Esendex Australia blog – Email to SMS, PC to SMS and Web SMS

75% of Australian consumers willing to receive mobile ads

Latest research from ComScore and InMobi has found that Australians are the most comfortable with receiving mobile advertising. The research, which was based on the response of 22,000 men and women from 14 countries, revealed that 75% of Aussies were “somewhat comfortable” about receiving mobile advertising and 48% were “very comfortable”.

This makes Australians the most receptive to mobile advertising in the world; ahead of Europe on 68% and the US on 63%. The researchers believe that Australians are the most comfortable because Australia is one of the worlds’s most technologically advanced markets.

So why were respondents so willing to receive advertisement? Well more than half (56%) said they wanted to receive new product information, whilst 37% wanted to learn about something. Amazingly 34% believe that the best benefit of mobile advertising was that you could receive something for free.

Given these results, it comes as somewhat of a surprise that businesses haven’t taken advantage of this willingness to receive advertisements. Many big brands seem to be holding back, watching and waiting to see what their competitors will do. However this strategy puts them at risk of “missing the boat”. The report suggests that smaller more nimble businesses have an opportunity to make strong in-roads into the world of mobile advertising just by experimenting and engaging with the channel.

If you would like to talk to someone about how mobile adverting can help your business, give us a call on 1300 764 946 – we can even give you some free messages to test with.

Latest research from ComScore and InMobi has found that Australians are the most comfortable with receiving mobile advertising. The research, which was based on the response of 22,000 men and women from 14 countries, revealed that 75% of Aussies were “somewhat comfortable” about receiving mobile advertising and 48% were “very comfortable”.

This makes Australians the most receptive to mobile advertising in the world; ahead of Europe on 68% and the US on 63%. The researchers believe that Australians are the most comfortable because Australia is one of the worlds’s most technologically advanced markets.

So why were respondents so willing to receive advertisement? Well more than half (56%) said they wanted to receive new product information, whilst 37% wanted to learn about something. Amazingly 34% believe that the best benefit of mobile advertising was that you could receive something for free.

Given these results, it comes as somewhat of a surprise that businesses haven’t taken advantage of this willingness to receive advertisements. Many big brands seem to be holding back, watching and waiting to see what their competitors will do. However this strategy puts them at risk of “missing the boat”. The report suggests that smaller more nimble businesses have an opportunity to make strong in-roads into the world of mobile advertising just by experimenting and engaging with the channel.

If you would like to talk to someone about how mobile adverting can help your business, give us a call on 1300 764 946 – we can even give you some free messages to test with.

Australians are becoming more mobile

The pressure on Australians companies to embrace mobile technology increased last week. An article featured in smartcompany claimed that by 2015 there will be 56 million mobile devices connected in Australia, meaning that Australians will own an average of 2.4 mobile devices.

In addition to this, the use of mobile devices is also advancing rapidly. The processing power of mobiles is becoming more powerful, and as they do so, users are using them to do more and more. This presents both a threat and an opportunity to Australian companies who haven’t yet embraced mobile technology.

Companies who continue to “stick their head in the sand” run the risk of losing market share to younger start-ups; who can quickly respond to the demands of an ever increasingly sophisticated customer.

If this all seems a bit scary, it’s fortunate that one of the biggest uses of mobile technology is still SMS/text messaging. You can use text messaging for anything from appointment reminders to integrating it into your website to transmit communications to your customers. And it’s really easy to implement.

If you’re still not convinced, why not take a free trial? Or talk to us about your business and we’ll suggest some ways we can help.

The pressure on Australians companies to embrace mobile technology increased last week. An article featured in smartcompany claimed that by 2015 there will be 56 million mobile devices connected in Australia, meaning that each Australian will own an average of 2.4 mobile devices.

In addition to this, the uses of mobile devices is also advancing rapidly. The processing power of mobiles is becoming more powerful, and as they do so, users are using them to do more and more. This presents both a threat and an opportunity to Australian companies who haven’t yet embraced mobile technology.

