Tag: transactional sms

Bust these Five SMS Marketing Myths for the Sake of your Enterprise

SMS is a crucial part of Marketing, yet over the last few years, several misconceptions have been woven around it. These myths have led to quite sweeping assumptions including the misbelief that SMS is becoming redundant. Rather than dismissing a potential tool altogether, how about making an informed decision by banishing the following myths?

  • Texts annoy customers: What annoys your customer is an irrelevant promotion. There are tons of brands that make the mistake of sending unnecessary SMSes in a single day without offering any incentive. Hence, apart from making the content interesting, it is essential to keep track of your leads and look out for those who have not signed up for promotions. Bulk SMS Marketing service providers like Kirusa Konnect have DND filters (Do-not-disturb) to prevent enterprises from sending promotional messages to people who have opted out officially.
  • Low Conversion Rates: Conversion rates should not be an issue if you are initiating a two-way interaction and encouraging CTA or call-to-action. In fact, with 98% higher open rates, SMSes offer greater opportunities to pitch your promotions. However, do not use it in isolation, engage with your customers via different communication channels to boost presence and familiarity.
  • SMS Marketing is Expensive: False! It happens to be one of the most cost-effective channels of enterprise communication. If we compare the direct outreach and opening rates of SMS compared to other platforms, it is indeed, an excellent ‘value for money.’Several platforms offer affordable bulk SMS service but watch out for the ones that promise scalability for your ever-changing needs.
  • Not Enough Space to Convey Your Brand Voice: The best message does its job by saying less. As marketers, we must innovate ways to engage our audience without taking too much of their time. Similarly, to make the most of SMS marketing and the limited character space, integrate URLs and codes to initiate a call-to-action. Another way to increase engagement is by availing the extra whitespace in your transactional SMSes. Transactional SMS messages are essential in this regard because they tend to have higher impression rates – making it a valuable component of enterprise messaging.SMS Tagging from the Konnect CPaaS suite is a novel product that enables enterprises to boost engagement by leveraging higher impression and mindshare of transactional SMS and use them for promotional SMS marketing.
  • SMEs or Small Businesses Do not Benefit with Bulk SMS: On the contrary, small and medium-sized enterprises mostly benefit from localized campaigns. Bulk SMSes area useful tool for small companies to generate personalized engagement with their customers. As long as, you are invested in working on a region-specific database, expect enormous advantages with SMS marketing.

API Service Provider for Your SMS Marketing Campaign

We use various applications for personal and professional reasons- food delivery, apparel, bookings, job search, messaging, transactions, etc.

Businesses also use applications that cater to their unique requirements. For example, we do know that Bulk SMSes are an important component of marketing. But do you also know that there are application tools that let enterprises build their software including bulk SMS?

With a bulk SMS API or Application Programming Interface, you can exchange any number of customized messages with your audience over a self-styled SMS sending and receiving channel.

SMS marketing is a crucial component of enterprise communication, and a Bulk SMS API will benefit you in the following ways:

  • With a Bulk SMS API gateway present across all your technological networks and business platforms, you can have a unified functional core to boost seamless communication.
  • APIs offer flexibility and scalability, which means that you can easily integrate new features without seeking a third party’s assistance.
  • It is a cost-effective solution considering the expandability.
  • You can make the most of its high transfer and delivery speed, and send hundreds of messages in the click of a button apart.
  • A reliable SMS API ensures data security.
  • Enterprises can also send messages in various formats and get real-time reports on response and delivery.

Meanwhile, Kirusa Konnect offers an API SMS platform that enables inbound and outbound messaging via Konnect SMS service. You can provide your purchased number as ‘from’ number and include the text message that will be sent. You can also add sender mask in the API request which is not mandatory. When sending SMS using Konnect SMS API Token, you can personalize your sender ID. This means that when the user receives a message, it will show your company name or brand from where the SMS message has come from rather than a number.

Konnect API also enables you to execute outbound calls and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) campaigns. Use cases Include payment reminder, OTP authentication, social appeal, travel updates, mass awareness, and audio content.

The Konnect APIs enable you to send text messages to end users, receive messages into Konnect platform, make outbound calls to end users and configure IVR campaigns for user engagement. All events are notified via a call back mechanism to your web server. Subscribe to a 30-day free trial to avail the service.

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.

4 Common SMS Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Lately, Tamara has been receiving a lot of unsolicited messages from some new bakery on the block. They apparently have the best dough balls and serve the most delicious chocolate brownies, but she needs no reminding every two hours.

It is not like Tamara is indifferent to brownies. She loves them, and garlic dough balls are amongst her favorites. Plus, the bakery is only 2 kilometers away.

In fact, she has attempted ordering a few times, but the experience has been unsatisfactory. They keep transferring her call and never give a discount. In short, their messages have been unreliable.

On top of that, the abbreviations are enough to put anybody off, and some messages are just blank texts. Tamara decides to dismiss them and moves onto another bakery.

Classic Mistakes

Our bakers were making the classic SMS marketing mistakes that we take no notice of sometimes.

NO CTA: There were hardly any clarity on CTA or call-to-action in the promotional SMSes that Pristina bakery was sending to its customers. While they introduced discounts and coupons, nobody knew what to make of them because there was no mention of time and day. A typical message from them went: “Hi. We been missin u. Come by. Grab a discount on your next order.” They never mentioned on what and when. Poor Tamara chose the wrong day.

