SMS News

According to a recent article in the Times the British public downloaded over 4 million apps on Christmas Day after unwrapping more than 500,000 Smartphones or Tablets. The same article also stated also that this Christmas’ sales surge is expected to push the number of active Smartphones and Tablets in the UK over the 18 million marker – making us the third highest in the world behind the US and China.

Our enthusiasm for apps and Smartphone technology is changing the online retail landscape beyond all recognition; 16% of all online purchases made this Boxing Day were placed via Smartphones – a 275% increase on the previous year.

The general public no longer regards the mobile internet with scepticism; they now see it as a huge convenience because it allows them to make those planned or impulse purchases irrespective of where they are. Well known high street brands need to make sure that mobile advertising is in their promotional remit if they want to take advantage of this changing culture.

SMS is an ideal marketing medium for retailers wanting to target these new style Smartphone shoppers because it allows them to quickly and cost effectively inform their customers of different promotions and reductions. All phones support SMS so it also allows them to target traditional online shoppers that have not yet caught on to the Smartphone phenomenon.

Unlike other forms of digital advertising, people do tend to read their text messages as soon as they receive them, so if retailers incorporate an embedded URL in their messages, they are giving those Smartphone shoppers the opportunity to make those impulse purchases, thus increasing their overall sales as a result.

Below are seven other reasons why we believe retailers should incorporate SMS into their overall marketing strategies:

• Concise -SMS messages are to the point. Any message that includes clearly visible information of what is on offer will encourage potential customers to respond if they are interested
• Cost effective – retailers sending SMS messages in bulk can benefit from wholesale pricing
• Wide marketing reach – SMS is used and understood by everyone
• Personalized – mobile phones are very personal so by asking some intricate questions, you can build up detailed profiles of your customers which will enable you to carry out very targeted campaigns
• Quick – you can send appropriate messages to pre-defined groups with a single mouse-click
• Easy to manage – because the majority of online SMS campaigns use email as the delivery mechanism, your customer service staff can manage all correspondence from a single, centralised point
• Easy response mechanism – thus providing your consumers a positive experience

If you want to see how SMS-based marketing campaigns could increase your overall sales why not sign up to our no-obligation trial today?

There have always been differences of opinion with regards to the exact date of Cyber Monday – the last Monday in November, or the first Monday in December. The date itself is not really that important. The more interesting factor is that advances in mobile technology are having such a significant impact on how we actually spend our money that our shopping habits are changing beyond all recognition.

According to a recent survey carried out by KPMG, UK shoppers are embracing technology at a faster pace than many other countries, with 77% of us preferring to buy goods like CDs, DVDs, books and video games online.

Not only that, we are increasingly using Smartphone or Tablets to make these online purchases.  With more than a quarter of the UK adult population and over a half of all teenagers owning a Smartphone, retailers are having to quickly modify their promotional campaigns to capitalise on these changes.

At totext.net we believe that SMS-based applications can complement these changes because if retailers are offering amazing online promotions, they need to make consumers aware, and one of the most cost effective ways to do this is via SMS.

All phones support SMS, so you can target traditional shoppers as well as the new-style “Smartphone shoppers”. SMS pushes itself directly in front of your consumers and isn’t reliant on them pushing buttons or downloading apps. Unlike other forms of advertising, most people do read their text messages as soon as they receive them, and if you incorporate an embedded URL in your message, you are giving your Smartphone customers the opportunity to make those impulse purchases.

Below are a number of other reasons why we believe retailers should incorporate SMS into their overall promotional campaigns:

• Concise -SMS messages are to the point. Any message that includes clearly visible information of what is on offer will encourage potential customers to respond if they are interested
• Cost effective – Retailers sending SMS messages in bulk can benefit from wholesale SMS pricing
• Wide marketing reach – SMS is understood by everyone
• Personalised – Unlike other devices, mobile phones are very personal. By asking some intricate questions, it is possible to build up detailed profiles of your customers which results in more effective marketing campaigns
• Quick – you can send appropriate messages to pre-defined groups with a single mouse click
• Easy to manage – Because the majority of online SMS campaigns use email as the delivery mechanism, your sales staff can manage all correspondence from a single, centralised point
• Easy response mechanism – offering your consumers a positive experience

Click here to find out more about who we are and what we do.

