Real World Bulk SMS Successes
Bulk SMS provides a powerful communications platform that enables you to get in touch with those people who make your business thrive. With the use of the correct SMS application or API, you’ll be able to supercharge your marketing campaign and increase customer response – in 160 characters or less. In this week’s post we’re looking at a couple of real world examples to illustrate the benefit of bulk SMS for your business.
Case Study 1: Hilton Hotel Group
After launching a bulk SMS campaign distributing special offers, the Hilton Hotel Group experienced a success rate of 10% to 25% of delivered messages. This means that, had they sent out 100 text messages, anywhere between 10 and 25 people made use of the particular special or promotion.
How can you do it?
If you’re using an application to send your MS messages, then simply send your promotional messages to those contact you think are most likely to respond to your offer.
Although any of the API’s will work in this instance, we’d recommend the FTP API for the simple reason that it only requires an easy upload of a delimited text file (.csv) containing the numbers of your contacts and their respective messages. Once the file is uploaded, the text messages are delivered without delay. This method works especially well for large volume bulk SMS batches.
Case Study 2: Starburst Fruit Chews
The efficacy of bulk SMS lies in the fact that it also allows you to receive messages from your target audience. The “More Juice More Burst” campaign required teens to SMS a unique code located on specially marked packs of Starburst Fruit Chews. A reply was sent immediately informing the participant whether they had won any of the wonderful prizes that were up for grabs. The result: SMS increased traffic by more than 40%.
How can you do it?
Taking into account that Starburst targeted teens across the United States of America, one would assume that they’d need a robust protocol that could both send and receive without delay. And, seeing as automated response was in place, they’d need an application or an API they could integrate with a system that did a database search to determine whether the entrant had won a prize. For all your large volume instant bulk SMS needs, there’s one API that stands out above the rest: SMPP (Short Message Peer-to-Peer).
Case Study 3: Girlfriend Magazine
How did Girlfriend magazine get 40,000 opt-in cellphone subscribers? By offering access to their VIP club through ads on their website and in print. Registered VIP members could send free SMS messages from the website and also received promotional messages containing coupons and discounts.
How can you do it?
The HTTP/S API allows for the two-way sending of SMS messages from a web interface using a simple POST or GET string, which makes it easy to implement. This is how most SMS applications connect to the SMS gateway to send messages.
So Is There a Bulk SMS Success Formula?
Looking closely at the above examples and the countless others that are being used this minute to increase sales, it becomes apparent that a successful bulk SMS marketing campaign requires five things to improve penetration and/or conversion rates:
- Planning (includes choosing the right SMS application or API)
- A vehicle (a medium to drive the campaign, such as a TV, radio, print or the internet).
- An incentive (give your customers a reason to get in touch).
- An effective opt-in strategy (supplying a reason to keep in touch).
- The choice to opt-out (required by law and is simply good SMS conduct).
Choosing the right SMS application/API and developing your own winning formula to catalyze your marketing campaign could push your business over the edge of SMS marketing success when you use Bulk SMS.
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