Tag: promotional sms

An Affordable High Deliverability Bulk SMS Service

Bulk SMS is a powerful tool to boost your mobile marketing campaign. With almost 98% open rates surpassing other forms of marketing across email or social media, SMS continues to be the most ubiquitous methods to reach out to users.

The reasons are as follows:

  • Bulk SMSes are the most convenient and cost-effective means to reach out to your audience without hassles. By signing up with a reliable bulk SMS provider, one can send hundreds of messages with the click of a button.
  • Owing to its higher open rate compared to any other medium, SMSes have more chances of being read.
  • With SMSes, you have better chances of implementing a clear call-to-action or CTA and generate better response rates.
  • Almost everybody owns a mobile phone whether they have an interconnect connection or not.
  • SMS gives you the chance to keep it short, concise, and simple. You can get the message across in a few words without taking the reader’s time.

Therefore, a few tips to remember before you begin shooting out your promotions:

  • Include incentives for the user. Why would anybody bother reading your messages unless they are getting a discount or an offer?
  • Do not go ballistic with the messages on a single day. Constant messaging and promotions irk your users, and it should be moderate, exclusive and personalized. Hence, it is a good idea to update the client database, and see how each user differs based on their age and location. Make efforts to customize what you are sending and do not copy your competitors all the time.

Try Kirusa Konnect’s Bulk SMS Service, where you can customize messages while also keeping track of the delivery and ROI metric.

  • If you regularly send billing or transaction details to customers, you have an excellent opportunity to initiate a clear call-to-action using the extra whitespace. Just make sure that the codes, keywords or offers blend well with the transactional message and do not lose their importance. You may even look up quite a few SMS marketing services that enable this.

Kirusa Konnect has a feature called SMS Tagging that lets the company insert messages and codes within transaction SMS and billing details. Transactional SMS tend to have a higher click-through rate (CTR) compared to promotional SMS because they contain personalized information about the client’s account and transactions.

  • Most people scroll through apps and social media accounts before noticing SMSes. Social media trends and updates significantly influence our buying decision and promotional SMSes act like a ‘final push.’ Hence, it is a great idea to integrate WAP links into your SMS that direct people to your site or app.

Kirusa Konnect is an affordable provider of Bulk SMS service, which apart from boosting SMS marketing and keeping track of your success metrics, offers tools to evaluate the ROI of bulk SMS messaging campaigns.

Bulk SMS for Business

Ekon is in the middle of an important client meeting when his phone starts buzzing. Assuming an emergency, he excuses himself and takes the call. However, the call is from an insurance sales agent regarding a new health scheme. Visibly appalled, Ekon hangs up and slams the phone down.

On the other side, the sales agent, Mary wonders what went wrong. She immediately moves on to another lead only to receive a call on her mobile number. Not wanting to miss what might be an important message, she takes it. The person on the line is another sales agent offering a housing scheme. Mary instinctively wants to slam down the receiver, but she does not. A thought strikes her. They have been making cold calls at all hours. This is precisely what went wrong with the previous customer.

Mary communicates the problem to the team lead, and they decide to find a different approach. The team realizes that cold calls hardly work for brands anymore if executed with a vanilla approach.

More brainstorming and research bring them to the conclusion that a strategized SMS engagement plan is perhaps a smarter alternative to reach out to their audience. The company already has hundreds of customers. All they need to do is collate their databases and send the right text message, that will asynchronously reach them.

Before they begin sending them out, it is necessary to have an efficient SMS marketing system for regular delivery and response. The Insurance Agency decides to sign up with Kirusa’s Konnect portal that offers a robust strategized set of bulk SMS solutions.