Following on from our last blog where we looked at Smartphone apps versus SMS, we are pleased to see that ITV has re-introduced SMS voting on the X Factor for the first time since the infamous phone-in debacle of 2007.

We will certainly be voting for our favorite acts via SMS and not making any complaints to the regulators!

We are also pleased to see that SMS is also playing an increasingly important role in major TV fund raisers. This year’s Comic Relief raised over £15million via SMS donations, representing more than 20% of the total amount raised.

Even in our digital age, donating via SMS remains the most popular choice because it provides consumers with the simplest, most spontaneous donation experience. They are not required to download an app, neither are they required to register their contact details or input any credit card information on a website – a process susceptible to fraud if not managed properly.

The re-introduction of SMS for reality TV and its widespread adoption by the charity sector further highlights its importance as a viable communications medium.

Below are just some of the reasons why SMS remains a popular choice for businesses and individuals:

• It is cheap – Campaign executors can purchase SMS messages in bulk and consumers can
• send and receive predefined numbers of messages as part of their contracts
• It’s quick – text messages are delivered almost instantaneously over all networks
• It has a wide marketing reach – all phones support SMS
• It is widely understood – which results in a positive user experience
• It provides an easy response mechanism – allowing for spontaneous decisions
• SMS is direct – SMS pushes itself directly into the site of the consumer
• SMS integrates seamlessly with other e/marketing activities
• SMS works – unlike other forms of communications people do read text messages when they get them and it is easy to unsubscribe to a service – you simply text stop

Click here to find out more about who we are and what we do.

New Ofcom research reveals we are a nation that has become addicted to Smartphones, with people professing to using them everywhere; from the dining table to the bathroom and bedroom.

According to Ofcom’s latest Communications market report, over a quarter of adults and almost half of teenagers now own a Smartphone.

With such revelations we are often asked our opinion on mobile advertising versus SMS-based promotions and whether we think that Smatphones will result in the demise of SMS-based services. Well the simple answer is No.

There is still a place for SMS in our multi channel world. Indeed after the latest RIM debacle, Blackberry users around the world would tell you SMS and voice are the only reliable means of mobile communications available.

We may well be going Smartphone crazy but we’ve along way to go before the infrastructure is in place to truly support Smartphone applications.

In many areas of the UK consumers struggle to get a 2G signal, never mind 3G. In Europe there are already plans to start implementing 4G services!

It has also been revealed that the auctions for selling the next generation mobile phone spectrum in the UK have been postponed from the first half to the last quarter of 2012 which means we are way behind many European nations.

Granted, SMS is not as “pretty” or “flashy” as internet-based applications but at least it works.

The growth of SMS over the last 10 years (over 2000%) confirms it is still a viable communications channel and is still used as an important marketing tool by businesses worldwide and when we hear about issues such as these it is easy to understand why.

• SMS is cheap – both for campaign executors, who can purchase SMS messages in bulk and for consumers, who can send and receive predefined numbers of messages as part of their contractsSMS is quick – messages are delivered almost instantaneously over all networks
• SMS has a wide marketing reach – all mobile devices support SMS
• SMS is widely understood by everyone which results in a positive user experience
• SMS provides an Easy response mechanism – allowing for spontaneous decisions
• SMS is direct – unlike mobile apps or mobile web pages, which require users to pro-actively access them, SMS pushes itself directly into the site of the consumer
• SMS integrates seamlessly with e/marketing activities
• SMS works – unlike other forms of communications people do read text messages when
• they get them and it is easy to unsubscribe to a service – you simply text stop
• SMS provides a great support mechanism to other forms of advertising such as TV or radio based campaigns.

