imsolutionsgroup

Nice! Twilio decreased their sms prices inside the USA from .1 cents to .0075 cents per message sent and received. Check it out here - https://www.twilio.com/sms/pricing

You can now continue to charge your clients the same price, but your margins now increased! Gotta love that!

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xlfutur1

This was good news. When I started using Twilio SMS messages were 3 cents. They just keep making it more profitable for us.

The best thing that came out of Twiliocon was the announcement that MMS will soon be available. This means you will be able to send a picture (jpg, png, etc.) in a text message. So we will soon be able to offer clients the ability to text a virtual coupon to subscribers.

So the coupon that they just paid to have printed in a mailer that goes out in 4 weeks will now be able to be sent via text message IMMEDIATELY to their customers - at a fraction of the cost. This will be a terrific selling point to local businesses, and another great reason they should be building mobile lists.

misterkailo

there's way too much competition so everyone is trying to battle it out on prices

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natebunger

This is really good. They just keep dropping their charges and it's a great advantage to us because as what OP said, we can charge our clients the same. It looks like competition is getting more serious that's why they keep dropping their prices. I'm looking forward to sending MMS. It's also a big benefit for us if we can already send digital coupons through images.

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Mobile Steven

Competition is one reason, demand is the other. They must not be getting enough sign ups, as well with cloud SMS and indirect aggregators like InfoBip from the U.K penetrating the North American market, they HAVE to decrease their prices. I still don't like Twilio, a long code is a sure way of having a crap campaign. People get fooled by the prices of Twilio because they offer long code which will hurt your opt ins big time. If you want a short code you'll be paying premium prices. You can't compare the two.

imsolutionsgroup

Why do you think a long-code will produce a "crap campaign" compared to a short-code?

Do you have any facts on this...or is it opinion based?

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xlfutur1

"Crap campaigns"?? I'm sure you have all sorts of data to back up that claim.

Unless you are working with a nationwide business, long codes work just fine for local businesses. You can track not only SMS subscribers, but also phone calls to the same number. My clients sure don't feel like they are "crap" and they certainly don't hurt opt ins from my experience.

Local consumers trust a local phone number. A short code is not only really expensive, it is overkill in my opinion for a local pizza shop, bowling alley, or hair salon.

Besides, when is the last time you called a short code and had the business owner answer the phone? My clients get calls every day from customers on their long code numbers - the same number they use for SMS campaigns. They work in sync and they love it. I would bet that they have no idea what a short code is, but they understand a local phone number because the phone rings with customers and orders on the other end of the line.

python01

xlfutur1,
Are you allowed to do business campaigns on long codes? I thought for a broadcast sms marketing you need short code to do it? At least that is what Twilio website is saying.

xlfutur1

Not sure what you mean by "business campaigns", but my clients are businesses and they all use long codes. I just sent out a message for a hair salon client a few minutes ago. Free haircut w/ purchase of color service. expires in 2 days. subscribers can call the number to book the appt at the salon, so I can track all calls for this campaign. So no, I don't need a short code for my clients. If this was a national chain, maybe I would but a one location salon doesn't need a short code.

Venturetothetop

They are dropping prices as the industry as a whole is doing... mobile prices are getting much cheaper.

I know the people at Twillio personally, really good bunch. If you have issues/questions contact them directly, they were extremely helpful with my app and will showcase us as a featured app soon. (Our problem was getting people to see an ad on a computer and then download the app on a phone, something which Twilio is helping to solve)

[B]

imsolutionsgroup

Where do you see that it says that on the Twilio website?

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xlfutur1

Yes, they are super responsive and have helped me solve more than one issue with code. help@twilio.com is the place to get fast service.

As far as seeing an ad on a computer and getting it to a phone, couldn't you just have an opt in form that replies with an SMS with a link to the app for downloading? Or have people call or text a keyword and then send the link to the phones during the phone call. I'm not sure why this would be a problem. what is the app you created? care to share a link?

TrumpiaTim

Note a big drawback continues to be the fact that they use long codes which does impact their SMS through put versus other mobile marketing platforms.

imsolutionsgroup

you can send 3,600 messages and hour. Not really an issue if you're using this for local businesses.

