This morning I came into the office, and my colleague Skye dropped a cut out article on my desk which I thought was worth blogging about - I would refer to the article, however he couldn't remember where he got it from?
So my apologies in advance for any referencing not referenced correctly...
As the article goes, health professionals in the UK at music festivals have found that most people who have lost consciousness or suffered various anxiety attacks try and SMS their mates as soon as they were able to,
What research has shown is that the mear fact they are able to SMS anything shows a certain level of consciousness - and this may be one of the tools used to over come crowded hospitals.
For me the most important aspect is the fact that the test is recordable - going way back to my early football days I got knocked out, and the test to make sure I was right to go back on was to answer who was winning? We lost every game that season, so it wasn't a real hard question.
But in an age where people are no longer accepting the word of others as to whether something happened or not, this is irrefutable - using features such as automatic responses so that there is clear communication recorded both ways as a double confirmation if you like.
The article goes on to say that there have been calls for further research and investigation into SMS messaging as a tool for hospitals - the one hitch I guess being is I was under the belief that mobiles couldn't be used in hospitals? Hmm...
If I don't blog again, have a happy and safe Xmas from Esendex Australia....
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Thursday, 4 December 2008
SMS for business marketing
I was just reading through some of the questions asked on Yahoo Answers, and saw a really good question that I thought was something really valid, how do I write a marketing SMS to customers?
Well there's no set format in my book, just some rules or guidelines if you prefer and it's something that I get asked by our customers all of the time.
SMS is not like email - you simply do not have the room on the page to muck about and be fancy pants with it all. Know what you want to say, say it and be direct! If it's something like a new product that is being launched and there is more to it than can be explained in a single sentance, then point them in a direction that they can see.
At the very least this will encourage a positive movement towards sales - and as I always say, every company in the world is a sales company, and without it there is no trading and effectively no company :)
So if you have no room to move, or give any real teeth cutting information (and it costs) then why would you even bother I hear you saying? Easy...
Cable and Wireless a while a go did a study and found that less than 20% of people who receive an email read them, whilst over 80% of people read their SMS messages.
Working through this, if we said that of the people who read their respective messages 20% of them went on to purchase something then if you sent 100 emails to customers, 20 or 20% of them read the email, and 4 of them went on to buy - that's a response rate overall of 4%.
In truth, anyone that has done email marketing before will know that's actually exceptional, and by no means in the norm.
However, if you sent 100 SMS messages, then at least 80 people or 80% read them, and again 20% of that represents an overall response rate of 16%!
That works out to be a 400% improvement over email!
One question I'll throw back to you... How many times do you receive a SMS message and ignore it, not read, decide you'll read it later?
if it's from someone you know and is in your contact list on your phone, then maybe - if they are not, or they are stamped with the business name, then I would suggest it's a fairly slim chance that you would ignore it, and therefore my figures are a bear minimum of what is possible.
So to come back on topic, keep your messages short sharp and to the point and keep them under 160 characters :)
Well there's no set format in my book, just some rules or guidelines if you prefer and it's something that I get asked by our customers all of the time.
SMS is not like email - you simply do not have the room on the page to muck about and be fancy pants with it all. Know what you want to say, say it and be direct! If it's something like a new product that is being launched and there is more to it than can be explained in a single sentance, then point them in a direction that they can see.
At the very least this will encourage a positive movement towards sales - and as I always say, every company in the world is a sales company, and without it there is no trading and effectively no company :)
So if you have no room to move, or give any real teeth cutting information (and it costs) then why would you even bother I hear you saying? Easy...
Cable and Wireless a while a go did a study and found that less than 20% of people who receive an email read them, whilst over 80% of people read their SMS messages.
Working through this, if we said that of the people who read their respective messages 20% of them went on to purchase something then if you sent 100 emails to customers, 20 or 20% of them read the email, and 4 of them went on to buy - that's a response rate overall of 4%.
In truth, anyone that has done email marketing before will know that's actually exceptional, and by no means in the norm.