We’re not planning on retiring just yet! Visit www.toText.net to find out more about who we are and what we do.

Slepe Communications Ltd, a Cambridge-based company that specialises in providing bespoke online SMS applications is pleased to announce its acquisition of Liquid Drop, one of the UK’s original SMS gateways. Slepe Communications launched the toText.net service in 2007 and works with business start-ups, SMEs, large corporate and public sector organisations.

Liquid Drop began trading in 2001 and provides an extensive range of bulk SMS services to Blue Chip companies across the globe. Its customers include Oracle and MasterCard and it also provides a number of online SMS services to public sector organisations.

The acquisition involved expanding the capacity of Slepe Communications existing infrastructure to accommodate Liquid Drop’s SMS gateway into its overall SMS management platform.

The process was seamlessly completed with no disruption to customers or services and, as a result, Slepe Communications is now able to add bulk SMS services to its portfolio of applications at highly-competitive rates.

Bulk SMS is by far the most reliable and cost-effective way of sending out routine text messages, such as appointment reminders, direct marketing campaigns and job notifications in large volumes.

SMS can be used by large corporates to issue immediate alerts to employees about emergencies and/or critical situations. It can be used to send important information to key customers or suppliers (ensuring the information is received by the right person at the right time) as well as to send routine information to support engineers, field staff or technicians.

Says Robert Jagger, Managing Director of Slepe Communications: “We are really pleased to be in a position to acquire such an established organisation after only three years of trading. The acquisition has taken the business to the next level. We are in a position to grow the company by investing our cash reserves as well as by relying on organic growth.”

Slepe Communications is currently looking at acquiring other SMS providers.

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About Slepe Communications

Slepe Communications is a dynamic, growing company based in Cambridge UK. Its staff has many years’ experience in the Internet and telecommunications industries, and are experts in designing, building and operating mobile Internet applications based on text messaging, web and Wi-Fi technologies.

Teachers and support staff are increasingly under pressure to keep parents and carers regularly informed of their pupils’ academic progress as well as well as the school’s calendar of events without compromising teaching standards.

The Government has stipulated that by the end of 2012, all schools and colleges will be required to communicate with parents electronically.

Email, however, is not necessarily the most effective way of communicate routine messages to parents and carers, as iSchools, a company that provides online Management and Financial Control Systems to public schools and colleges, is all too aware. In order to add value to its existing system and to offer greater flexibility to schools with regards to communications methods, the company has recently integrated the toText.net online SMS gateway into its overall online management system.

Robert Owen, of iSchools explains the reasons why: “Research has demonstrated that SMS is by far the most popular way of conveying routine information such as school trips, open days, forthcoming events because messages are delivered and read straight away. If parents are out and about or there is no 3G signal they might not pick up their emails until much later. If we need to contact parents, child minders, nannies etc urgently, to inform them that school will be closed due to adverse weather conditions, for example, SMS is the quickest and most effective way to do this”.

The iSchools online management system is modular in design and provides schools with a comprehensive range of services including timetabling, registration and financial management facilities. It is based on the latest Microsoft products and includes a centralised database for managing pupil, staff and supplier information.

In order to make the SMS module completely transparent to system users, toText.net has developed a bespoke interface that connects the iSchools system directly to its SMS gateway. This means that teacher and administration staff can create and send messages directly from the iSchools system, which they are already familiar with.

To send a SMS message users log into the iSchools system as normal via a password-protected interface. They open the message dialogue box, write their message and select a relevant distribution list, the whole school, a particular year group or all, boys in year 7, for example, and press the send button.
The toText.net interface then forwards all messages to its centralised servers where mobile numbers are verified and the messages are converted into appropriate SMS formats for delivery.

System users can quickly see how many messages they have sent and, more importantly, when messages were delivered, using the toText.net system management software.

