Starting Your Own SMS Service

If you Google "starting an sms business", you will get a lot of information on the topic. Including "white label" solutions that basically provide you with turn-key operations.

Forget about the technology (even though it helps). Being able to cold call companies and meeting people is way more important!

I use Avid Mobile and they are great with a ton of support! You can White Label their product! If you need the contact info, you can PM me.....FYI - I am not an affiliate

Michael Clough

If you looking to start your own service it can gt pretty pricey because I mans you will have to get your own shortcode which last time I checked it cost over 5k per year. Then you will have to pay a prgrammer to build you the platform and update it etc... in my opinion save yourself the headache there is a lot of sms companis out there.. get a white label.

not a problem, that is your best bet. I currently use Lime Cellular for white label.. they update their system pretty often and good prices... good luck

Hey guys,

I put out a call to Lime Cellular but haven't heard back from them yet. What's their price for white label and do they allow you to charge whatever you want for the monthly fees and you just make the difference?

All I can see on their site is the reseller account and I'm not sure if this is the same as the white label version. Looks like reseller is $69 per month plus you split the revenue earned.

Hi Mike,

I am writing this from a UK View point and other countries might have other rules etc. Here in the UK Short Code SMS is a closely regulated industry. There is a lot of small print etc.

If I was to use a short code, I would never think about doing it myself I would go to one of the big boys and use a white label system. These guys know the industry inside out and will help you all they can. Here in UK they really do hold your hand - they do not want their business shut down if you word something wrong.

Also here in the UK if we use a short code we have to put at the bottom of the advert the cost of the text, the promoter and how to stop the text.

Having said that, it is a great model, and I was using a basic form of this 5 years ago, so know it works.

Thanks guys for all the great tips and advice here in this thread. This place truly is a wealth of knowledge and has meant hundreds of thousands of dollars for me since 2006.

This is a medium which is bound to come under heavy scrutiny. It would be best to remove yourself as far as you can from the actual processing of SMS. It's a class action suit waiting to happen.

How would you guys what have experience in SMS Marketing go about pricing to your clients? Could you give me examples of what you charge?

You might want to check out the WF deal of the day for "SMS Wordpress Plugin" - I just got it and it looks great. Doesn't use shortcodes though. You get a private local phone number and utilize Twilio - but do all the management through your own WP install. The other cool thing is that because it's your own number, you don't have any keyword restrictions on the shortcode.

I am very happy with Avidmobile too. They are available in Canada

I've downloaded and installed the SMS Wordpress Plugin and it truly rocks for getting out of the gate fast. My other research has led me to want to White Label through Lime Cellular because I think they have the best features and price model from what I've seen.

Plus Yuval (the owner) is really involved and they are constantly making improvements. There's a thread discussing long-code vs short code that is really good on here that people should check out as well to see what's right for you.

I've definitely learned a lot recently about SMS lol. Which is good because one of my new companies (an app) is gonna have a lot of really cool stuff around SMS and local marketing.

thanks for the tip.

Hey man. I suggest you do this.

Get this WSO. Buy a .info domain, get hosting, and install this plugin. 1 cent texts, etc. It's better than any txt180, Trumphia*, anything. You can't resell or anything, but if you're looking to land clients and make the most money, this is it. I'm using it now. Cheaper than any service and probably easier, as well. The closest thing to having your own set up that you can get.

snapfiremobile.com

Forget the junk providers. One conversation with Mark Bock at Snapfire and you will dismiss the myriad of clunky SMS white labels out there.

Cheers,

Ron

Setting up on your own is no easy task - you cant buy your short code out right - $500 will get you just any old short code for a memorable vanity one its going to cost you at least $1000/month

It will also take you about 3 months just to get your short code accepted by all the mobile carriers - so know that before you even start your going to probably drop $1500 to $3000 before you even get to send or use a single sms message - if i am not mistaken you also have to buy minimum 3 months at a time...

You also have to get some method of sending and receiving sms and account management and then some type of user interface/website for people to use send messages and make payments

Its doable but certainly not cheap and you need to know what your doing not to mention jump through a ton of hoops to get there - i know someone who is in the process of doing it right now and i know for a fact hes dropped at least $25k on it without making a single penny yet and is still in the process of getting his vanity short code approved.

incidentally Twilio are now offering shortcodes - looks like they are tapping on an extra $500 on top of the regular price of a short code but i am thinking you have zero gateway fees and 1c outbound messages and 0.5c inbound messages!

hope that helps

jay

Using the method that I described you get to use LONG codes! Phone numbers that are easy for people to remember because they are LOCAL numbers! And, with them, people have the option to call to subscribe which really works out well. Furthermore; a phone number is only $1 a month!

(And you own the whole number so there's no fighting for keywords.)

Anyone has tried text180?