However, if you sent 100 SMS messages, then at least 80 people or 80% read them, and again 20% of that represents an overall response rate of 16%!
That works out to be a 400% improvement over email!
One question I'll throw back to you... How many times do you receive a SMS message and ignore it, not read, decide you'll read it later?
if it's from someone you know and is in your contact list on your phone, then maybe - if they are not, or they are stamped with the business name, then I would suggest it's a fairly slim chance that you would ignore it, and therefore my figures are a bear minimum of what is possible.
So to come back on topic, keep your messages short sharp and to the point and keep them under 160 characters :)
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Part 2 of what's new - Inbound MMS
So, what else aside from Voice SMS is new? We are now catching up with our European colleagues and have an inbound MMS service.
Again, initially this is something that can be thought as being one dimensional, but actually in a commercial sense makes for an unbeatable way to do business - and this is what I mean;
First thought would be websites, mainly designed to target teenagers, to send in pics of themselves, pets, family, etc... so that members can see each other for pleasure or competitions, etc... At least that was my first thought...
However, going forward from that, where it could become really would be for those external services offered by various trades and professions. I'll give you an example; you're pipe in your home breaks and you call in a plumber - what's the problem? how about you SMS me a picture to....
The plumber gets the message through, and gets an idea of the situation, and comes around with the correct parts.
Or how about your PC isn't working and there is difficulties in communications for whatever reason - send a pic via MMS to the call centre to the operator, can see what's going on and provide a better level of service, etc...
In terms of sending outbound SMS, as far as I'm aware it's not something that the powers that be are looking at - and to be fair, I can't see a valid reason for wanting to send an outbound MMS except to show that you are using the latest technology... and in my mind choosing MMS to send outbound media over WAP Push, is like choosing reading a book on your laptop versus reading a book - just because the technology is newer, it isn't an improvement on what already exists and so the take up will always be little to not at all.
At this stage the way the service is setup is that the sender will text their MMS message to an Australian virtual number which has been enabled for MMS, and that message will be then passed through to a predefined email address.
That said, it would also be possible if an operator sent a standard SMS through to the recipient and that message was then replied to, to enable direct reply meaning that the inbound messages would specifically go through to the originator.
All in all, with the new products coming on board, one of the things that interests me the most is the creativity in the ways that the services are used - and no doubt I'll be back with some super ideas!
Cheers,
C
Again, initially this is something that can be thought as being one dimensional, but actually in a commercial sense makes for an unbeatable way to do business - and this is what I mean;
First thought would be websites, mainly designed to target teenagers, to send in pics of themselves, pets, family, etc... so that members can see each other for pleasure or competitions, etc... At least that was my first thought...
However, going forward from that, where it could become really would be for those external services offered by various trades and professions. I'll give you an example; you're pipe in your home breaks and you call in a plumber - what's the problem? how about you SMS me a picture to....
The plumber gets the message through, and gets an idea of the situation, and comes around with the correct parts.
Or how about your PC isn't working and there is difficulties in communications for whatever reason - send a pic via MMS to the call centre to the operator, can see what's going on and provide a better level of service, etc...
In terms of sending outbound SMS, as far as I'm aware it's not something that the powers that be are looking at - and to be fair, I can't see a valid reason for wanting to send an outbound MMS except to show that you are using the latest technology... and in my mind choosing MMS to send outbound media over WAP Push, is like choosing reading a book on your laptop versus reading a book - just because the technology is newer, it isn't an improvement on what already exists and so the take up will always be little to not at all.
At this stage the way the service is setup is that the sender will text their MMS message to an Australian virtual number which has been enabled for MMS, and that message will be then passed through to a predefined email address.
That said, it would also be possible if an operator sent a standard SMS through to the recipient and that message was then replied to, to enable direct reply meaning that the inbound messages would specifically go through to the originator.
All in all, with the new products coming on board, one of the things that interests me the most is the creativity in the ways that the services are used - and no doubt I'll be back with some super ideas!