“When we approached toText .net about integrating their online SMS gateway they were very helpful, continued Owen. All development and testing work was completed within 8 weeks. What’s more, schools are not obliged to commit to a minimum number of messages per month and they are only billed for the messages they send”.

Schools are responsible for their own payments and they can manage their accounts using the toText.net software system, which allows them to top up their account as and when they need to.

Comments Rob Jagger, Managing Director of Totext.net. “We are really pleased to be given the opportunity to work on this project. We pride ourselves in developing services to meet specific applications and we are really pleased with the positive feedback we’ve received so far.”

The online SMS service is currently being piloted by 5 schools including Gemini College in Milton Keynes and Hopelands Prep School in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire.

The online SMS module will be available to all iSchool customers from September.

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LeagueRepublic, a leading provider of online administration systems for managing sports websites, fixture scheduling and results systems, has integrated Slepe Communications’ inbound SMS application (online SMS technology) into its overall system management software.

Their software has been used to manage over 2000 professional and amateur leagues, since 2002. Up until last year, all match information and results could only be updated via the web, so if team secretaries had no access to the Internet or could not get a 3G signal (as is often the case), this information was often not available to the public until much later.

In order to enable clubs to update their results more quickly, LeagueRepublic decided to upgrade its administration software by incorporating SMS functionality into its overall system at no extra cost to its customers. Even the most basic handsets support SMS and this enhancement meant that results could be published within minutes of a game finishing.

The service has been available for just over 12 months and so far more than 15% of all UK leagues are using SMS to update their team’s results.

The service works as follows: fifteen minutes after the start of a game, team secretaries receive an SMS from Slepe Communications’ administration software reminding them to text in their result at the end of the match.

As soon as the match is over, team secretaries simply text a reply to the original message with the final score e.g. 3 2. The virtual numbers used to deliver the service are provided by Slepe Communications as part of the application. Its bespoke management software determines which results belong to which team using the virtual numbers, converts the SMS messages into HTML and delivers them directly to LeagueRepublic’s servers, where they can then be published and posted immediately.

Not only are results made available to the public almost instantaneously, there is also no charge to the end user for the reminder and the reply is the same cost as any standard UK text message and often falls within their contract package. LeagueRepublic has just signed a deal with Timpson.co.uk Trophies who will fund the SMS system and a 10% website discount code will be included within the reminder message.

Comments Dave Hathaway, Managing Director from LeagueRepublic: “when we decided to investigate the possibility of adding SMS to our system we looked at many different providers. We finally chose Slepe because they were competitively priced and took time to listen and understand our exact requirements.

We are pleased to be able to offer the SMS results system with our free service with funding from our SMS sponsor – Timpson.co.uk Trophies.”

Ranjit Singh, a landlord from Willenhall, who has been using LeagueRepublic’s software to manage his pool league for the last three years, decided to add SMS to his website at the end of last season. Now all 18 teams in the league update their results via SMS.

“It’s absolutely brilliant”, he explained. “When running a league like this you have to be able to provide results quickly so you don’t lose the interest of the teams. The administrators text their results as soon as the game is over and once I’ve had a chance to check them, I make them live, usually within 24 hours.

There were a few minor issues in the beginning, with results being posted the wrong way around, but now that everyone is familiar with it, it works really well and saves me a lot of time because I only have to verify the information.”

Comments Rob Jagger from Slepe Communications: “we are really pleased to know that our software is working well and is helping LeagueRepublic better engage with its customers. This type of market is very competitive and our software ensures that teams do not lose interest because results are updated automatically and made available to the public almost immediately.”

The service is proving to be very popular with pub darts and pool leagues and so far this year more than 111 leagues have decided add SMS as an option for updating their results.

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About Slepe Communications

Slepe Communications is a dynamic, growing company based in Cambridge UK. Its staff has many years’ experience in the Internet and telecommunications industries, and are experts in designing, building and operating mobile Internet applications based on text messaging, web and Wi-Fi technologies.

