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

Don’t discount seniors in your next SMS campaign

Startling research from McCrindle Research and commissioned by Telstra has revealed some interesting insights about the older Australian. It challenges the fallacy that the senior population are scared of new technology.

According to the study, the average Australian senior sends at least one text message every day. And seniors are more and more likely to use mobile phone features such as taking and sending photos, capturing videos, downloading ringtones and apps.

At Esendex we’ve been instrumental in showing our customers how to get the very best from mobile campaigns. We take time to understand our customers and from there create a tailored messaging service precisely to their needs. But any campaign is only as good as the data and neglecting seniors could be losing you sales.

If you would like help with your SMS campaign, talk to one of our experts.

Why are businesses using Email to SMS services?

There are a number of reasons that businesses use Email to SMS services. In this posting we’ll examine some of the main ones.

Put simply, Email to SMS means that messages are sent via email, but delivered as texts. Texted replies are then received as emails.

Email to SMS is ideal for staff without internet access or for those who use email as their primary communications channel. You can send and receive SMS from any email software – SMS through Outlook, Exchange, all popular email clients, servers, webmail or any software that can output an email message.

It allows you to send text messages direct from your email desktop application to anyone’s mobile number. This could be clients and customers, or other employees within your company. Email to SMS is also useful as an automated alert for servers/computer systems should a certain event happen, either positive or negative.

Email to SMS is particularly useful for businesses whose staffs are on the move. For example, if your company has lots of maintenance engineers on the road, then Email SMS is great way to co-ordinate your engineers. Messages can be sent out to the engineers while they are still on the road, minimising the time wasted.

Using SMS from your PC also allows you to simply send out the same message to a group of people at the same time. This might be a staff communication or a special customer promotion.

Another important reason for why people prefer using email SMS is that creating messages the conventional way; i.e. on their mobile handset, is a slow and difficult process. This is especially the case if you have a visual impairment or do not have nimble fingers. People often find that using a keyboard to write messages is much easier.

If you would like to know more about Email SMS and how it can save your business time and money, we’d love to hear from you.

Mobile marketing – the platform for the future

This year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was dominated by exhibiting companies promoting mobile marketing. In fact a BBC article covering the event highlights how the marketing industry is racing to embrace the mobile channel. Major brands such as Unilever and Procter & Gamble are allocating big budgets to their mobile marketing campaigns.

Kerstin Trikalitis, from Out There Media, claims that they experienced triple-digit growth rates in the preceding 18 months and says that this trend looks set to continue through 2011. ”When an ad is targeted and it is valuable then consumers do like it. We are getting response rates of 20, 25%, which shows it’s working.”

However marketers should still proceed carefully. Whilst mobile phones are undoubtedly the perfect channel for marketer, with most recipients carrying their phones with them at all the time; they are also the recipients’ personal space. Therefore marketers need to make sure that their messages are relevant and correctly targeted.

Fortunately our Echo application makes this easy to do. With Echo you can target specific customer segments with individual contents. This allows you to give every customer in your campaign a personalised message.

Why you should segment your SMS marketing campaign

When it comes to SMS marketing, you should treat it no differently to any other type of marketing. You still need to understand your target audience, segment your data and then send a relevant message to each group, written in a language which is suitable to that group.

This fact was underlined in a recent article published in the Herald Sun. It revealed that more than 50% of all Australians didn’t like receiving shortened SMS messages that include abbreviated words. Men were less tolerant of shorthand texting than women with 40% of men preferring words to be spelt properly compared to 32% of women.

While many women found emoticons sweet (those little images at the end of messages, such as smiley faces), they were unlikely to be appreciated by men. In fact 56% of men were more likely to find them unnecessary or silly as compared to 37% of women.

However, some abbreviation are still popular, such “LOL” (Laugh Out Loud), “OMG” (Oh My God) and “FYI” For Your Information.

So the conclusion is as always:

• Understand what groups make up your target audience

• Segment your data accordingly

• Send the appropriate message to the appropriate group

Luckily segmenting your customers in Echo is really easy. To find out how, see our Support pages.

A snapshot of a week in the life of a CEO

Julian (1) One important requirement of a global company is to ensure that its various country offices around the world do not become cut off from the head office.

There are a range of reasons why this is important. It ensures uniformity of the brand, ensures messages are consistent and the culture of the business is maintained. It also helps to make sure that the offices around the world do not feel that they have been set adrift and they still feel part of the corporate “family”.

To some extent, today’s technology (emails, video conferencing, mobile phones, etc) helps to relieve some of the feelings of detachment satellite offices may have. However frequent visits between offices are still necessary.

At Esendex, these visits are largely the responsibility of Julian Hucker, our CEO. You can track Julian’s latest tour by visiting his blog.

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.

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