pocket. Call us on 012345 6789 or reply SAVE to this text.
  
• Paul, I’m a friendly local insurance broker who’s dedicated to reducing insurance costs. Can I reduce yours? Reply YES and we’ll have a quick, free review.

You can see how there are a few killer points in most of these winning messages.

• Personalisation – using the person’s name (using our merge to SMS feature). You’ll get the name with the list you buy.
• Locality – make the person feel local. You can merge the town name in too for larger campaigns.
• What do you get? – all offer something a person can get NOW & for free, just by replying yes.
• Time expiry/Restricted offer – only 100 places left or only available this week – create a sense of urgency.

Step 3 – Sending out the Text Message & getting Lead replies

'Fishing' for leads can be a time consuming process. SMS makes it painless, fast and above all profitable.

Here’s the easy bit! We’re a text messaging company.

You don’t have to use us of course but you may have seen that we keep lower costs for SMS broadcasting. We publish a competitor price comparison chart on our prices page so you can see what all the other companies charge. Have a look around of course but hopefully you’ll use us when you see other peoples prices.

All you need to do is open a free SMS account with us (use Promo Code INSURE when you do and we’ll put 50 free credits in your account so you can test it). When you open an account you’ll get the basic instructions. But, seriously, it’s a case of copy and pasting in the mobile numbers, writing the message and hitting send – it really is that simple!

Included in your text account is a free virtual reply number. What this means is people can reply to your messages – hopefully YES (some will undoubtedly be less ‘clean’)! All these text responses will be automatically routed to the email address you used when you sign up – so that’s where all the leads come in.

Costs & ROI on Insurance Lead Generation by SMS

So, will it work for you is the million dollar question?

Without fail, all of our current insurance customers did tests first, on our recommendation, to see. To my knowledge, to date, it has a 100% success rate.

Let’s look at what a test of 5,000 would cost;

Buy the list (avg £100/’000) = £500
Send the SMS (3.7p per text) = £185 (we don’t have any set up for monthly costs, just a pay as you go service)
Total = £685

Response rate to SMS campaign.
A tougher question because it depends on your proposition, offer, etc. But we can assume an average of 10%. So, 500 leads.

Return on Investment. Simply multiply 500 x your normal conversion rate x your average income per customer.

E.g. car insurance might be 500 x 24% x £47 =  income of £5,640, profit of £4,955  plus ongoing renewals and cross sell potential – not bad from a lead generation spend of £685.

Start an Insurance Lead Generation SMS campaign today

1. Speak to Sara at DMRI 0114 281 5760 or at sara@dmri.co.uk to discuss your list needs
2. Open a free SMS account with us (use Promo Code INSURE when you do and we’ll put 50 free credits in your account so you can test it)
3. Watch your email inbox for all those lovely leads

According to a recent report, it seems as if a lot of UK companies have just not grasped how effective SMS Mobile Marketing can be. Here’s a couple of highlights;

• 86% of companies didn’t know that consumer response rates to text message marketing typically range from 15% to 30%, compared to 5% for email and just 2.61% for direct mail.
•  Three-quarters of the those surveyed didn’t know that 97.5% of text messages are usually read within five seconds according to Ofcom.

However, two-thirds of respondents said they found SMS more effective than email and over two-thirds (67%)of business owners claimed they preferred mobile messaging and the mobile Web to mobile apps.

What’s the future for SMS Marketing?

At Text Marketer, we’ve been involved in this communication channel since 1999 – so we’ve seen a few things!

We’ve seen from our growth (and from some our our ‘more expensive’ – sorry, couldn’t resist – competitors’ growth) that more and more companies are understanding how effective low cost SMS is. But …. there still remains the vast majority of UK businesses that simply don’t embrace the medium. They are really missing out.

The FT reported, “Ofcom’s report shows that the UK has one of the highest levels of penetration of smartphones in the world at 58 per cent of the population, while just fewer than one in five owns a tablet computer.”. That means that almost 3 out of 5 customers in a typical business will be able to receive a link by SMS and go on and shop on a website – instantly, wherever they are!

According to comScore and the GSMA, 4.2 million UK consumers per month are using the mobile internet to visit retailers’ websites.  Moreover, Brandbank’s “2010 mCommerce Content Report” noted that growing numbers of UK smartphone users are engaged in shopping behaviour on their handsets; just 19% of smartphone owners surveyed in May 2010 said they did not use their mobile phone to help them shop.

Why not just email them? Smart phones get email, right?