Try googling it. You will definitely find some great info.
Google is solution to all the Problems

Could someone suggest any other sms cheaper service for EU? I´ve looked 2-Way, but have your own virtual phone number costs +1000€ if you arent from UK, USA or Canada

I want to say a quick hello to everyone in this thread. I know it goes back a way; but very valuable information that I used to help decide which white label programs I would contact for information as I have actually been considering the cost of starting my own platform vs. that of a white label & agree the smart move for anyone starting out is to start with a white label and grow from there. One of the companies I contacted was Trumpia & for me the experience wasn't that enjoyable. I spoke to a guy there named Derek who would randomly scream he couldn't hear me when I wasn't even talking to begin with and my phone conversation literally lasted about a minute. There was no introduction to the call and he collected absolutely 0 information from me about my business model before telling me that between now and Friday he could waive a $799 startup fee & I could buy bulk messaging in a minimum order of 100,000 messages for $2,200 (2.2cents each).

This was great information as I needed to know it; and before I could explain my desire to lower that 2.2cent per message rate (never saying anything about the 100,000 message minimum he quoted me); he started yelling again that he couldn't hear me (ironically I wasn't actually speaking at the time) - rather than trying I explained that I had what I needed and he had lost a possible customer. At which time I used the sites CONTACT US to send some feedback about the interaction. I have posted the email history below to convey the representatives demeanor. To me it was not a wise tactic to entice a customer to do business & this information should be made available to the public.

On 11/6/2012 11:12 AM, ***** from Trumpia wrote:
Good and I will be in contact with my lawyers and also saving this thread as well.

On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 9:11 AM, ***** wrote:

Thank you as I will also be sharing this email chain publicly on the forums I have spent the last few weeks reading to decide which white label providers to research & contact; I'm sure this communication will aid others in finalizing decisions as well...

Good luck to you Derek....
~Lucas "Remember the customer has needs. Learn them, satisfy them, & you both win!" On 11/6/2012 11:01 AM, ***** from Trumpia wrote:

The only person rude was you Lucas.

I was trying to answer all of your questions when I couldn't hear HALF the things you were saying, and then you send a nasty support ticket in like that.

You're awesome.

-Derek

On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 9:00 AM, ***** wrote:

Derek,

That response just furthers the earlier demonstration for your lack of professionalism... To the point; I am currently considering the investment of having my own service platform versus utilizing that of an existing service under a white label program. If you know anything about the industry you would know that if I am in a position to spend the money to setup my own infrastructure then the minor amount of money you quoted me within our 45 second one sided conversation is not a concern.

I have spent the last decade of my life growing a business that far exceeds any preconceived notions that you may have. But that's ok Derek; I have fired many people who have demonstrated exactly the behavior your email below demonstrates and continue to have a zero tolerance policy in place within my company for individuals who feel they know more about the individual they are speaking to than the individual themself.

Where I understand my email caught you off guard and probably raised your blood pressure a point or two; your response shows a lack of maturity and understanding of the customer. For your information my phone was functioning fine with full service on my carriers 4G LTE network; and your short outbursts as they were; actually only served as part of my choice not to entertain you further. The fact of the matter is; there are other white label providers who I can commit my business to (Which I will be doing in the coming weeks) offering a more professional approach to their interactions with their clients, comparable features (more in some cases), and at a drastically lower per message rate (about half).

Please do not take this email as a form of objection that you can overcome; I will spend my money elsewhere & can assure you it will be spent. Outside of owning my own corporation I am also a majority shareholder in one of the largest ISO's offering electronic payment processing. This is also not an attempt to gloat; as I have no need. I just hope that you walk away from this interaction with a deeper understanding of why you should act a little more professional and not judge a potential customer based on such a short interaction. As my favorite saying goes; "In this case I win and you lose."

I speculate you speak to a high volume of "Tire Kickers" and unfortunately that happens in every industry. In this case you just turned away a very serious buyer.

~Lucas "Remember the customer has needs. Learn them, satisfy them, & you both win!" On 11/6/2012 10:10 AM, ***** from Trumpia wrote:

Hey Lucas,

I'll be sure to let him know.

When your phone doesn't work properly don't blame it on the other side when I can't understand what you're saying.

Don't be upset either when you cannot afford something.

-Derek

On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 8:06 AM, ***** wrote:

Name : Lucas *****
Referer : http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=C...=sms+marketing
Promocode : GRESELL-0051,GBROAD-0165,GRESELL-0067
Google Search Keyword : sms marketing
Country Code : USA
Phone Number : *****

I just spoke with Derrick (I think was his name) - no intro as he picked up the phone; just this is Derrick and he didn't seem to interested in selling anything to me. He quoted me an upstart cost of about $2,200 within about 45 seconds and then stated that averaged to 2.2 cents; when I asked about lowering the per message rate (not the upstart cost) - he complained again of phone call quality; however I had full service; I speculate he is using VOIP - either way; I will not be entertaining service with your company at this time. Very unprofessional experience...

Please note that I blocked my full name and email address from public view and the reps contact information from the reply area of each email; leaving the body of each message in tact for viewing.

I hope that seeing this interaction helps others who are considering a white label program make a decision as to what organizations to business with.

Gee whiz... That's a strange way to handle a potential customer...