Cheers,
C
So what's new? Voice SMS (Part 1)
Hello Internet people out there, it's been some time since my last post, and mostly because I've been so flat out with things that I either forget to blog, or I'm too busy to even think about it.
So apologies for that.
So then what's been happening?
Quite a lot actually, since we last spoke about anything Esendex we have had a couple of new products introduced, like Voice SMS and Inbound MMS.
The Voice SMS is an interesting product - I'll be quite honest here, outside of people with sight impairments, I struggled to get an idea on what people would use the service for? However, it's been my own customers who have shown me the light.
One example is Copper Mines Tasmania, who use the service for emergency alerts - for example, if there was an incident on site at 2:00 am in the morning, they can send an alert out to those who need to be in the know - the beauty of the product is in both the ability to send a message to both LAN lines, and mobile phones alike, along with the fact that the service continues to ring the phone until it's picked up and receives something (i.e. hitting number 1 on the keypad to listen to the message) - well, it sends it again every 10 minutes there after for 10 times until it's answered.
Another example would be sending information, like a customer order, to a location where the only means of timely inbound communication might be a LAN line office phone from a central hub.
It's a product that is coming along and growing organically - I guess what I like about it is that to a point it's still growing and in its infancy in my opinion and is something that is still being shaped by our customers.
The other beauty, unlike the standard SMS, is that it's possible to see who has listened to the message or not
With the future ability to change and customise many aspects like the number the message originates from, the preamble and post amble of the message, variable speed and test playback to name a few.
I have no doubt though that as we get on, and continue to take our customers feedback that it will develop into a truly powerful tool...
So apologies for that.
So then what's been happening?
Quite a lot actually, since we last spoke about anything Esendex we have had a couple of new products introduced, like Voice SMS and Inbound MMS.
The Voice SMS is an interesting product - I'll be quite honest here, outside of people with sight impairments, I struggled to get an idea on what people would use the service for? However, it's been my own customers who have shown me the light.
One example is Copper Mines Tasmania, who use the service for emergency alerts - for example, if there was an incident on site at 2:00 am in the morning, they can send an alert out to those who need to be in the know - the beauty of the product is in both the ability to send a message to both LAN lines, and mobile phones alike, along with the fact that the service continues to ring the phone until it's picked up and receives something (i.e. hitting number 1 on the keypad to listen to the message) - well, it sends it again every 10 minutes there after for 10 times until it's answered.
Another example would be sending information, like a customer order, to a location where the only means of timely inbound communication might be a LAN line office phone from a central hub.
It's a product that is coming along and growing organically - I guess what I like about it is that to a point it's still growing and in its infancy in my opinion and is something that is still being shaped by our customers.
The other beauty, unlike the standard SMS, is that it's possible to see who has listened to the message or not
With the future ability to change and customise many aspects like the number the message originates from, the preamble and post amble of the message, variable speed and test playback to name a few.
I have no doubt though that as we get on, and continue to take our customers feedback that it will develop into a truly powerful tool...
Friday, 7 March 2008
Last one for the day, but I thought this was worth sharing to show you how people land and bounce from this blog...
I started this blog because I was told I had to... I must admit even the forums I'm signed up with I lurk more than put myself out there... Confident, but not open to ridicule...
However, I'm getting into this business and enjoy the small things like which posts are more popular, how many people in how many countries check my blog out, etc...
So after posting a couple today I though lets have a look... to my surprise in Feb I had people in 17 different countries landing on my page - to some that's nothing and I appreciate that, but I get a bit of a buzz I must admit.
So I went deeper and checked out which blogs were the most popular - no surprises, you dirty buggers, hot guys vs. hot girls was number one!
Then I went a bit deeper and I think this really shows you how as a global village we've really grown to develop our search engine techniques, all these keywords were used to find my blog;
"hot guys don't" - don't what?
girls period sms - what? I mean really, what?
he likes hot girls - that's not as bad as the last...
hot girls on sms - still fairly tame... although like you I'm still recovering from the second one
hot girls australia - hmm, probably find something suitable if you left your bedroom
hot sms thoughts - you're on the internet? surely you can find something good enough there?
