We know some customers use the blog to receive support posts or technical updates (such as info on our API, or product improvements) only. Consequently, we’ve created a technical category with its own RSS feed so you can just subscribe to these types of posts if you’d prefer. Simply click on the RSS icon on the right to subscribe.

All our blog posts will also go out via Twitter automatically too so if this is your preferred communication method, make sure you are following us!

We hope you find these improvements useful and if you have any further recommendations, send us an email to marketing@esendex.com.au.

The Esendex API is built on simple and established standards following ‘REST’ (REpresentational State Transfer) principles based on HTTP and using XML. XML is widely implemented in programming languages and reduces the need for additional libraries - which can be necessary with SOAP services for example.

The ‘REST’ style forms the basis of how the Internet works in general. A client makes a request on a page (resource) to perform an operation and gets a response back. E.g you are viewing this blog post because your web browser formed an HTTP GET request for this web page (resource) and the server returned you a HTML representation of the web page.

Instead of providing services with a list of commands, our new SMS API provides a set of resources that you can interact with. These resources are identified by different URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers). Resources represent the different types of data for Esendex. E.g. contacts, message headers and contact groups.

To perform an operation on these resources, create an authenticated HTTP Request with an appropriate HTTP Method. The HTTP Method verbs of GET, POST, PUT and DELETE open up opportunities to retrieve, create, update and remove resources respectively.

One of the key advantages of the Esendex API is that you can start exploring the data you can get from it straight away using only your web browser. Just navigate to http://api.esendex.com/v1.0/inbox/messages and provide your Esendex username and password when prompted by your browser. You will receive a paged XML response of your inbox messages.

The Esendex API is fully documented, and available to download as a pdf file now from our Esendex API page. Our confidence in the reliability and flexibility in our new SMS API is such that our new Web SMS application, named “Echo”, is based entirely upon the Esendex API.

Chris was nominated by the Management Team as despite being many thousands of miles from Head Office he has always sought to challenge the status quo: particularly in looking at new pricing models and sales initiatives.

He’s always interested in the business’ performance and profitability and has a keen eye for detail. This keen eye was fundamental in resolving some business process issues at the start of the month, so thanks Chris! Enjoy the award!

I recently wrote an article on using Business SMS services to increase customer loyalty and retention and thought it would be useful to offer a chopped down version on our blog.

It has been proven time and time again that customer loyalty and retention are central for increasing business revenue. After all, it costs on average, three times more to acquire new customers that it does to keep an existing one. A study by the global business consulting firm, Baines and Company concluded: “A 5% increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by 75%.” 

We are seeing more and more of our customers turning to Business SMS to build loyalty with their customers as its immediate, discreet, has high readership (over 98%), is cheaper than the phone and direct mail, and it encourages a response. One of the best devices for contacting people is the mobile phone, as they are always with their owner and they can use it wherever they are.

So how can a business use SMS to improve customer loyalty and retention? Here’s a few ideas for you:

• Regular SMS communication keeps your brand in the minds of your customers
• Use SMS to confirm appointment times, reducing no show rates and therefore your costs.
• Provide excellent Customer Service. Get your customer service team to communicate via SMS with customers.
• Encourage repeat purchase by sending timely reminders – such as insurance renewals, garage services, hairdressers etc.
• Use SMS to confirm delivery time of goods.
• Reinforce and build brand recognition and awareness through SMS marketing campaigns.
• Send last-minute promotions via SMS to boost demand for your products and services.
• Allow your customers to send SMS messages back to you. SMS lends itself to 2-way communication with customers.
• For many people today, SMS is the preferred method of communication for customers and if you don’t offer this channel your customer may go to a competitor that does.

And one last thought, always, always ensure your message recipients have opted in – there’s nothing worse than getting unsolicited text messages from companies you’re never heard of!

With the market for mobile communication in Germany maturing , text messaging specialist Esendex, expands its reach into the country with the launch of www.esendex.de/. Esendex routes its SMS traffic directly through leading European operators and, with a presence in Ireland, Spain, France and Australia, is a reliable choice for the German market. 

Esendex offers German companies intuitive internet-based services to deliver SMS and voice messages quickly and effectively. Using Web SMS, E-mail SMS, SMS API or Voice SMS, companies can communicate to their staff and customers during the busy Christmas period and beyond. Part of the website launch sees Esendex offer a free trial that takes less than three minutes to set up and guarantees 25 test messages.

“Germany was one of the first markets to start using PC and internet-based SMS, so it was natural progression for us to expand into this market,” explains Julian Hucker, Managing Director at Esendex. “As experts in our field, we will provide German companies with a reliable and effective service. We’re looking forward to this exciting new venture and we are certain that visitors will be impressed with our offering.”