About LeagueRepublic

LeagueRepublic are based in Wolverhampton and provide online sports administration systems to 2000 sports leagues worldwide, their clients include The Football Association Ltd.

It can be challenging for vehicle hire or maintenance companies to operate efficiently and provide high quality after-sales service to their customers. Both factors, however, are vital to their success and in order to achieve this they are willing to invest in sophisticated job management and allocation software systems.

The majority of these systems use email as the primary communications method. All information relating to a particular job or order is uploaded onto the system and this is used to generate a unique job sheet. These are then sent to appropriate personnel (drivers or maintenance engineers, for example), often located in different geographical areas, as emails with PDF attachments.

Everything runs smoothly so long as the recipient has a Smartphone or a Wi-Fi connection. If they don’t, however, they may not receive important job information or updates until much later, and by then it may be too late to take further action.

Slepe Communications Ltd, operators of toText.net and providers of bespoke online SMS applications, has recognised the limitations of these systems and, as a result, has made a number of enhancements to its popular email to SMS service in order to overcome them.

The company’s SMS management software can now detect if a PDF document is attached to an email and if so extract relevant information such as the location and nature of the job from the data file and forward it to the recipient as an SMS.

If job information is included in the email itself, the software simply converts the message into a text format, giving companies the option to send information via SMS as well as email to ensure delivery.

The system has already been integrated with “CoachManager”, an online job management system supplied by Distinctive Systems and will integrate seamlessly with most other system interfaces via a developers API.
 
Coach and private vehicle hire companies have found the enhancement particularly useful because not all drivers have access to a 3G or wireless connection. In addition, they simply do not have the time to look through their emails and download job sheets when they are working.

The ability to send relevant job information via SMS and incorporating a “read receipt” facility means these companies can now be confident that their drivers receive the correct information immediately and are able to respond accordingly, making them more efficient as a result.

Comments Rob Jagger, Managing Director of Slepe Communications. “While Smartphones are growing in popularity, not everybody has one, and if 3G coverage is patchy, drivers might not even receive their job sheets. All drivers do, however carry a mobile phone and all phones support SMS. Furthermore, messages are delivered almost instantaneously even if the signal is poor.”

This enhanced email to SMS service could benefit many other industries, drainage or gas companies, for example, where it is vital that engineers receive their job sheets immediately to avoid problems that could affect public health and safety.

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Slepe Communications Ltd is a dynamic, growing company based in Cambridge UK. Its staff have many years’ experience in the Internet and telecommunications industries, and are experts in designing, building and operating mobile Internet applications based on text messaging, web and Wi-Fi technologies.
 
The company is a member of the Mobile Data Association.

Using SMS in emergency situations has always carried a certain element of risk, primarily because mobile operators always give priority to voice, but changes to EU regulations with regards to telecommunications in May this year will mean that access to the emergency services must be made as flexible and as inclusive as possible. This means making 999 accessible to the hearing and speech impaired who have struggled until now.
A UK-wide emergency SMS pilot, championed by the RNID, was launched in 2009 and ran until the summer of last year. The service allows pre-registered users to send an SMS to a 999 number. Once delivered it is converted into a voice message and forwarded to the fire service, ambulance or police, depending on its nature.
At the end of the pilot there were more than 4000 registered users and the service has already handled over 300 emergency calls.
While Ofcom has announced it wants to make the service mandatory, there are still limitations associated with it in emergency situations, primarily because it lack spontaneity and you have to register in advance to use the service. Emergencies don’t often give you that luxury.

In the autumn of last year we were involved in developing a niche emergency SMS application for a participant of the infamous Mongol rally. Our brief was to develop an application that was cost effective and would guarantee the delivery of all messages sent. This was important because, unlike conventional rallies, the Mongol rally does not have backup or support teams so if you get stuck or find yourself in trouble, you’re really on your own.