Now we get into the insecure faction of my readers...
how to intercept sms from girlfriends phone - told you
nokia "intercept sms" - apparently the Nokia's are big snitches with this kind of stuff
spy on my girlfriend's sms and calls - this guy should buy a new girlfriend I think
stealth call back sms - hmm, possibly a spy who's been speaking with his spy mates about black box operations? I wonder if he knows Jason Bourne?
Can I say whether you intentionally landed on this blog or not (and going by the keywords used to find me, I'll take that as a not) I would like to thank you for looking around anyway, even those buggers that spend less than 2 seconds.
Have a great weekend.
Speak soon.
Cheers,
C
P.S. if you need to speak to someone about the second one (I know I'm still a bit shocked and I knew it was coming) let me know I'll find their IP address and will bill them for your costs! :)
However, I'm getting into this business and enjoy the small things like which posts are more popular, how many people in how many countries check my blog out, etc...
So after posting a couple today I though lets have a look... to my surprise in Feb I had people in 17 different countries landing on my page - to some that's nothing and I appreciate that, but I get a bit of a buzz I must admit.
So I went deeper and checked out which blogs were the most popular - no surprises, you dirty buggers, hot guys vs. hot girls was number one!
Then I went a bit deeper and I think this really shows you how as a global village we've really grown to develop our search engine techniques, all these keywords were used to find my blog;
"hot guys don't" - don't what?
girls period sms - what? I mean really, what?
he likes hot girls - that's not as bad as the last...
hot girls on sms - still fairly tame... although like you I'm still recovering from the second one
hot girls australia - hmm, probably find something suitable if you left your bedroom
hot sms thoughts - you're on the internet? surely you can find something good enough there?
Now we get into the insecure faction of my readers...
how to intercept sms from girlfriends phone - told you
nokia "intercept sms" - apparently the Nokia's are big snitches with this kind of stuff
spy on my girlfriend's sms and calls - this guy should buy a new girlfriend I think
stealth call back sms - hmm, possibly a spy who's been speaking with his spy mates about black box operations? I wonder if he knows Jason Bourne?
Can I say whether you intentionally landed on this blog or not (and going by the keywords used to find me, I'll take that as a not) I would like to thank you for looking around anyway, even those buggers that spend less than 2 seconds.
Have a great weekend.
Speak soon.
Cheers,
C
P.S. if you need to speak to someone about the second one (I know I'm still a bit shocked and I knew it was coming) let me know I'll find their IP address and will bill them for your costs! :)
FIFA 08
This is really going to show my maturity - but it's my destressor which happens to be a lot of fun at the same time.
Recently I bought FIFA 08 for my PS2 - no I don't have the lasted PS3, but no doubt at some stage I will acquire one. Anyway, it has Clive Tisley and Andy Grey as commentators, and generally their comments fit the scenario and well, make sense.
There are some though that I thought I would share - please note these are loose quotations, but you'll get the idea.
At the start of a cup match Andy Grey at one stage makes the comments "well Clive, I don't know about you, but I think this side will either win it or lose today" - one word, insightful... I wonder when he was at the recording studio and that came out of his mouth what he was thinking at the time -no a bad line mate, not bad at all...?
The other comment I thought I would share with you (although there are a few I'll this short);
Again another cup match between the Gunners and some minnow team Clive says "well on paper this match has already been won", in which Andy replies "I don't know about you, but I've never seen a match won on paper" - what about paper football Clive?
I lied, I just had another one pop into my head - it was a FA match between Chelsea and Arsenal, and Clive says "no other competition in the world could put these two clubs together..." umm... OK then... hmm... What can you say? I love it.
Honestly, I'm not taking the micky out of the developers/programmers/designers, etc... in fact if I have to admit I love it - when they say the right things it gets boring, when it's something that makes them look a bit dumb it's great and I find it quite amusing.