Initiating a Bulk SMS Marketing Campaign
  • The Konnect CPaaS portal offers a free trial for users to register and activate a new account.
  • Upon successful account activation, the insurance agency is asked to select a Sender Mask. The Sender Mask is the identity of the SMS sender. Brands can use a custom name or number as the preferred Sender Mask.
  • They are then asked to upload a list of those to whom the messages are to be sent. The option of a DND or do-no-disturb filter is provided to prevent them from sending promotional SMS to people who have unsubscribed.
  • The agency uploads its content or message on the platform and schedules a preferred shoot-off time.
  • They also have a complete metric to keep track of deliveries and response rates. The Konnect CPaaS portal also offers tools to evaluate the ROI of the bulk SMS messaging campaign.
Complementing Your Bulk SMS Marketing Campaign

The Agency also takes effective measures to generate quality leads for their scheme. This is also to ensure that word gets around quickly amongst as many people as possible. Hence, they advertise the insurance policy across various media channels with an SMS code. This serves as the CTA or call-to-action.

People who see the advertisement send a text to the number and express interest regarding this policy. The Insurance Agency captures the phone number of the sender. This is how a lead is generated. The agency sales team then reaches out to these leads to turn them into customers.

SMS marketing is an effective method to gain traction for your business. In spite of the popularity of smartphones, SMS remains the most accessible means of communicating to the masses. One must also remember that SMS marketing methods should not be implemented in isolation. It is always a good idea to integrate them with various channels. An omnichannel experience provides leeway for maximum customer engagement.

Missed Call Marketing: Unravelling the tale of a Sleeper Hit

Do you know that the idea for missed call marketing originates from a very general practice of ‘leaving missed calls’? A habit that millions of people have acquired ever since mobile became commonplace.

Although we all leave missed calls now and then, emerging markets like India and Africa have invented their unique codes to convey messages via missed calls.

For a significant number of the populace, talk time rates are still unaffordable and leaving missed calls is a recognized mode of communication.

However, little did we know that a purely price conscious practice would become one of the most widely-used inbound marketing tools.

In this article, we will do our best to explain what missed call marketing is, what it isn’t, its unique benefits and ways to leverage campaigns.

Let’s begin!

What is Missed Call Marketing? Understanding its Unique Advantage

Missed call marketing is an inbound marketing solution where the user leaves a missed call on an advertised number to express interest in a product or service.

It is a pull marketing strategy that draws only interested customers.

With the help of missed call marketing tools, brands can create a new inbound channel for their customers to reach out to them.

For example, Kirusa Konnect has an inbound communication tool calledSnapCallthat helps in creating successful campaigns.

As an inbound marketing medium, missed call campaigns can build high quality leads for the sales team. It enables better recognition of one’s target audience and heightens prospects for a productive brand-customer engagement.

Unlike most other channels that directly reach out to assumed buyers, missed call marketing generates interest without being intrusive. It is the ‘buyer’ who signs up for information because they are aware of your product, which is the point where consumers enter the awareness stage of your marketing funnel.

Hence, missed call marketing has the advantage of pulling a relatively more informed and decisive customer.

How does Missed Call Marketing work?

Missed call marketing is a cost-effective mechanism and starting your campaign is not difficult. One has to remember that it is not a typical brand awareness campaign. Following are the steps that you can execute on an inbound marketing platform.

  • Start by purchasing and configuring a set of numbers.

  • Advertise a specific number for people to leave a missed call which is the call-to-action. Remember that the number has to be circulated via other communication channels.

  • Set up a response SMS as an acknowledgment or confirmation of the missed call being received. Some consider this step optional, but it is highly recommended. Also, enable a mandatory feedback SMS from the customer.

  • Following these exchanges, you can measure the number of incoming calls and responses or analytics on your inbound platform. Kirusa Konnect’s SnapCall can help visualize and monitor the progress of campaigns in real-

  • You can use SnapCall as an effective communication platform to supercharge your missed call marketing campaigns. It is a versatile medium to generate awareness of the brand.

However, the utility of missed call campaigns extends beyond general commercial purposes. Following are the various uses cases:

Lead generation – Brands can implement missed call marketing as an efficient way to generate quality leads for their business. Following is a typical example of an insurance agency.