Companies who continue to “stick their head in the sand” run the risk of losing market share to younger start-ups; who can quickly respond to the demands of an ever increasingly sophisticated customer.

If this all seems a bit scary, it’s fortunate that one of the biggest uses of mobile technology is still SMS/text messaging. You can use text messaging for anything from appointment reminders to integrating it into your website to transmit communications to your customers. And it’s really easy to implement.

If you’re still not convinced, why not take a free trial? Or talk to us about your business and we’ll suggest some ways we can help.

Just released – message templates in Echo SMS

If you are sending a huge number of similar messages, you’ll know that having to type out each one individually can be a lengthy process. Therefore you’ll be relieved to know that we’ve released a new feature in Echo which allows you to create and re-use templates created for messages.

These templates will help you maintaining consistency, avoid spelling/grammar mistakes, as well as save you time. Plus, they are fast and easy to create

As well as using them for SMS scheduling or bulk sends, SMS message templates can be utilised for marketing campaigns, SMS reminders, alerts and notifications; in fact any type of message which you need to send in a similar format.

We’ve shown you how the process works below. All you need to do is create the templates, populate any gaps (if necessary) and send.;

If you are sending a huge number of similar messages, you’ll know that having to type out each one individually can be a lengthy process. Therefore you’ll be relieved to know that we’ve released a new feature in Echo which allows you to create and re-use templates created for messages.

These templates will help you maintaining consistency, avoid spelling/grammar mistakes, as well as save you time. Plus, they are fast and easy to create

As well as using them for SMS scheduling or bulk sends, SMS message templates can be utilised for marketing campaigns, SMS reminders, alerts and notifications; in fact any type of message which you need to send in a similar format.

We’ve shown you how the process works below. All you need to do is create the templates, populate any gaps (if necessary) and send.

Step 1

Step 2

composesend iphone-message

What an API ‘hacking’ time!

At Esendex we’ve really impressed by how our customer have come up with innovative new ways in to use our SMS APIs. So we wondered what our own developers would come up with if we let them loose for a couple of days?

So last Thursday we held our first Esendex Hack Day, with our developers taken off their day-to-day work and allowed just two working days to create a new product from scratch. There were just 2 simply rules: they had to use the Esendex APIs to solve a end user problem and they had to complete it by 3pm Friday. They succeeded in producing a wide range of new products in the very short timescale, proving how flexible and powerful our APIs are (as well as how clever our developers are…).

By utilising our Location Based Services and Google Maps, Darren, John and Alex built an SMS messaging based directions finder, called “GetMe2″. The service allows customers to text in the place they want to get to (e.g. ‘London’, ‘coffee shop’, etc) and get directions back via SMS. This is perfect for the 70% of the UK population who do not have smartphones – and for those with smartphones who sometimes struggle for 3G reception.

John and Neil created an appointment booking service, which used SMS to text appointment requests, updates and confirmations to both the calendar owner and the customer. This is ideal for businesses that do not use Outlook or Exchange – but by interfacing the Google calendar with the Esendex SMS API,

Jonathan created a product called ‘Atlas’. This used a council’s car parking data stream to cleverly allow drivers to find out how many parking spaces were free in each of the city’s car parks by SMS. Drivers can choose a town, a zone or even a specific car park and find out in real time the best place to park.

Finally, Scott took the festive season as his inspiration and created a Secret Santa Organiser! This is a great way to cut all the admin for organising the event – and it works totally anonymously. So you’ll never find out who bought you that unusual gift …

The Hack Day was such a great success we’re going to run a similar event next year for the wider development community, so if you’d like to join in please get in touch. And the team will be showcasing their work on their own blogs shortly.

At Esendex we’ve been really impressed by how our customers have come up with innovative new ways to use our SMS APIs. So we wondered what our own developers would come up with if we let them loose for a couple of days?