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python01

Here is what they say on their website at https://www.twilio.com/help/faq/sms/...t-using-twilio
------------------------------------------------------------
Sending mass marketing or bulk messaging using Twilio long code phone numbers
Mobile carriers do not allow marketing SMS messages, whether solicited or not, to be sent on long codes (10-digit numbers). Marketing messages may only be sent using shortcodes (special 5 or 6-digit numbers). If you’re interested in a dedicated US shortcode please contact our sales team.

Mass marketing restrictions vary from country to country. Twilio does not support mass marketing on US or international phone numbers.
------------------------------------------------------------
I am not sure if I am misunderstanding this or not?

python01

So you actually send the campaigns for your customers too? And how much can you charge for service like this? I was thinking of doing something similar up here in Ontario.
I am assuming you use dedicated numbers for each customer since people can call back at the same number? Do end users first opt-in to a business list before they can receive messages?

Tim Franklin

I have had an account there for a while now, they seem to focus more on PBX type services, but they are working on providing more end to end solutions, I would love to see a little bit more documentation, (organized documentation) it makes it a lot easier to get up and running.

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imsolutionsgroup

That must be something new they added to there site...so I emailed Twilio to ask if sending texts via long codes is against TOS or not and here is their reply -

"Hello Eric,

Thanks for the question.

Using long codes for a business to communicate with their customers is allowed, particularly when customers have opted in to the business list. With that said, if SMS volumes will be high we generally don't recommend the use of long code because your messages may be filtered out and not delivered due to carrier restrictions. If you must send large volumes of traffic over long codes we recommend obtaining multiple long code numbers and distributing your traffic over several numbers.

Please let me know if you have any other questions we can help answer.

Thanks!

Best wishes,
Nisha
Twilio Customer Support"



So, from that response it's perfectly fine to send messages via long codes and not against their TOS. I bet they put that their to try to generate more short code sales.

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Mobile Steven

Without quoting every response, the data I have is better than what you will find on the web, it's better than getting data from any service provider, it's called "experience and testing". I've been in the mobile marketing game for a long time doing this 24/7. I know what works, I know what doesn't. In fact I can turn a "crap campaign" into a profitable one easy. Why would I give out that information when all I get from WF is smart ass reply's? People should be questioning all the time, be skeptical, testing etc, but don't be a smart ass... One golden nugget I just gave, short codes retain opt-ins far better than a long code. People respond better to short numbers and it's much easier on the eyes when put on marketing materials, but hey don't take my word for it, go and test this. Go and spend thousands of dollars a month to test this.

imsolutionsgroup

Do you have any numbers you can share with us in regards to the short code numbers retention rates compared to long codes?

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Mobile Steven

I'm probably going to sound like an ass and I really don't mean too, I just value time too much to go log into my platform, and compile the data, and post data here just to prove a point which I could care less if people think I'm right or wrong. What I will tell you is that last year in March I took two separate restaurants in proximity and tested a local number with a short code. I also did various tests adding the QR opt in and one without, but specifically for the shortcode vs long code we had a better response rate with the shortcode than the long code. Both offered the same incentives. This was run for a month.

The other gentleman above mentioned that long codes were good because people called into the place. Well that my friend is considered Pay Per Call, not really optimizing the leisure of a text. Sure it's great to get leads calling in, and that may very well work better for some businesses depending on the nature of it, but I found through promoting that when I sent out an offer and people found it enticing (given when you set up the text blast that it starts with the business name ex. JOESPIZZA: 5$ Large Pizza + Fries All Day Thursday In Store. Text Stop to Stop etc...) that people knew the business and called in regardless OR redeemed it.

If you have a small budget and need to keep your expenses in check, then go with long codes.

azhar

Yes, Twilio decrease its price in its Conference 2013, also Twilio launched wonderful feature of picture message and also its remove the limit of 160 character to 1600 character. The best thing is, Twilio make its prices more profitable and picture message feature make Twilio user friendly.

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