  • Agency advertises a new insurance policy across various media channels, along with a phone number (this is called the CTA or Call-To-Action).
  • People who view the advertisement can give a missed call to the number to express interest in the insurance policy.
  • As soon as the missed call is received, the insurance agency captures the phone number of the caller, which is how a lead is generated.
  • The agency sales team then reaches out to these leads to turn them into customers.
  • Examples of brands using lead generation include insurance companies (life insurance, health insurance, home, vehicle, electronics, ), loans, etc.
Contests and voting
  • During contests or elections, people can leave missed calls on a given number to vote and make their votes count.
  • Typical examples include voting for your favorite participants on a reality show.
  • Governments and regulatory bodies can use missed call marketing to gather votes, support and public opinion for socio-economic or environmental causes.
  • Simply put, missed call marketing can be used for multiple purposes-from extending support to an individual to advocating a particular cause.
App downloads
  • Brands can increase their app adoption by employing this classical marketing technique. One can leave a missed call he/she wishes to download an app, and will be sent an SMS containing a link.
Service requests
  • Customers also leave missed calls if they require some service. For example, users frequently request checkbooks from their bank by first leaving a missed call on a given number. This is usually followed by a callback in a defined period or an SMS message.
On-demand information
  • Bank balance, shipment status, flight details, personalized information, are some of the details that can be gathered via missed calls.
General Awareness

Missed call campaigns can also be applied to generate awareness campaigns against epidemics and natural disasters. Users can leave a missed call and indicate interest if they want further information. For instance, Kirusa Konnect has played a role in facilitating the Ebola Education Campaign to educate Ghanaians on the Ebola epidemic.

What does Missed Call Marketing not Mean?

Conceptualizing a missed call marketing campaign is only half the job done because the exercise is not an end in itself. One must explore and utilize various media/communication channels to generate a robust campaign, including print and electronic media.

Let’s take the example of uniBank which is offering a zero percent payment plan for a comprehensive policy on motor insurance. This message is advertised in print, electronic or social media, TV radio, billboards, etc. A SnapCall number is also popularized with the content to encourage interested customers.

Through the Konnect SnapCall portal, the customer service team of uniBank can access the database of interested people. The team calls back customers to sign them up for the motor insurance policy and other UniBank bank assurance services.

Once the leads are generated, brands become aware of their audience. This is the point where one needs to watch out for conversions and ensure constant communication along with impeccable customer service.

Successful implementation of missed call marketing campaign also requires a regular tracking of metrics and the demography of users. The results can be further used to discover other channels of communication and reach out to newer prospects.

In conclusion, we have learned that missed call marketing is a unique method that assists other forms of advertising for strong marketing ROI. It is an empowering mechanism that makes use of very general practice by letting users reach out at no cost.

The combined effect of auditory/visual communication like Radio and TV with missed call campaigns can inform and educate the buyer. Consumers with limited access to data/internet can make better decisions and understand their needs.

To top it all, the possibilities are limitless, and one can discover innovative ways to further utilize the power of mobile.

Watch Out: How CPaaS is Taking Over and What to do About It?

Communications Platform as a Service or CPaaS is taking over the industry with new benchmarks for enterprise communication. More businesses are competing to provide an Omni-channel Experience via robust cloud infrastructure and secure communication.

In the fast-paced business space, companies who do not keep up with existing trends will have a hard time catering to customer expectations. Hence, you must steer along the following lines-

  • Check if your vendor has partnerships with enough network carriers so that it is easier to carry out inbound and outbound communications. For example, Kirusa’s Konnect CPaaS Portal which offers a comprehensive suite of inbound and outbound communication tools enables you to connect with the target audience via mobile phones through its partnership with several network carriers.
  • Assess the scalability of the API that your vendor offers. Its length, breadth, and depth should be able to accommodate your organization’s evolving needs. For example, if you have to include touch-to-video-chat features, data communication, or VoIP phone system in a customer-facing smartphone app within a year, you don’t want to go to another vendor.
  • An Omnichannel experience is sought-after by many enterprises for gaining a competitive advantage. But with most large businesses now operating across multiple channels (online and mobile), customer service has become the key factor that influences a buyer’s decision to choose one provider over another.
  • Secure communication has become a significant concern because accessing CPaaS vendor APIs requires the use of credentials. If not handled with care, exposed credentials allow third-parties to access the company’s infrastructure.
  • There has to be constant interaction between the vendor-developers and those who use it, one that surpasses traditional support channels. An active user/developer community thrives on shared practices, codes, tools, and skills. Developers who are more willing to share the same with their users are more capable of implementing their features well.