Last Thursday we held our first Esendex Hack Day. Our developers were taken off their day-to-day work and allowed just two working days to create a new product from scratch. There were just 2 simply rules: they had to use the Esendex APIs to solve a end user problem and they had to complete it by 3pm Friday. They succeeded in producing a variety of new products in the very short timescale, proving how flexible and powerful our APIs are (as well as how clever our developers are…).

By utilising our Location Based Services and Google Maps, Darren, John and Alex built an SMS messaging based directions finder, called “GetMe2″. The service allows customers to text in the place they want to get to (e.g. ‘Melbourne’, ‘coffee shop’, etc) and get directions back via SMS. This is perfect for the majority of the population who do not have smartphones – and for those with smartphones who sometimes struggle for 3G reception.

John and Neil created an appointment booking service by interfacing the Google calendar with the Esendex SMS API. This used SMS to text appointment requests, updates and confirmations to both the calendar owner and the customer. It is ideal for businesses that do not use Outlook or Exchange.

Jonathan created a product called ‘Atlas’. This used car parking data streams to cleverly allow drivers to find out how many parking spaces were free in each of the city’s car parks by SMS. Drivers can choose a town, a zone or even a specific car park and find out in real time the best place to park.

Finally, Scott took the festive season as his inspiration and created a Secret Santa Organiser! It works totally anonymously, so you’ll never find out who bought you that unusual gift. And it cut out all the administration too.

The Hack Day was such a great success we’re going to run a similar event next year for the wider development community, so if you’d like to join in please get in touch. Meanwhile the teams will be showcasing their work on their own blogs shortly.

Australians dump fixed-line phones in favour of mobiles

We’ve talked a lot in the past about the decline of traditional channels of marketing, but now research from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) proves the case. An increasing number of Australians are now dumping their fixed-line phones in favour of mobile phones. The trend is more apparent among young adults (18-24), who are leading the move away from fixed-line phones. Some 14% of mobile phone users no longer have a fixed-line at home. And according to ACMA the trend is increasing – up 40% on the previous year.

All this adds weight to the argument that SMS marketing is becoming increasingly important if companies are to keep in touch with their customers.

Let us know your thoughts.

Your business doesn’t have to shut down over Christmas

Public holidays don’t have to mean completely chaos for your businesses. With a little bit of creative thinking it is possible to make up for the lost man-hours.

One of the most critical areas affecting a business is communications. How will your business remain in contact with its clients, suppliers and employees when there is limited access to email or when the switchboard is not operational?

One way is to use an SMS solution. This will provided you with a fast, easy and instant means of maintaining business communications despite the festive break. An enhanced scheduling facility will enable you to prepare an SMS campaign in advance which can then be sent at a pre-determined day and time. So, while the rest of the company is inactive during the public holidays, your SMS campaign can be broadcast to your clients, suppliers or employees.

If you are sending a message as standard text or a voice message, you can enable long messaging to increase your message length from the standard 160 characters to 612 characters, giving you more flexibility in the information you convey. You can track also track whether the messages have been delivered. The status of each message is updated in real time.

And by utilising our auto-response facility you can reply with a customised response to your customer whilst you are eating your Christmas turkey.

There are numerous ways SMS can be used to solve your business communication problems; from appointment reminders to marketing campaigns, server alerts and systems monitoring to staff communications.

So as you can see, a public holiday doesn’t necessarily mean your business has to shut down.

Public holidays really don’t have to mean completely chaos for your businesses. With a little bit of creative thinking it is possible to make up for the lost man-hours.

One of the most critical areas affecting a business is communications. How will your business remain in contact with its clients, suppliers and employees when there is limited access to email or when the switchboard is not operational?

One way is to use an SMS solution. This will provided you with a fast, easy and instant means of maintaining business communications despite the festive break. An enhanced scheduling facility will enable you to prepare an SMS campaign in advance which can then be sent at a pre-determined day and time. So, while the rest of the company is inactive during the public holidays, your SMS campaign can be broadcast to your clients, suppliers or employees.