In order to overcome the uncertainties associated with delivery (due to phones being switched off, poor signal etc), we made modifications our popular email to SMS application, turning it on its head so it became an SMS to email application.

Our bespoke software converts SMS messages into email formats and delivers them accordingly. Our servers are connected directly to the mobile networks so delivery failure, due to poor coverage or phones being turned off, is eliminated.

If a recipient’s PC, iPhone or other mobile device is switched off then messages may not be seen until much later, but they are delivered immediately – recipients need to make sure they read them.
The opportunities for such an application are enormous, particularly for people who are working in countries where freedom of speech is limited.

Take Libya or Bahrain as examples – our solution would  allow aid workers or news reporters to discretely yet quickly send a message to the outside world saying they were in need of urgent assistance, or simply to keep us updated about what’s is going on.

Our application is not only reliable, it is also extremely cost effective because it works with  “Go-Sim“ SIM cards – where prices are fixed.
Hugh Gibaud, who initially trialled the pilot service said: “To be honest, I was very sceptical at first because I did not think it would be possible to get a signal in the middle of the Gobi desert, but you can and I was extremely glad.”

Click here to find out more about who we are and what we do.

According to figures published by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, if the Government is to reach its borrowing target by 2015, it must cut overall public spending by £456 billion over the next 4 years. No wonder local authorities and supporting agencies are under such immense pressure to run their departments more efficiently, drastically reduce costs and streamline overall services.

Martha Fox, the UK Government’s digital champion believes that more than £2.2billion could be saved annually if routine public services (income support or tax benefits, for example) were digitalised and citizens were encouraged to answer their own queries online using “self-service” style applications.

Significant savings could indeed be made, but let us not forget that even in our digital age,  a third of low income UK households do not have access to the Internet at home and that one in four adults in the UK have never even been online.

In order for self-service applications to be feasible, other communications channels need to be brought into play.

SMS is currently used to deliver more than 50% of mobile marketing campaigns because even in our Smartphone age, SMS is still one of the most effective communications methods available.  Online SMS services and inbound SMS could help local authorities reduce costs because it is significantly more economical to send text messages to mobile phones than to call them.

Why is SMS such an effective communications method? Here are some of the reasons why:

• There are more SIM cards than people in the UK so the potential communication reach is enormous.
• Migrant residents are more likely to have a mobile phone than a landline.
• SMS is not reliant on 3G networks – even the most basic handsets support SMS functionality
• Text messages are delivered almost instantly
• SMS is a technology that is well understood
• SMS is very direct and does not rely on users having to follow links to access information

Furthermore, SMS is cheap. Local authorities for example could streamline information services by communicating routine information by SMS because messages can be bought in bulk. Not only that, the majority of mobile phone contracts incorporate free SMS bundles, so it essentially costs consumers nothing to send a reply or to request further information by text.

Online SMS services can be used as an effective communications tool by many different departments. All of them could use SMS to keep in contact with fellow colleagues. SMS is a cost effective and reliant way to make residents aware of changes to scheduled services (refuse collection, for example) due to bad weather. Social workers could save themselves time by confirming appointments by SMS. Housing departments could speed up housing applications by using SMS to contact prospective tenants.

SMS is the preferred communications channel for consumers because it is discrete and they can usually send SMS messages requesting a call back or further information as part of their inclusive texts. SMS could be the return channel for NHS awareness campaigns, to quit smoking, for example.

Equally, residents could use SMS to report incidents of graffiti or vandalism in the community and commuters could use SMS to inform the Highways Agency of accidents. Inbound SMS advice lines could also help deal with incidents relating to racism or bullying.

These types of services can be delivered quickly and cost effectively using our online SMS applications. No training is required, there is no software to download and there are no minimum contracts or hidden costs. In addition our SMS services can be integrated with other existing CRM systems and databases using our developers API.

Click here to find out more about who we are and what we do.