What is SMS?
SMS stands for Short Message Service and tend to be 160 character texts sent between mobile phones. SMS uses a unique network that alerts the recipient the next the message arrives. SMS is a very fast and personal communication method on par with a telephone call in perceived trust.
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing is the practice of creating lists of mobile numbers than sending SMS advertising messages to those lists. Lists could be built-in many ways but there are compliance rules set by the ACMA on what people consent to be opted into your lists. Unsolicited commercial messages sent to one is called spam and is illegal under the Australian Spam Act 2003.
sms api marketers usually use an online SMS system to manage the SMS sending process. These bulk SMS systems range in cost and functionality. The best SMS marketing platforms have an excellent combination of cheap SMS and web SMS features. Ensure you only deal with a reputable SMS gateway as delivery reliability may differ a lot.
Various kinds of SMS delivery
There are two main types of online SMS delivery. Direct connection where the SMS gateway is plugged directly into the telco’s in your country, and International routing. International routes are operated by SMS aggregators which a gateway can utilise to provide less expensive SMS marketing than direct connection.
Some international routes can be very unreliable and some providers will offer extremely cheap prices nevertheless, you may end up paying the same as a more reliable connection as you still purchase messages not delivered.
The best bulk SMS service could have a combination of good quality international routing and cheap sms prices. Should you have a service that will require guaranteed delivery such as an emergency or alert service then you should use a direct local connection, despite the fact that this is still not 100% guaranteed to deliver it will give you the highest percentage of success.
It’ll generally cost double though.These are just the basics but building on these basics you can develop sophisticated mobile marketing campaigns that can quickly build great lists of loyal customers. So long as you keep your lists clean and respect your recipients wishes to avoid receiving text messages from you then you should have great success.