Cheers,
C
Recently I bought FIFA 08 for my PS2 - no I don't have the lasted PS3, but no doubt at some stage I will acquire one. Anyway, it has Clive Tisley and Andy Grey as commentators, and generally their comments fit the scenario and well, make sense.
There are some though that I thought I would share - please note these are loose quotations, but you'll get the idea.
At the start of a cup match Andy Grey at one stage makes the comments "well Clive, I don't know about you, but I think this side will either win it or lose today" - one word, insightful... I wonder when he was at the recording studio and that came out of his mouth what he was thinking at the time -no a bad line mate, not bad at all...?
The other comment I thought I would share with you (although there are a few I'll this short);
Again another cup match between the Gunners and some minnow team Clive says "well on paper this match has already been won", in which Andy replies "I don't know about you, but I've never seen a match won on paper" - what about paper football Clive?
I lied, I just had another one pop into my head - it was a FA match between Chelsea and Arsenal, and Clive says "no other competition in the world could put these two clubs together..." umm... OK then... hmm... What can you say? I love it.
Honestly, I'm not taking the micky out of the developers/programmers/designers, etc... in fact if I have to admit I love it - when they say the right things it gets boring, when it's something that makes them look a bit dumb it's great and I find it quite amusing.
Cheers,
C
Advertising and kiddies
Can I say, in general I really like advertising and branding and all of that. I like the way James bond wears an Omega watch and that makes me want to have one as well, and how car ads make me want to buy them as well.
On the weekend I saw my brother and his kids, went out for lunch, then back to my parents for coffee and to raid the fridge (lunch wasn't that great), and the kids sat at the kitchen table and draw pictures.
Now my nephew is 10 - when I was 10 I was riding the streets pretending I was in the BMX Bandits and made up a fictional gang called the "crew of 87".
Outside of that I had no clue about clothing brands, bands (outside of AC/DC of course), or any of the generally accepted products marketed at 10 year olds today, which is what surprised me when I looked over and he was drawing fashion label symbols.
I mean it wasn't until I was 11/12 years old when we discovered Adidas 3 strips - and if you tracksuit pants had 2 or 4 strips you were going to get teased for being poor - ironic because the area we grew up in we were all poor - at least I knew my parents :)
It seems today that advertisers are managing to market to younger and younger kids, and I wonder to myself what kinds of additional pressures are we adding, to kids as well as their families - I mean we all can't be good at shop lifting. But as well as how that impacts on their development as children into adulthood?
I mean socially I found that competition really heated up at the age of 18 when we were allowed to hit pubs and clubs cruising for girls - that's not true, we stood in the corner and wished the footy players from Carlton would bugger off!
So what will life be like for them when competition really heats up in 8 or 9 years time?
One to ponder I think.
Cheers,
C
On the weekend I saw my brother and his kids, went out for lunch, then back to my parents for coffee and to raid the fridge (lunch wasn't that great), and the kids sat at the kitchen table and draw pictures.
Now my nephew is 10 - when I was 10 I was riding the streets pretending I was in the BMX Bandits and made up a fictional gang called the "crew of 87".
Outside of that I had no clue about clothing brands, bands (outside of AC/DC of course), or any of the generally accepted products marketed at 10 year olds today, which is what surprised me when I looked over and he was drawing fashion label symbols.
I mean it wasn't until I was 11/12 years old when we discovered Adidas 3 strips - and if you tracksuit pants had 2 or 4 strips you were going to get teased for being poor - ironic because the area we grew up in we were all poor - at least I knew my parents :)
It seems today that advertisers are managing to market to younger and younger kids, and I wonder to myself what kinds of additional pressures are we adding, to kids as well as their families - I mean we all can't be good at shop lifting. But as well as how that impacts on their development as children into adulthood?
I mean socially I found that competition really heated up at the age of 18 when we were allowed to hit pubs and clubs cruising for girls - that's not true, we stood in the corner and wished the footy players from Carlton would bugger off!
So what will life be like for them when competition really heats up in 8 or 9 years time?
One to ponder I think.
Cheers,
C
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