In the fast-paced and evolving cpaas market, and opportunities are numerous but one needs to keep track of the most recent updates. It is also a battleground for companies to keep up with existing trends and engage in the best possible manner with customers.

Reasons for Engaging your Customers with Bulk SMS

Meet Bulk SMS, the less celebrated champion of the Marketing world. No amount of digitization, social media usage, content marketing, influencer marketing, so on and so forth, would replace the ubiquity and familiarity that mobile messaging brings to both customers and enterprises.

Any organization or business can get neck-deep in soup agency is neck-deep in soup if they fail to attract buyers to a specific product or scheme. Think about the product/sales team’s unsuccessful attempts to pull buyers despite providing the best.

Sometimes, we employ the most sophisticated channels of communication, but the last key happens to be in our backyard. Same is the case with SMS, with 98 percent open-rate, surpassing all other means of mobile and digital marketing like cold calls, emails, etc. SMS marketing is direct and capable of reaching out to thousands of people.

Why is it that some businesses lag in terms of leads and sales despite the best marketing strategies? That is because they forget to integrate the most critical tool-Bulk SMS.

Following are the reasons why SMSes are a critical channel to reach out to your audience.

Promotions!

Most of us receive promotional SMSes with specific coupons and discounts during a fixed hour of the day. For example, doesn’t a lunch coupon arriving a few hours before your meal make more sense? Similarly, the beginning of a financial year (April) is the best time to shoot off to advertise your insurance, loan or health schemes. Bulk SMS marketing is an excellent way to go about it because people cannot avoid catching a glimpse of their SMSes if not their emails.

Be Precise

Just because you are allowed to send hundreds of messages in a day, do not get carried away. Constant messaging and promotions irk your users, and it should be moderate, exclusive and personalized. Hence, we must always brush up our client database.

Last but not the least, avoid copying other brands as much as possible when it comes to discounts and offers. Be original. With the help of Kirusa Konnect’s Bulk SMS Service, you can customize your messages while also keeping track of the delivery and ROI metric.

Watch out for those Whitespaces

Companies that regularly send billing or transaction details to customers can add shorter promotional messages to their transactional SMSes. It is an excellent opportunity to initiate a clear call-to-action with the extra codes. Just make sure that the codes, keywords or offers blend well with the transactional message and do not lose their importance. You may even look up quite a few SMS marketing services that enable this.

Kirusa Konnect has a feature called SMS Tagging that lets the company insert messages and codes within transaction SMS and billing details. Transactional SMS tend to have a higher click-through rate (CTR) compared to promotional SMS because they contain personalized information about the client’s account and transactions.

United We Stand

Remember that people scroll through food delivery apps and social media accounts before noticing SMSes.Social media trends and updates significantly influence our buying decision and promotional SMSes act like a ‘final push.’ Hence, it is a great idea to integrate WAP links into your SMS that direct people to your site or app. The next time somebody needs service, they will perhaps browse through your website first.

Do not mislead your Customer

SMSes also be an excellent means to let customers know where you are located. A lot of brands forget to mention this, resulting in a confused person who does not know where to redeem the offer. If you have customers worldwide, it is all the more important to have a good track of locations and time zones. International SMS marketing services are an excellent way to figure this out.

In conclusion, using bulk SMS is extremely crucial to any business. The social media can get overwhelming for a buyer with its unending images and options. Treat it as the sweet spot for SMS marketing. An on-point, short, relevant and timely SMS can score where social media lags.