Sure they ‘can’. It’s just that most people don’t have their email set up on their phones and if they do, they generally have excellent spam filters that get rid of bulk email messages. If you’re lucky, 10% of your emails will get opened. Compare that to around 98% of SMS’s getting opened …. and read …. within seconds of sending. How important is the message you’re sending?

I don’t believe you. You’re an SMS company so you would say that!

I get it, of course. Who would trust an SMS Company who says that SMS is so great!?

Here’s what I do though when the evidence is stacked so high. Test, test & test. I want to ‘prove them wrong’.

I’ve said this to so many customers. Why not try a test of 1,000? SMS Marketing is so inexpensive and quick to do that you’ll have your results – well, if you’re fast – within 30 minutes of reading this article. A test of this size will cost less than forty pounds – the price of an average meal out!

Simply send an offer by SMS to 1,000 of your customers and see how many respond (here’s a little SMS Inspiration we prepared earlier) …. you’ll be staggered. Try SMS Marketing today would be my advice – we won’t get rich on under forty pounds but you might.

The idea of the text credit doubling promotion is to incentivise as many companies as possible to choose Text Marketer as their business SMS provider. Not surprisingly, it’s proving enormously popular.

How to claim the double credit offer 

• Login to your account and purchase between 1000 and 5000 text credits at the standard rate.
• You will receive a receipt for your text credit purchase by e-mail.
• Forward this receipt to support@textmarketer.co.uk
• Your credits will then be doubled and you will receive an e-mail confirmation.
• Credits may take up to 24 hours to be doubled. (Credits will not be doubled over the weekend.)

Terms and conditions

There do unfortunately have to be some terms and conditions attached to this offer as we actually make a loss on the initial purchase.

First purchase only
This offer is only available to new customers of Text Marketer. We would love to make it open to everyone but as we make a loss on the initial purchase, this isn’t possible. 

Only one credit doubling per company
Companies or organisations can only use the credit doubling offer once. Separate branches or offices of the same business cannot apply in addition to the first office. You cannot set up multiple accounts and redeem the offer on all of them.

Only applies to standard rate purchases
the offer can only be redeemed if you are purchasing text credits at a standard rate.It cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.

Builders are a notoriously tricky bunch to pin down. They’re always on the move and rarely have access to email. They tend not to spend much time online compared with other professions; so many digital channels are closed off. 

Their mobiles by contrast are absolutely vital and no builder would have a business if they didn’t have a mobile phone to keep in touch with their customers and prospects. So by using bulk SMS as a way of getting a simple sales message across, Travis Perkins have chosen absolutely the correct communication channel for their target audience. 

The offer for March is based on a low-cost bathroom suite, one of the staple purchases for many domestic builders. Their no-nonsense approach is likely to appeal and has every chance of generating a high response. 

“TP NEWARK COMPLETE BATHROOM SUIT £199.00+VAT MIRA JUMP SHOWER 8.5KW ELE SHOWER £95.00+VAT OFFER UNTIL THE END OF MARCH T&C APPLY”

Through no particular efforts of our own, we seem to have picked up several Travis Perkins sites. It would appear that using bulk SMS to deliver SMS alerts is becoming more popular and presumably effective as the sites that do it tend to continue. In general the volumes of business SMS continue to grow while strong EU regulations protect us from most spam, apart of course, from the now dwindling PPI and accident spam. 

If you haven’t yet explored what web SMS services might do for your business, please feel free to set up an account. You will get some free text credits for testing and we are always on hand to help with any button pressing.

Reed are using the bulk SMS system to help Everyone Everywhere fill a number of Sales Advisor roles in the Newcastle area. The text alert which was sent to several hundred potential candidates contained a link, taking recipients to a micro site which gave further details of the job opportunity.

For recruiters and employers, there is no faster or more efficient way of getting a message across to jobseekers than using SMS as the communication channel. While e-mail offers far greater flexibility in the type of content you can use, nothing beats SMS for speed and responsiveness.

With just 160 characters, the message needs to be punchy, persuasive and contain a strong call to action. The best way of allowing potential candidates to get more information fast is to provide a link to a website where full job details can be provided. From there people can either complete a form or send an e-mail. Using a web analytics package, the employer can also track the number of people who actually click through to the website.

Instead of using a stand-alone, web-based SMS system, many recruitment agencies use specialist industry software that contains a bulk SMS function. Using this, users don’t need to export mobile data from one system to another but can just send texts directly from the software. Text Marketer is an approved SMS Partner for many of these software platforms, including Bond International and First Choice Software.