If you are sending a message as standard text or a voice message, you can enable long messaging to increase your message length from the standard 160 characters to 612 characters, giving you more flexibility in the information you convey. You can track also track whether the messages have been delivered. The status of each message is updated in real time.

And by utilising our auto-response facility you can reply with a customised response to your customer whilst you are eating your Christmas turkey.

There are numerous ways SMS can be used to solve your business communication problems; from appointment reminders to marketing campaigns, server alerts and systems monitoring to staff communications.

So as you can see, a public holiday doesn’t necessarily mean your business has to shut down.

Olympic Success with Business SMS

London 2012 Olympics It is now less than two years until the London 2012 Olympic Games, but the recruitment for the army of volunteers has already started. Organisers will need around 70,000 ‘Games Makers’ to assist with a wide range of services all around the UK – such as transportation, medical assistance, ticket sales and helping with the athletes’ accomodation.

About a million people across the UK have come forward to offer their services and the organisers are now facing the Olympic-sized task of selecting the Games Makers. Sorting through the piles of applications, organising interviews and creating all the shift patterns (each volunteer needs to work for at least ten days) is a huge task. This requires exceptional communication between organisers and applicants, in spite of location. It’s perfectly suited to an SMS solution and so we were thrilled when we were asked to help out.

Esendex, a leading provider of business SMS services in Australia, has been selected to supply SMS services to assist in the recruitment process for the Games Makers and we are determined to help make sure that London 2012 is a great success. Although we won’t be winning any medals on the track, we’ll be providing a world class performance behind the scenes through the use of our SMS tools.

Volunteering at a lion park in South Africa

lions One of the great things about working for Esendex is that the company encourages employees to do volunteering and charity work, allowing them to take extra days off work.

Katherine, our Management Accountant runs a Junior Guides pack in her spare time. Recently, they’ve been learning about animals, so when the opportunity arose for her to volunteer at a lion park near to Johannesburg in South Africa, she rushed to pack her rucksack. As well as being a great experience, it was perfect for her to bring back first hand information.

Katherine’s had an incredible experience (and she only came back to the office with a few lion bites!). Check out what she got up to below.

My first job was to clear up the lion cub enclosures each day before the public came in. The cubs were between 1 and 6 months old, but not as tiny as I was expecting! I also had to teach the cubs not to bite or scratch the public when they came into the enclosure to pet them.

My other duties involved preparing the food for the other animals. These include, hyenas, wild dogs, jackals, aardwolf, lions, cheetahs, giraffe, meerkats, porcupines and many more. I also had to go and collect termites from their mounds to feed the aardwolf and meerkats as a treat. (more…)

Operations Director Bryan Brunt is appointed at Esendex

Bryan We have appointed our first ever Operations Director at Esendex- Bryan Brunt. His main responsibilities will be improving and driving the development of our operational changes and services, aligned with our global business plans. Bryan says;

“It’s a really exciting time to be joining Esendex with their ambitious plans to be global leader in business communications. Prior to joining Esendex, I spent two years as VP for a software company. My experience will help me to understand how best to support and provide a great service to our global customers, whilst adding significant business value to both our client base and Esendex.”

Even though Esendex already has an excellent service level record for almost 10,000 customers, Bryan still believes that there is room for further improvements. He is also aware that the infrastructure and operational services need to be really strong and scalable in line with our global expansion plans.

“All of our clients need to experience “excellence” in our solution and service offerings. This will mean that all operational systems, services and associated activities are ensured to be reliable and efficient. I have been extremely impressed since joining Esendex with their approach to providing good quality service to their customers. A goal of mine will be to make it a exemplary service.”

The Explosion of SMS

We had some fun in the office yesterday, creating videos and getting back to our roots learning about SMS messages.

Please take a look, it would be fantastic to hear what you think!

The company blog