Hi all,

Today I thought I would write a little about receiving SMS text messages from your own customers, staff and new leads.

SMS is now becomming a mainstream tool for thousands of UK businesses - large and small. Everyone from bluechip multinationals to your local chip shop. If you have not considered SMS communication.. or you have dismissed it as spam, expensive or intrusive.. you are missing out on perhaps the most powerful communication channel currently available.

You can receive messages instantly into an online SMS account, your email application or directly onto your webserver where you programming team can place them into a database.

There are 2 methods of receiving SMS text messages - a long number (eg 07786208569) or a short code.

A Short Code is a 5 digit number (e.g. 60777) like those used by Big Brother. Due to their ease of use they are excellent for receiving texts and generating leads from potential prospects.

Short codes can be set up to charge the customer either their Standard Network Rate or a Premium SMS Rate of 25p, 50p, £1.00, £1.50, £3.00 or £5.00.

There are hundreds of example uses for Short Codes, here are just a few:

Lead Generation (e.g. Text 'INFO' to 60777 for more information)
Add a short code to your marketing literature and you instantly provide an additional channel for potential customers to respond to. An auto reply text can then be sent back which is quickly followed up with a phone call.


Income Generation
By setting up the Short Code with a tariff of either 25p, 50p, £1.00, £1.50, £3.00 or £5.00 you can earn revenue from people texting in.


Text 2 Win
You can run Text 2 Win competitions to either generate mobile numbers for future marketing activity or to earn revenue.


Voting Competitions
These can be set up in minutes, and you can even show the results live online.


Ringtones, Wallpapers, Videos, Games etc.
A Premium Rate Short Code can be used to automatically deliver paid for content directly to the customer phone.


Store / Branch Finder
A Short Code can be set up where customers can text in their postcode and an automated reply can immediately go back containing details of their closest store and telephone number.


Features & Benefits

Quick Set Up
A Shared Short Code can be set up in 24 hours and costs around £35 per month.

E-mail Notifications
All incoming texts are immediately sent to your nominated e-mail address.

Private Inbox
All incoming texts are also stored in your Private Inbox which contains the mobile number, message and time and date of receipt. This can then be exported to Excel at the click of a button.

Auto Reply
For a Standard Rate Short Code an auto-reply can be set up (and changed as often as you wish). For a Premium Rate Short Code the auto-reply is included as it is this message that is charged at your chosen tariff.

WAP URL
You can send back a WAP URL used for ringtone or other product downloads

No Lengthy Contracts
You can run a Shared Short Code for either 3, 6 or 12 months.

Demonstration

For a demonstration of the power of Short Codes:

Text 'BROCHURE' and your e-mail address to 60777

For example text: 'brochure sales@txtlocal.com' to 60777

We will then send you an automated SMS text reply as well as a copy of our Corporate Brochure PDF by e-mail.

*The text costs your Standard Network Rate.

Standard Versus Premium Rate Short Codes

A Short Code can be set up to charge the customer either their Standard Network Rate, to text in, or a Premium Rate tariff of 25p, 50p, £1.00, £1.50, £3.00 or £5.00.

If you decide to go for a Premium Rate Short Code please see Prices & Revenues to work out what income you could earn.

Shared Versus Dedicated Rate Short Codes

With a Shared Short Code you choose your own unique Keyword but share the number (e.g. 60777) with other companies. With a Dedicated Short Code you own the number and so can create as many Keywords as you like.

Due to the current prices of a Dedicated Short Code (around £11,000) virtually all companies opt for a Shared Short Code.

For more info please just ask!

Cheers,

Alastair Shortland
http://www.txtlocal.co.uk

__________________
Online SMS Marketing - Txtlocal.com

Can we call your office for this?

__________________