Unorganized SMS List: First of all, you do not say you miss somebody on the first meeting. Pristina Bakers made this blunder. Perhaps Tamara did not notice, but many of us would realize that the bakery was sending uncustomized generic messages to every person on their database. Considering that she had never bought anything from them, “we been missin u” was highly inappropriate.

Forgot to Keep a Clock: Nobody needs to remember croissant and donuts every two hours. Not during dinner, in the middle of a meeting or before going to bed. The bakers did precisely that. They kept sending uncustomized messages to people too often without any profound CTA. Also, they did not give their leads the option to unsubscribe or opt out, causing many of them to dismiss the promotion.

Isolated the Campaign: People scroll through food delivery apps and social media accounts even before noticing any SMS. Social media trends and updates influence our buying decisions, and promotional SMSes act like the “final button.’ Plus, one can integrate WAP links into SMSes that direct people to their site or app. Pristina Bakers had done none of that and made a leap of faith with SMS marketing. They seemed like intruders.

In conclusion, no matter how convenient or cost-effective SMS marketing may be, one has to tread carefully. It needs extensive research much like any other form of marketing. Part of the effort will also involve choosing a credible SMS marketing service provider.

Despite best measures, marketers often fall short, and it is safe to have an SMS marketing system in place to assist in the implementation.

SnapCall – Taking Missed Call Marketing to the Next Level

We have previously discussed the benefits of missed call marketing as a unique inbound marketing method. The article explored its effectiveness in leveraging marketing campaigns and its potential to garner a more engaged audience, not to mention its inclusiveness and accessibility.

We also highlighted the importance of utilizing various communication channels to get the most out of a marketing campaign. We saw how Missed call marketing does not work in isolation. It yields maximum ROI only in conjunction with different marketing tools.

As part of this, the article touched upon KirusaKonnect’s inbound tool called SnapCall that helps in leveraging missed call campaigns.

This time, we will demonstrate how SnapCall combines missed call marketing with promotional SMS for inbound campaigns. We will talk about ways to supercharge campaigns over this solution and also unveil its benefits as the perfect success tracker.

How is SnapCall Different?

You are already aware of how a missed call marketing campaign is implemented. If not, don’t bother because you will pretty much figure out as you scroll down further.

Now, we shall delve deeper into how SnapCall can be implemented to boost an entire campaign. As part of the versatile Konnect CPaas platform, it offers considerable leeway to enterprises. You can also avoid the pain of looking for an intermediary or agency to carry out calls.

Let’s explore the significant advantages of SnapCall.

Quickest Campaigns

If you run a small business or have begun a new venture, SnapCall is the most cost-effective and hassle-free medium for a campaign.

It is easy, to begin with.

  • Start by signing up for a free trial account at the Konnect CPaaS portal. You can choose from three types of SnapCall numbers-long number, shortcode and star code-depending upon the nature of your campaign.
  • Configure the campaign duration and active time.
    • Campaign date – The start and end date when the campaign is live
    • Campaign time – Hours during the day when people can dial the number to send a missed call.
  • Following this, advertise the number along with campaign specifics and content across various channels. This is the call-to-action (CTA) that prompts the interested audience to leave you a missed call.
  • Configure a response SMS as an acknowledgment or confirmation of the missed call being received. Thereon, you can follow up with the leads and work towards a robust customer engagement.
Advertising Channel Effectiveness

SnapCall helps you measure advertising channel effectiveness. It has a rich reporting analytics dashboard, which keeps track of the number of responses and incoming calls.

To convey a clearer picture, let’s imagine you have 3 SnapCall numbers that are advertised across different channels – online search ads, social media and marketing flyers/brochures/posters.

Once the missed call marketing campaign goes live via SnapCall, you’ll see which number brings in the most calls throughout the entire campaign. This will help you measure the effectiveness of the advertising channel or medium.

The analytics dashboard also lets you know the most active hour of the days.

Measuring Campaign Effectiveness

You can also measure conversions by assessing the quality of leads generated by each campaign.

For example, you have launched two lead generation campaigns using SnapCall. The call to action (CTA) is – give a missed call to request for a loan with an attractive interest rate.

The first campaign is via online ads.

Now, let’s say this campaign generated40 leads.

Out of 40 leads, you had four conversions which mean that the callers successfully availed this loan. This indicates that the conversion rate of the first campaign is 10%.

The second campaign has been conducted via using the SMS tagging tool. Let’s say this has generated ten leads.

The SMS tagging tool of the Konnect CPaaS portal lets you insert promotional tags in transactional messages. Therefore, this can also be used as an advertisement platform wherein you can add the SnapCall number along with your offer.

In the second campaign, six leads converted out of the total ten leads generated – leading to a conversion rate of 60%.

When we look at this data, it is clear that the leads generated from the SMS tagging campaign have yielded a better outcome.

Therefore, one can say that the combined effect of a missed call and promotional/transactional SMS marketing has garnered the best result.

In conclusion, SnapCall is a cost-effective medium towards boosting a good campaign ROI. It also befits the customer who can express interest by merely leaving a missed call. Enterprises who seek to engage the right audience can cultivate quality leads without being intrusive.